Trump’s Oil Decisions Are Bad for Planet, French Minister Says

• Trump’s Oil Decisions Are Bad for Planet

U.S. President Donald Trump’s decisions to get two stalled pipeline projects moving again, to promote shale oil and gas production, and to remove references to climate change on the White House’s website are bad for the world, a French minister said.

“These are very bad decisions for the future of the planet,” Environment and Energy Minister Segolene Royal said Wednesday on RMC radio. “I hope they aren’t definitive. If the production of fossil energies gain in the U.S., it will contribute to global warming.”

Trump took steps to advance construction of the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, while demanding a renegotiation to get a better deal for the U.S. government. Trump stopped short of green lighting construction on either pipeline but put a deadline on the government’s review of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed Keystone XL to transport Alberta oil sands crude to U.S. refineries.

The moves, taken on Trump’s fourth full day in office, are a major departure from the Obama administration, which rejected the Keystone proposal in 2015 and has kept Dakota Access blocked since September. Environmentalists, concerned about climate change and damage to water and land, now face an executive branch that’s less sympathetic to their efforts. For the oil industry, it heralds more freedom to expand infrastructure and ease transportation bottlenecks.