President Obama couldn’t always get what he wanted through Congress, but he didn’t let a little thing like that stop him from implementing his agenda. Instead, he’d just pick up his favorite tools — a pen and a phone — and do what he wanted via executive orders.

That’s how he established his climate change legacy. And that’s how the Trump administration is now unraveling that legacy — to the benefit of the economy and the environment.

From approving the Keystone XL pipeline to withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, the Trump administration is knocking down Obama’s climate policies like bowling pins. The latest pin to fall was a big one: the misleadingly named Clean Power Plan.

Environmental Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt has announced that his agency will roll back the plan, which had absolutely nothing to do with reducing pollutants that harm our health or the environment. Through technology improvements and regulations, America has cleaned up its power plants. There has been a dramatic reduction in pollutants.

But the Clean Power Plan targeted something else: carbon dioxide. Mr. Obama called it carbon pollution, despite the fact that it is a non-toxic, colorless odorless gas.

Heritage Foundation analysts, using an econometric model identical to the one used by the federal government to estimate how energy policies will affect the nation’s economy, found that Obama’s climate legacy would have been hugely expensive, without registering any significant drop in the earth’s thermometer. In terms of household finance, the Clean Power Plan and Obama’s other climate regulations would have made California’s electricity prices, already among the highest in the country, even pricier.

But Californians wouldn’t have been alone in their suffering. The typical American household would have incurred a 13 to 20 percent increase in direct electricity costs. And because electricity is used in the production of almost everything we buy, the costs of climate regulations would be passed on to families every time they purchased something. By 2035, economists projected a total income loss of more than $20,000 for a typical family of four — all for slowing the global warming an almost undetectable amount.

Rolling back the Obama administration’s global warming regulations will help advance several items on President Trump’s agenda. He has repeatedly called for American energy dominance. Rescinding energy regulations that provide no meaningful environmental benefit is an essential component to ensuring a diverse, competitive energy portfolio.

A number of government-imposed obstacles stand in the way. Opening access to the nation’s vast energy resources will unleash American ingenuity and talent, lower energy bills for families and businesses, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs for years to come.

The administration is taking the steps to do so. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recently announced the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history. The federal government will offer 76.9 million acres in Gulf of Mexico for energy exploration and production. Yet the large majority of federal waters, including those in the Pacific, remain off limits to oil and gas development.

Not only would opening access on the west coast spur job creation, both the federal and California government would collect revenues from bonus bids for new leases, royalties, rents, and increased economic activity. Drilling off states’ coasts and giving California a larger share of the royalty revenue would encourage more state involvement. California could use the revenue to close the state’s deficit or for coastal restoration and conservation.

Increased energy production will also help the Trump administration achieve is its 3 percent growth target. Energy was one of the bright spots during a slumping economy. It can and should continue to shine in a healthy economy, where people and businesses are using and demanding more energy.

Rolling back Obama’s climate legacy will achieve an important policy reform: it would make environmental regulation outcome-based, rather than “cause” driven. For far too long, the federal government has promulgated ever-increasing and ever stricter environmental standards, with little to no regard for whether the benefits outweigh the costs.

America’s environmental policy is in dire need of reform. Pumping the brakes on costly regulations that provide negligible benefits is a good place to start.

The Obama climate legacy would have been ruinous for economic growth. By undoing his “hang the cost” regulations, the Trump administration is steering America toward a more prosperous future — without sacrificing our environmental standing in the world.