Local officials react to Trump’s order on energy independence

President Trump happy Tuesday as he signed another executive order  for energy independence. But while the President was all smiles, many on Delmarva had a different reaction.

In a press conference, just hours before the executive order, Delaware Sen. Tom Carper along with Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin voiced their concerns.

With Sen. Carper saying, "This order clearly proves that this administration is not serious about protecting jobs and our environment."

In Salisbury, a professor for political science and environmental science, Sarah Surak, tells 47 ABC that the order represents a seismic shift in DC, under Trump's administration.

"If you watched during the signing ceremony at the EPA, there's not a single mention of climate change in the entire ceremony. That really frames the discourse behind what the administrations goals are for this type of executive order."

Surak adds, "the executive order is framed very much on the business side of things especially job creation and deregulation or making it easier for corporations that deal with fossil fuels to do extraction and processing."

She says the new administration's goal is very different than the one that set the agenda over the course of the last 8 years. Adding that a shift to pro-labor policy at the cost of environmental policy will likely lead to changes on the Eastern Shore.

"In the long term we on the Delmarva peninsula will face rising sea levels and these sorts of things people need to be prepared for and affected by before lots of other parts of the country."

Sen. Cardin states, "I will continue to fight to ensure that carbon is regarded and regulated as a harmful pollutant, and that our communities and wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have what they need to resist and adapt to climate change impacts."