Reason #3 to Vote Blue on Nov 5
In the June 27 CNN Debate, Trump was asked, “Will you take any action as President to slow the climate crisis?”
TRUMP REPLIED: “So, I want absolutely immaculate clean water and I want absolutely clean air, and we had it. We had H2O. We had the best numbers ever. … And my top environmental people gave me that statistic just before I walked on the stage, actually.”
However, his claim earlier in the debate, is more accurate, namely: “I … gave you the largest regulation cut in history.” And that generalization included administrative decisions that impacted “immaculate clean water.”
The previous Trump adminisitration rolled back about 125 environmental regulations. Nine of these related to rollbacks on water pollution and safety. (6 rollbacks were finalized; 3 were still in process when his administration ended.)*
“This will be the biggest loss of clean water protection the country has ever seen,” said Blan Holman [in 2020], a lawyer specializing in federal water policy at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “This puts drinking water for millions of Americans at risk of contamination from unregulated pollution. This is not just undoing the Obama rule. This is stripping away protections that were put in place in the ’70s and ’80s that Americans have relied on for their health.” **
EXAMPLE: The Trump administration on Monday [8/31/2020] weakened a 2015 regulation that would have forced coal plants to treat wastewater with more modern, effective methods in order to curb toxic metals such as arsenic and mercury from contaminating lakes, rivers and streams near their facilities. ***
“The Trump administration is once again jeopardizing people’s health to give coal power industry lobbyists what they want,” Thom Cmar, an attorney with the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, said in a statement Monday. “The Trump administration’s rollback will be responsible for hundreds of thousands of pounds of pollutants contaminating sources of drinking water, lakes, rivers and streams every year.” ***
To ensure clean rivers and clean drinking water, VOTE BLUE!
Resources:
* The Trump Administration Is Reversing Nearly 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List: https://nyti.ms/2L3DbcI
** Trump Removes Pollution Controls on Streams and Wetlands: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/22/climate/trump-environment-water.html
*** Trump administration rolls back Obama-era rule aimed at limiting toxic wastewater from coal plants: https://wapo.st/3ShSu4L
