Bianca Sanchez, bianca.sanchez@sierraclub.org
ORLANDO, Fla - Today, Donald Trump’s EPA announced 31 deadly and dangerous actions the agency is taking, including attacking safeguards to limit pollution from power plants and vehicles, methane and other deadly emissions from oil and gas sources, Mercury and Air Toxics standards, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, wastewater regulations at coal plants, and many other critical protections for the environment and public health.
The standards that the EPA seeks to undermine are based on a strong scientific record and serve a number of public interests, including lowering the amount of deadly toxins fossil fuel-fired plants are allowed to release into the air and water, reducing pollution at steel and aluminum mills, and requiring fossil fuel companies to control pollution, like soot, ozone, and toxic and hazardous air pollutants at power plants.
If these rules are withdrawn, the American public will see devastating health impacts. EPA estimated that just one of the rules would prevent 4,500 premature deaths and save $46 billion in health costs by 2032. The health toll and cost of rescinding all the rules listed in the EPA’s announcement would be vastly higher.
“Families and ecosystems here in Florida will face the consequences of this administration’s unabashed loyalty to industry friends and reckless freeze on payouts from history’s largest ever investment in America-made energy,” said Susannah Randolph, Sierra Club Florida Chapter Director. “Rather than protecting the American people from the health, environmental, and economic cost of continued pollution, the Trump Administration has chosen instead to waive fees for companies that hurt consumers and our planet."
“Donald Trump’s actions will cause thousands of Americans to die each year. It will send thousands of children to the hospital and force even more to miss school. It will pollute the air and water in communities across the country. And it will cause our energy bills to go up even more than they already are because of his disastrous policies. But as they put all of us at risk, Trump and his administration are celebrating because it will help corporate polluters pad their profit margin,” said Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous. “The American people should be furious. The EPA exists to protect us from serious pollution that endangers our lives and wellbeing, but Trump and Lee Zeldin are attempting to turn it into corporate polluters’ best friend. Make no mistake about it: we will fight these outrageous rollbacks tooth and nail, and we will use all resources at our disposal to continue protecting the health and safety of all Americans.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, 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.