President Donald Trump plans to make good on his campaign vow to withdraw the United States from a global pact to fight climate change, a source briefed on the decision said on Wednesday, a move that promises to deepen a rift with U.S. allies.
White House officials cautioned that details were still being hammered out and that, although close, the decision on withdrawing from the 195-nation accord - agreed to in Paris in 2015 - was not finalized.
[...] The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump was working out the terms of the planned withdrawal with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, an oil industry ally and climate change doubter.
[...] The CEOs of Dow Chemical Co, ExxonMobil Corp, Unilever NV and Tesla Inc all urged Trump to remain in the agreement, with Tesla's Elon Musk threatening to quit White House advisory councils of which he is a member if the president pulls out.
Source: Reuters
On Twitter, Trump indicated that an announcement was coming soon.
"I will be announcing my decision on the Paris Accord over the next few days," he wrote. "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
[...] Opponents of the climate deal were concerned after White House economic advisor Gary Cohn told reporters that the president was "evolving on the issue" during his trip overseas.
His daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner reportedly channelled support for the deal behind the scenes at the White House, encouraging climate change activists that Trump might change his mind. Trump's Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon CEO, also supported remaining in the treaty.
Source: Brietbart
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 01 2017, @08:53PM (4 children)
And I hear we've always been at war with Eastasia. Words aren't automatically true. And let us note here that there is no way for the loan guarantee program itself to turn a profit. By definition, it is pure loss. Indeed, they mention later on:
So the US Treasury loans are what is actually generating a profit, maybe. Given the magic accounting that pervades the federal government at all levels, it is trivial to lose vast sums of money and generate a profit. Just have the US Treasury or some other department feed more money into these projects so they can keep paying interest payments. My bet is that a lot of the more marginal projects under this loan program will go south now that they don't have a friendly administration in charge.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01 2017, @09:10PM (3 children)
Are you familiar with the phrase, "distinction without a difference?"
Because if you aren't, you really, really ought to be.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday June 01 2017, @09:55PM (2 children)
The difference here is that we have introduced an easy mechanism for hiding losses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 01 2017, @10:18PM (1 child)
Ah, the magical hand-wave of conspiracy theory where the only evidence is lack of evidence.
Unsurprising.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday June 02 2017, @12:12AM
No, sorry, they cooked the books.