WASHINGTON – In a stunning surrender of its mandate to protect health and the environment, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a slew of major actions within just the last day that would leave millions of Americans with more expensive energy bills, breathing dirtier air, facing greater risk of flooding and confronting climate change with no help from the federal government.
No action was too small or too large. EPA yanked grants to help southern Appalachian communities prepare for increasing risks of flooding. It halted contracts that are being used to save urban, rural and Tribal homeowners on their utility bills. It announced plans that could further attack protections for the waterways and wetlands we all depend upon for clean and safe drinking water. Despite a mountain of scientific evidence, it started the process of reconsidering the over-arching finding that climate change endangers all of our health and welfare. And it said it would reconsider standards that clamp down on pollution from power plants, vehicles and oil drilling, threatening communities across the country with dirtier air and water.
The following is a statement from Alexandra Adams, chief policy advocacy officer at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):
“In a staggering spate of actions over just 24 hours, Donald Trump’s EPA told the American people they could no longer count on the federal government to protect them from polluted air and water.
“With these actions, the Trump EPA is trying to take us back to the days when rivers caught fire, toxic chemicals forced families to abandon their homes and acid rain ravaged our forests. This won’t make America healthier or greater. It takes us backwards to a dirtier and sicker time of at least a generation ago.
“Much of the Trump administration’s efforts to gut the work of the federal government has run aground in the courts, because they violate the law. Many of these actions will be challenged, as well, and we expect that federal judges will continue to block illegal executive actions.
“But EPA’s actions send a clear signal: Polluters will get a free ride and the rest of us will pay for it.”
Background
- EPA announced that it would cancel $20 billion in contracts to groups that are $20 billion of contracts that are poised to deliver unprecedented clean energy upgrades to homes, businesses, schools, and churches across the nation. These projects will create jobs, lower energy bills and curb the carbon pollution causing climate change.
“If Trump administration really cared about lowering energy bills, creating jobs, addressing the budget deficit and growing the American economy, it would be leaning into this program, not cancelling legal contracts,” Adam Kent, the director of green finance at NRDC said in a statement.
- The EPA also moved to cancel $2 billion in grants to help communities burdened by pollution and to shutter every environmental justice office nationwide, according to published reports.
“Trump’s EPA is taking us back to a time of unfettered pollution across the nation, leaving every American exposed to toxic chemicals, dirty air and contaminated water,’’ said Matthew Tejada, senior vice president for Environmental Health at NRDC said in a statement.
- EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a new effort likely to result in regulatory changes that further weaken the Clean Water Act by restricting protections for streams, wetlands, and other vital waterways.
“If it follows through with this plan, the administration will be taking an extreme approach that endangers communities across the country—leaving them more exposed to toxic pollution, dangerous flooding, and the contamination of drinking water supplies for tens of millions of people,” Andrew Wetzler, senior vice president for Nature at NRDC said in a statement.
- Zeldin also unveiled an unprecedented plan to repeal or weaken 31 crucial standards that protect public health and address the climate crisis.
“Breaking faith with the American people and breaking five decades of precedent, the Environmental Protection Agency today abandoned protecting human health and the environment,” said Jackie Wong, senior vice president for climate and energy at NRDC said in a statement.
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd).
