Trump to sign order reversing Obama’s climate policies

US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday to undo a slew of Obama-era climate change regulations, instructing federal regulators to rewrite key rules curbing US carbon emissions.

The decree, dubbed the "Energy Independence" order, will seek to undo former President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan requiring states to slash carbon emissions from power plants - a critical element in helping the United States meet its commitments to a global climate change accord agreed by nearly 200 countries in Paris in December 2015.

The sweeping executive order also seeks to lift a moratorium on federal coal leasing and remove the requirement that federal officials consider the impact of climate change when making decisions.

The order will direct the Environment Protection Agency to start a formal "review" process to undo the Clean Power Plan, which was introduced by Obama in 2014 but has never been implemented in part because of legal challenges brought by Republican states.

The Clean Power Plan would have required states to collectively cut carbon emissions from power plants by 32% below 2005 levels by 2030.

The changes stem from Trump’s desire to advance the US economy and domestic production of energy from fossil fuels as well as nuclear and renewable sources, while still protecting the air and water, a senior White House official told reporters Monday.

"We're going to go in a different direction. The previous administration devalued workers with their policies. We can protect the environment while providing people with work," the official said.

Trump will sign the order at the EPA with the agency's Administrator Scott Pruitt, interior secretary Ryan Zinke and energy secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday afternoon.

The wide-ranging order is the boldest yet in Trump’s broader push to cut environmental regulation to revive the oil and gas drilling and coal mining industries, a promise he made repeatedly during his campaign for the presidency.

"I cannot tell you how many jobs the executive order is going to create but I can tell you that it provides confidence in this administration’s commitment to the coal industry," Kentucky Coal Association president Tyler White told Reuters.

Environmental groups have promised to challenge the orders.

"These actions are an assault on American values and they endanger the health, safety and prosperity of every American," said billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer, the head of activist group NextGen Climate.

Green group Earthjustice said it will fight the order both in and out of court. “This order ignores the law and scientific reality," the group's president, Trip Van Noppen, said.

Trump campaigned on a promise to sweep aside green regulations he said hurt the economy, and vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord. Since being elected, however, he has been mum on the Paris deal and the executive order does not address it.

The White House official said Trump's administration was discussing its approach to the accord.