The Trump administration is pushing to roll back federal policies aimed at curbing climate change and wants to see deep cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which it accuses of overreach.

In response, Hawaii lawmakers and other leaders here must press on in establishing and maintaining sound green-minded laws and directives. The future of our state, which every year attracts several million of visitors in awe of its stunning natural beauty, depends on it.

It’s unclear what the shift in U.S. environmental policy means for us as Congress makes the final decisions on funding the government. But President Donald Trump, who barely touched on environmental issues while on the campaign trail — other than to generally denounce climate policies and defend the U.S. fossil fuels industry — last week signed his Energy Independence Executive Order.

It rescinds a ban on coal mining and initiates a review of former President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan initiative, which called for significant reduction in greenhouse gases emitted by power plants. On the heels of the order, which Trump said would generate jobs for coal workers, new EPA head Scott Pruitt rejected a long-anticipated scientific recommendation that the insecticide chlorpyrifos should be banned on all food crops.

The local response to both moves is heartening because it signals willingness to pursue state environmental protections that exceed scaled-back federal expectations.

AES Hawaii Inc., the state’s only coal-fired power plant, says it will stick with plans to convert to renewable fuel sources. Under state law that calls for 100 percent renewable electricity by 2045, the Kalaeloa plant, which gets its coal from Indonesia, has about five years to find a new fuel source. And on Monday the state Senate Committee on Ways and Means passed HB  Opens in a new tab1580 Opens in a new tab, which sets a goal for reaching 100 percent renewable ground transportation fuel — also within 28 years.

Earlier this year, when support for the proposed chlorpyrifos ban appeared shaky due to selection of Pruitt — a backer of reducing environmental regulatory oversight — state legislators pushed a bill to ban all use of the spray staple in the islands.

The state licenses 25 pesticide products containing chlorpyrifos, 13 of which have food uses. The remaining dozen are used in tree plantations, nurseries, golf courses, and in ant and roach baits sold in child-resistant packaging.

In testimony, the bill’s supporters asserted a highly toxic threat, and opponents argued that farmers and others should be able to use the pest-control option as long as the EPA allows. While the bill has failed to advance, lawmakers pledged to push a new bill next year. “We have an obligation as elected officials at the state level to take action to protect our people when the federal government won’t,” said Rep. Chris Lee, House Energy and Environmental Protection chairman.

At the federal level, Hawaii’s congressional delegates also are rightly criticizing efforts to rescind dozens of Obama-era environmental regulations. Responding to Trump’s Energy Independence order, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, who co-chairs the Senate Climate Action Task Force, warned: “Now is not the time to turn our back on the growing clean energy economy, and that’s exactly what this executive order will do.”

Rock-solid scientific consensus points to Hawaii and other island communities as increasingly vulnerable to rising seas, more hurricanes and droughts, and species extinction.

Also, our challenges will be magnified if the federal administration succeeds in its plan to lay off thousands of EPA staff while reducing and scrapping various agency programs. The EPA has played a critical role in a multitude of issues ranging from a federal order for ongoing Oahu sewage system upgrades and the phasing out of cesspool use, to everyday water and air quality monitoring. Two years ago, it was the lead agency holding the U.S. Navy accountable for its fuel tank leak at Red Hill. And last year it filed a lawsuit against an agribusiness for exposing workers to chlorpyrifos on Kauai.

Pruitt maintains that loosening regulations will afford states with more flexibility in addressing environmental issues. That may be, but in Hawaii, which confronts daunting issues, rollbacks and funding cuts will hurt. Even so, we must hold to our local and state environmental goals and stay the course for needed science-backed protections.