President Obama

Rosa Parks

Former President Barack Obama Addresses Gentrification

Former President Barack Obama is facing a new kind of politics while working to support the development plan for the Barack Obama Presidential Center.

March 7, 2018 - City Observatory

New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina

Homeland Security Advisor Recognizes Effects of Climate Change, Ignores Causes

In response to a question linking Hurricanes Irma and Harvey to climate change, White House Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert appeared to recognize the need to adapt. He qualified his statement regarding the "cause" of said climate change.

September 14, 2017 - The Washington Post

Houston Bayou

Rebuilding Houston After Harvey: 'Bigger and Better'

Those were the words President Trump expressed before his first trip to Texas while Hurricane Harvey was ravaging Houston. But experts worry that the rebuilding won't be better due to the recision of an Obama-era environmental regulation.

September 2, 2017 - NPR

Low Gas Prices

Trump Open to Hiking Gas Tax to Fund Infrastructure Package

Like so many of the president's assertions, the statement, made in a Bloomberg interview on Monday morning, could be open to interpretation, but he's gone where none of his predecessors since Bill Clinton on the issue of raising the gas tax.

May 3, 2017 - The Washington Post - Wonkblog

Bullet

The Environmental Regulation Overturned by the New Interior Secretary on Day One

A dramatic entrance on horseback preceded one of Ryan Zinke's first actions as Secretary of the Department of Interior—rescinding guidance issued by the Fish & Wildlife Service to phase out the use of toxic, lead ammunition on federal lands.

March 5, 2017 - The Washington Post

National Monuments

Revoking a National Monument Not Easy, Even with Republican Congress

But that's no reason not to try, figures Republican Rep. Rob Bishop of Utah, chair of the powerful House Natural Resources Committee, who has his sights on the Bears Ears National Monument, barely a month old.

February 8, 2017 - NPR

Dakota Access Pipeline

Trump Reverses Obama's Rejections of Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines

Fulfilling two campaign promises, President Trump conditionally approved two controversial pipelines to transport oil sands from Alberta and Bakken oil from North Dakota, certain to stir opposition from environmentalists and Native Americans.

January 24, 2017 - USA Today

EPA Nominee Scott Pruitt Could Weaken California's Efforts to Fight Climate Change

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt suggested that as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency he might not allow California to set its own stricter motor vehicle emissions standards.

January 24, 2017 - Los Angeles Times

HUD

Grading Obama's Urban Policy Legacy

Some of the effects of the Obama Administration will take years to appear, but a new book already begins the process of taking stock of the administration's efforts to support and improve cities.

December 28, 2016 - CityLab

President Obama Enacts Permanent Drilling Ban Along Arctic and Atlantic Coasts

In a precedent-setting action that supporters call creative and opponents view as abusive, President Obama has declared a permanent drilling ban off the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Maine and along much of the Alaska coast. But will it last?

December 22, 2016 - The New York Times

Texas Wind

Is Texas Ready for the Clean Energy Rule?

With the EPA's proposed Clean Energy Rule on pause in the Supreme Court, the Dallas News takes a deep dive into the state's preparation for a new era of regulation.

October 20, 2016 - Dallas News

Ça c'est Paris

Paris Climate Accord Will Take Effect November 4

October 5 was an historic day, hailed President Obama, as nations responsible for emitting more than 55 percent of world carbon emissions have now signed the Paris climate agreement, the threshold needed for the accord to take effect in 30 days.

October 8, 2016 - Reuters

Washington D.C. - The White House

Planetizen Week in Review: September 30, 2016

Welcome, President Obama, to the NIMBY wars.

September 30, 2016 - Planetizen

Fund Clean Energy - Stop HRL Coal Fired power station - withdraw federal grant

Clean Power Plan Showdown in U.S. Appeals Court on Tuesday

The Obama Administration's most powerful environmental initiative, the Clean Power Plan, was put on hold by the Supreme Court last February. It was heard by 10 judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. on September 27.

September 28, 2016 - The Associated Press

The Atlantic Ocean Has Its First National Marine Monument

President Obama has acted to protect a 4,913-square-mile area off the Massachusetts coast. President Obama has protected more land and water than any other American president.

September 16, 2016 - NPR

Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

President Obama Designates New National Monument in Maine

The announcement that 87,500 acres of land in Maine's North Woods would become a national monument came the day before the centennial of the National Park Service. The designation is also sure to be controversial.

August 25, 2016 - Portland Press Herald

Yellowstone National Park

Happy 100th Birthday National Park Service

"The fundamental idea behind the parks is that the country belongs to the people," says President Obama.

August 25, 2016 - National Park Foundation

Washington D.C. Metro

Federal Transit Administration Threatens Metro Shutdown after Thursday's Fire

Unless D.C. Metro abides by the Federal Transit Administration safety directives issued Saturday and takes "urgent action," they threatened to shut down all or parts of the system, the nation's second busiest subway after New York's.

May 9, 2016 - The Washington Post

President Obama and Prime Minister Trudeau Agree to Reduce Methane Emissions

Climate change was front and center at a Thursday morning joint press conference at the White House, where U.S. President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to several energy, environmental, and Arctic initiatives.

March 13, 2016 - Los Angele Times

How Antonin Scalia's Death May Affect the Paris Climate Accord

Scalia's death means that the Supreme Court is left with eight remaining judges. In the case of a tie vote, the decision from a lower court is upheld with some restrictions. A tie vote on the Clean Power Plan may be good news for the environment.

February 16, 2016 - Vox

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