Sumer Shaikh, 774-545-0128, sumer.shaikh@sierraclub.org
Trump and Wheeler Gut Clean Air Safeguards to Appease Fossil Fuel Billionaires As Economy Continues to Move Away from Coal
CHARLESTON, WV - Today, former coal lobbyist and acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler released an unlawfully weak carbon pollution policy that would gut the Clean Power Plan’s life-saving standards and do nothing to fight the climate crisis. The Wheeler-Pruitt proposal would remove clean air safeguards that protect West Virginia's health, environment, and air.
As the first-ever standards to cut carbon pollution from existing power plants, the Clean Power Plan would have reduced carbon emissions from the electricity sector by 32 percent, prevented 90,000 asthma attacks per year, and avoided 3,200 premature deaths per year by 2030. All told, the EPA estimated that the Clean Power Plan would have provided up to $45 billion in climate and public health benefits a year, while also helping drive the rapid expansion of affordable clean energy industries like solar, wind, and energy efficiency.
In contrast, today’s Wheeler-Pruitt Dirty Power Plan ignores the EPA’s legal obligation under the Clean Air Act to address dangerous carbon pollution from power plants by merely passing the buck to states to act. The rollback asks states to set their own policies and does little to prohibit powerful fossil fuel groups from helping set weak pollution standards, which won’t combat the climate crisis and are unlikely to survive challenges in court.
In response, Bill Price, Field Organizing Manager at the Sierra Club, released the following statement:
“The Wheeler-Pruitt Dirty Power Plan is one of the Trump Administration’s most egregious attacks on clean air, public health, and our state’s environment. The proposed rollback of life-saving clean air safeguards comes directly from the very coal industry executives who used to sign Wheeler’s paychecks and who want to pollute with impunity. Despite President Trump’s promises to save coal jobs, more than three dozen coal plants have retired since he was elected. Rolling back the Clean Power Plan will not save coal plants and allow Trump to fulfill his empty promise. Rather, the Dirty Power plan will expose West Virginian families and communities to negative health and environmental consequences. It’s all pain, no gain.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.