*By Madison Alworth*
With its latest emissions policy, the Trump administration has effectively overhauled President Obama's environmental legacy, said Earther reporter Brian Kahn.
"You couple this also with the international view of dropping out of the Paris Agreement ー or at least announcing our intent to do thatーas well as what we're seeing with the Department of Interior and its attempt to lease more oil and gas drilling sites on federal land," Kahn said Tuesday in an interview on Cheddar. "Taken as a whole, these policies really signal a rapid and major change."
The administration [introduced](https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-proposes-affordable-clean-energy-ace-rule) a new rule, "Affordable Clean Energy," on Tuesday, which will roll back many of the restrictions on coal emissions that President Obama put in place.
The new plan allows individual states to regulate their coal plants' pollution rather than adhering to a federal standard.
"The Clean Power Plan was going to reduce them by about 35 percent them by 2030, and this will lead to a 1 percent decrease over that time period," Kahn said.
The new plan is largely perceived as a means to prop up the coal industry. But in a statement released Tuesday, the EPA said the rule “empowers states, promotes energy independence, and facilitates economic growth and job creation.”
"We are putting our great coal miners back to work," President Trump said during a rally in West Virginia on Tuesday night.
If the plan is enacted, Kahn said the results may be disastrous.
"So, we are going to see more carbon emissions. More importantly than that, we'll also see a lot of pollution," he said. "That will have very adverse impacts on the American public."
The administration's plan will move to an open, public comment period before it will need final approval from the president.
For full interview [click here] (https://cheddar.com/videos/trump-administration-announces-new-emission-policy).
Shelli Avenevoli, Ph.D., the deputy director for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), joined Cheddar to discuss concerns about the devastating impact the pandemic has had on the nation's youth. While mental health issues have been a point of concern for the populace at large, Avenevoli talked about how vulnerable young people have been during the COVID-19 crisis. "It's important to keep in mind, for children and adolescents, that the pandemic is occurring during a time of very formative development when social connection is vital for health and optimal function," she said. Avenevoli also noted broad political and social upheavals that have contributed to the issue but also things that can be done to help minors with their mental wellbeing.
Cheddar Innovates gets a look at the satellite that's searching for the earliest light from the big bang, plus a former Nike executive breaks down what the new era of sportswear looks like.
A packed Thursday pod: Carlo and Baker cover the latest developments in the Ghislaine Maxwell, Jussie Smollett and Elizabeth Holmes trials. Plus, Dems are losing the Hispanic vote, Boris Johnson in trouble again, and is it possible that Adele has peaked?
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, faced withering questions on Capitol Hill about the reports the social media app was aware of the severe mental health impacts it was having on teenage girls. Karen Kornbluh, the director of digital innovation and democracy for the German Marshall Fund, joined Cheddar to discuss the rare show of bipartisan outrage on display at the Senate hearing. "The senators came really loaded for bear on both sides of the aisle," she said. Kornbluh explained how senators like Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) set up fake Instagram accounts with teen girl profiles in order to research the effects firsthand.
A mental health crisis among young people is looming, and a large part of it is online. Cheddar News speaks with digital policy expert Karen Kornbluh on the issue.
Back in 2010, several large companies pledged to work towards stopping deforestation by 2020. Companies like Nestle and Carrefour even went further to say that they would eliminate deforestation from their supply chains altogether. However, fast forward to 2020, many of these companies have failed to reach that goal. Associate Director of Forest at the CDP Nadia Bishai, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
A new study by Pfizer-BioNTech found that a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine is effective against the emerging omicron variant. The pharmaceutical giants also look to manufacture a vaccine specific to the omicron variant by March 2022.
