Trump’s Power Play: What’s Really Behind His Energy and Climate Orders [Video]

President Donald Trump‘s first week in office was a muscular display of presidential power, especially regarding how the U.S. gets its power.

Trump has signed executive orders declaring an “energy emergency” and directing federal agencies to halt clean-energy spending and pause some new permits for wind and solar projects. As he did during his first term in office, Trump announced that the U.S. will pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement and encouraged more oil and gas exploration on federal lands.

Trump’s White House is also seeking to force California to change its water management system and has raised the possibility of overriding endangered species protections that would be affected by redirecting the flow of some rivers in California.

A memo released Monday by the White House is perhaps Trump’s most audacious move yet. The memo from the powerful Office of Management and Budget(OMB) orders federal agencies to temporarily pause all “federal financial assistance” …