Trump's Environmental Plans Remain Unclear
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – If you want to know what President-elect Donald Trump means for the environment, you can start with climate change.
During the campaign, Trump didn't mince words when it came to global warming.
"It'll get warmer, it'll get cooler, it's called the weather," he said.
And when it comes to the Paris Climate Agreement, he's no fan.
"Talking about global warming like it's the biggest threat to our country, it's insane," he has said.
David Takacs teaches environmental law at U.C. Hastings Law School. He says a U.S. withdrawal from the agreement could trigger other nations to abandon the deal.
"President-elect Trump has proclaimed that he wants to immediately withdraw from that agreement," he told KPIX 5. "And if we withdraw from that agreement, we don't know what other nations would do."
Domestically, his administration's environmental policies will fall under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency. That is if he doesn't disband the agency.
"Department of Environmental Protection, we're going to get rid of it in every form," he said while campaigning.
But if he does disband the EPA, what impact will that have on California's state policies?
"California can do other things on its own, but there are certain things that have to be regulated federally," he said.
For example, could Trump wipe away the clean air fuel standards that President Obama and Gov. Jerry Brown have put into place?
"You can't have one set of fuel economy standards for California, and different ones for Michigan," Takacs said.
The UC professor said that states can push ahead with their own policies if they don't cross into federal jurisdiction.
"Your quality of life, your air, your water, will be dependent on what state you live in," he told KPIX 5.
Up next on the Republican Party's agenda is the wish to sell off certain pieces of public land.
"There is some belief in some of his supporters that the federal government has too much land and that those lands should be turned over to private ownership," Takacs said.
But Trump has actually spoken out against such a plan.
"I don't think it's something that should be sold, I think we should be great stewards of this land," he said while on the campaign trail.
It may be a foreshadowing of other fights ahead. Congress, which is now controlled by the Republican Party, is home to some of the loudest climate change deniers on earth.
Among them is Oklahoma Senator James Inhoffe.
"Know what this is?" he has said of climate change. "It's a snowball."
Ironically, the pillars of America's environmental law can be traced back to a Republican – President Richard Nixon.
"Clean air and clean water, the wise use of our land," Nixon said during his presidency.
So exactly what will Trump do in regards to the environment?
"We don't really know what he wants to do, and what he stands for," Takacs said. "He's capricious, and we don't know exactly how far he's willing to go."
