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OC t"AStitriQtQtt. Post IHea tth & Sclu eince As Trump halts federal action on climate change, cities and states push on By tevein IRmOsoin and IBinady IDemnniiis ,h 28 Jim Brainard is a Republican mayor in a Republican city in a Republican state. But that hasn't stopped him from taking aggressive steps in recent years to combat climate change and become more energy efficient. During his tenure, Carmel, Ind., has shifted its fleet to hybrid and biofuel vehicles, replaced streetlights with LED bulbs, installed hundreds of miles of bike paths and spent millions of dollars planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide and provide shade. Carmel now has 102 roundabouts — more than any community in the country, he says proudly — that have reduced traffic accidents as well as helped to conserve gasoline, reduce air pollution and save electricity by negating the need for traffic lights. "For a long time, taking care of our environment was a nonpartisan issue," Brainard said. "I have yet to meet a Republican or Democrat who wants to drink dirty water or breathe dirty air." But Tuesday afternoon, President Trump signed an executive order instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to roll backthe Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration's signature effort to combat climate change by limiting carbon emissions from power plants and requiring states to cut down on overall emissions. Trump maintains that Obama -era regulations have unnecessarily hampered businesses and that freeing companies from such burdensome requirements will provide an economic boost. Some mayors, governors and business leaders plan to press ahead with plans to clamp down on carbon emissions, saying it makes sense for the economy as well as the climate. "It doesn't impact anything we're doing," Brainard said. He'd rather not see the Clean Power Plan scrapped, but its absence won't alter the trajectory of Carmel, which sits just north of Indianapolis, or many other places around the country. "Cities aren't going to stop. They were working on things that save money and provide a better environment long before the federal government got involved with the Clean Power Plan, and they'll continue to do so."