WThe America's Great Outdoors Initiative (AGO) is a program of the Obama Administration, announced on April 16, 2010. It is designed to preserve a number of notable natural features in the American landscape. It is also designed to protect key natural resources and natural features for future generations to enjoy. It is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the Department of the Interior.
Wsee also: Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area, Presidency of Barack Obama
WThe Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs reports to the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. President Donald J. Trump appointed Andrew Lawler to the post on September 8, 2020. His appointment is pending in the United States Senate.
WThe Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) is a functional bureau within the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs coordinates a suite of portfolios related to oceans, environmental, polar, scientific, fisheries, wildlife, conservation, and natural resource and health affairs that affect U.S. foreign policy interests. The Assistant Secretary reports to the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment.
WCommunity Choice Aggregation (CCA), also known as Community Choice Energy, municipal aggregation, governmental aggregation, electricity aggregation, and community aggregation, is an alternative to the investor owned utility energy supply system in which local entities in the United States aggregate the buying power of individual customers within a defined jurisdiction in order to secure alternative energy supply contracts. The CCA chooses the power generation source on behalf of the consumers.
WThe Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is a division of the Executive Office of the President that coordinates federal environmental efforts in the United States and works closely with agencies and other White House offices on the development of environmental and energy policies and initiatives.
WThe Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment is an undersecretary position within the United States Department of State. The Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment serves as senior economic advisor at the State Department and advises the Secretary of State on international economic policy and is often referred to as the senior economic diplomat of the United States. The Under Secretary also leads the work of the Department on trade, agriculture, aviation, and bilateral trade relations with America's economic partners.
WThe Energy Consumers Relief Act of 2013 is a bill that would require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to submit reports to both the United States Congress and the United States Department of Energy whenever it tried to implement a new regulation that would have significant compliance costs. The Department of Energy and Congress would then have the option of stopping or altering what the EPA proposed to do. According to a report about the bill from the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the bill "provides for greater checks and balances over EPA's rulemaking activity by requiring, before the agency finalizes new energy-related rules estimated to cost more than $1 billion, that the agency submit a report to Congress providing information detailing certain cost, benefit, energy price, and job impacts, and also that the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with other relevant agencies, conduct a review of the energy price, reliability, and other energy-related impacts, and make a determination about whether the rule will cause significant adverse effects to the economy." The bill was introduced into the United States House of Representatives during the 113th United States Congress.
WThe environmental policy of the Donald Trump administration represents a shift from the policy priorities and goals of the preceding Barack Obama administration; where President Obama's environmental agenda prioritized the reduction of carbon emissions through the use of renewable energy with the goal of conserving the environment for future generations, the Trump administration policy is for the US to attain energy independence based on fossil fuel use and to rescind many environmental regulations. As of May 2020, the Trump administration has rolled back 64 environmental rules and regulations, and an additional 34 rollbacks are in progress. Environmentalists were concerned that a successful reelection of Trump in 2020 could have resulted in severe and irreversible changes in the climate.
WThe Inland Waterways Commission was created by Congress in March 1907, at the request of President Theodore Roosevelt, to investigate the transportation crisis that recently had affected nation's ability to move its produce and industrial production efficiently. The immediate crisis centered on insufficient railroad capacity developed by the private sector, and competing but neglected inland shipping, the navigation of which had been deemed under federal purview since 1824. The temporary commission lasted until the end of Roosevelt's presidency, but his conservationist progressive interest was focused more than on transportation alone. The president wanted water projects to be considered for their multiple uses and in relation to other natural resources and asked for a comprehensive plan for the improvement and control of the river systems of the United States.
WThe loggerhead sea turtle, is protected under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. It was originally listed as a threatened species on July 28, 1978. The loggerhead turtle is the most prolific species of sea turtle in U.S. coastal waters.
WSee Also: Arctic policy of Barack Obama, Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area
WReport on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States is a scientific report and policy recommendation written by American explorer, geologist, and anthropologist John Wesley Powell, and first published in 1878. The work sought to create an equitable and sustainable method for developing the arid region of the United States, an area characterized by its low annual rain that encompasses 40% of the continental portion of the country.
WThe administration of President Donald Trump has repeatedly politicized science by pressuring or overriding health and science agencies to change their reporting and recommendations so as to conform to his policies and public comments. This has particularly been true with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
WThe United States Commission on Ocean Policy was created by an act of the 106th United States Congress known as the Oceans Act of 2000. The commission's mandate was to establish findings and develop recommendations for a new and comprehensive national ocean policy. The final report was delivered in September 2004, and shortly afterwards the commission was terminated, as scheduled by the Oceans Act.
WThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. The agency is led by its administrator, who is appointed by the president and approved by the Senate. The current administrator is former deputy administrator Andrew R. Wheeler, who had been acting administrator since July 2018. The EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the administrator is normally given cabinet rank.
WOn June 1, 2017, United States President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would cease all participation in the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation, and begin negotiations to re-enter the agreement "on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers," or form a new agreement. In withdrawing from the agreement, Trump stated that "The Paris accord will undermine economy," and "puts at a permanent disadvantage." Trump stated that the withdrawal would be in accordance with his America First policy.