Trump Declares War on Climate Change and Clean Air with Executive Orders

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Trump Declares War on Climate Change and Clean Air with Executive Orders

President Trump signed a broad executive order today intended to kill federal action on climate change and push fossil fuels over renewable energy. These orders will suspend, rescind or flag for review more than a half-dozen measures under the Obama Administration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A major part of the Executive Order is to eliminate the Clean Power Plan as well as lifting the moratorium on coal leasing on federal lands, increasing the limits on methane leaks, and rescinding National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidance that directs agencies to account for the climate crisis. Another piece of the order will direct the Bureau of Land Management to rescind the 2015 rule updating controls on hydraulic fracturing on federal and tribal lands, as well as eliminate review of emissions standards for new oil and gas operations. These actions will threaten green jobs, our economy, while putting more people at risk to climate change.

“President Trump has just declared war on clean air and climate scientists to give polluters a free pass to pollute our environment. Trump is dismantling all of the progress that has been made by ending half a dozen programs to help stop climate change and reduce air pollution. He has went after the Obama’s Clean Power Plan, while gutting rules to reduce methane emissions, and stopping environmental reviews from considering climate change. What our President is doing is siding with corporate polluters, especially from the oil, coal, and gas industry over our public health. In New Jersey, it means we will see more toxic pollution in our lungs from other states in the Mid-West and Pennsylvania. Instead of moving forward with green jobs that will boost our economy, Trump’s actions are undermining clean energy while making us more vulnerable to the next storm,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “While climate change is one of the biggest threats to our country, Trump is a climate-denier because he is in lock step with the fossil fools in Washington. This is all part of Trump’s anti-environmental agenda to put corporate polluters in front of the best interests of the United States.”

Carbon pollution is the main contributor to climate change and leading cause of breathing problems in New Jersey. Under the Clean Power Plan, the U.S would cut carbon emissions from power plants by 32% from the 2005 levels. The Clean Power Plan would help avoid 3,600 premature deaths, 90,000 asthma attacks in children and deliver total health benefits of $14 billion to $34 billion in 2030 to the American people. In addition, average electric utility bills for consumers were projected to decline by more than $80 per year when the Clean Power Plan is fully implemented. New Jersey was originally one of the 11 states that sued the EPA to issue a carbon rule to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. We won the victory in 2007 at the U.S. Supreme Court during the Massachusetts vs. EPA case. However, Governor Christie was one of 27 Republican Governors suing to block the Plan to try turn that case on its head.

“With the President’s executive orders to rollback climate protections, we will see more pollution and dirty air. What Trump is trying to do is rescue the dinosaur coal power plants that are dying because they are clearly the technology of the past. Coal-fired power plants are one of the largest sources of pollution in the country, emitting thousands of pounds of toxic mercury and air toxic pollution every year. Mercury, dioxin, arsenic, and other air toxics emitted from power plants are the most hazardous air pollutants,” said Jeff Tittel. “Even though our two remaining coal plants are closing, New Jersey still gets one third of its air pollution from out-of-state. This means keeping coal plants open in Pennsylvania, the Mid-West and the South will directly impact our air here.”

In 2015, Obama set a goal of reducing these emissions 40 percent below 2012 levels by 2025, and both the EPA and the Bureau of Land Management set various rules forcing drillers to detect and plug their leaks. The Trump administration may now try to rewrite these rules. During the life-cycle of natural gas, methane is a climate pollutant 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame. Methane, escapes into the atmosphere during oil and natural gas drilling, fracking operations, and during transport. From the drill head to the well pad to pipelines, compressor stations, and power plants, methane leaks have significant impacts to greenhouse gas emissions.

“Instead of keeping fossil fuels in the ground, Trump is lifting the moratorium on coal mining and increasing fracking on public lands. This will mean more dumping of mining waste into our streams and air pollution from fracking. While he is lifting the limits on methane emissions from fracking, he is increasing smog, public health impacts like childhood asthma attacks, other respiratory ailments, and even premature death,” said Jeff Tittel. “At the same time, weakening the methane rules will increase our impact on climate change because methane is 84 more potent as a greenhouse gas. That means we will see more dirty power plants and exacerbate the need for pipelines threatening our communities and clean air. His actions is more about taking care of Big Oil and Gas over what is best for green jobs, the economy, and environment.”

Four Obama climate change-related executive orders are also being repealed including: seeking to cut federal government greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent over the next decade; another aimed at improving the resilience of communities to flooding; a 2014 order mandating the integration of climate change resilience into international development projects and a fourth from 2013 that aimed to boost federal agency coordination on climate resiliency. The effects that climate change could potentially have on New Jersey can be devastating from storm surges to flooding. Flooding in New Jersey will most likely become a regular occurrence and worsen if we continue to ignore climate change. New Jersey depends greatly on coastal tourism and many of our residents live along the coast.

“Even though Hurricane Sandy cost us billions of dollars and hundreds of lives, Trump is siding with the Koch Brothers over protecting us from climate change. Trump not only believes climate change is a hoax invented in China, his cabinet members are climate-deniers tied to the oil and gas industry. Now out of the 192 countries who signed the Paris Accords, Trump is the only world leader who is a climate-denier.The problem is what he is doing is denying people who live along the coast a future because this actions will increase flooding and sea level rise, while causing climate havoc for the entire country,” said Tittel.

Under the Obama Administration, utilities have announced the retirement of about one third of the nation’s coal fleet. According to reports at Politico, U.S. power plants are on track to emit 1.76 billion metric tons of carbon this year, a 27 percent reduction from 2005. If you subtract emissions from the 71 operating coal plants that already have announced retirement dates, the electric sector has just about met the plan’s final emissions goals 15 years early. We must keep the Clean Power Plan so we can continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, all of this progress is at risk with Trump’s executive order.

“Now that Trump has is pushing more dirty fuels over our clean air and environment, we must double down to demand action on climate change. When he says rollback, we say fight back. Even though New Jersey was one of the original states to sue the EPA to require a rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Governor Christie switched sides and sued against the Clean Power Plan. That is why it is so important states like New York, Massachusetts, and California along with Sierra Club go to Court against Trump’s rollbacks. We must build a mass movement and demand our representatives in Congress push back and protect our environment against Trump. We must work together and lead the fight for clean air, clean water and action on climate change,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “We need to stand up and fight for our environment like we did since the first few Earth Days. It will be up to us to protect our planet from Trump’s rollbacks. That is why we need to come together and march in Washington D.C. on April 29th for the People’s Climate March.”