The first week of President Trump’s administration has been replete with new Executive Orders that do more harm than good to our country. Two of these orders could cause direct harm to our air, water and public health. The first, which attempts to push through the Dakota Access and the Keystone XL pipeline, threatens Native American tribes, farmers and communities along the pipeline route, as well our climate.
The Executive Order (EO) issued today could have even more far reaching consequences. By requiring that agencies to eliminate two existing rules for every one they enact, while also setting an overall “budget” for new regulatory costs each year, the Trump administration is putting some of our bedrock environmental, health and safety laws at risk. Instead of enacting rules to protect the public, this EO will protect oil, gas and mining industry profits by eliminating much-needed environmental standards that protect air and water, and allowing corporations to regulate themselves instead.
Families and communities around the country will feel the impacts of this harmful EO immediately. Upcoming regulations to protect taxpayers from bearing the burden of toxic pollution from the hardrock mining industry and updated rules for the management of oil and gas drilling wastes are vital new standards that could be put on hold until corporate special interests identify current safeguards for the Trump administration to repeal.
Enforcement of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and many more of our bedrock environmental laws could be at risk. It is time the public, and lawmakers, fight back against these arbitrary attacks on rules promulgated in the public interest. If the Trump administration and Republican lawmakers succeed, the profits of corporations will come before environmental safeguards that protect the American people.