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Read, Debate: Engage.
From relaxing fuel efficiency standards for vehicles and removing caps on CO2 emissions from power plants to uplifting restrictions on chemicals contaminating water sources and weakening protections for wildlife – the U.S. government under Trump has been diligent in slashing environmental regulations and favouring the financial interests of industries such as the coal and automobile sectors.
A recent investigation by The New York Times reveals that since Trump’s election in November 2017, the government has been reversing close to 100 environmental rules and regulations in various spheres. Their report, based on research by several institutions, including Harvard Law School and Columbia Law School, indicates that 60 environmental rules and policies have already been officially reversed by the Trump administration and that 34 additional ones are currently in the process of being repealed.
It appears that the looming presidential elections in November impelled the U.S. government to rapidly finalise as many policy rollbacks as possible. And with the national attention focused almost exclusively on the coronavirus crisis and ensuing economic collapse, the coast seems to be clear for the Trump administration to ram through environmental policy reversals and implement new pro-industry regulations.
The New York Times report breaks down the rollbacks based on several categories. Some of the policy reversals listed under 'air pollution and emissions' include relaxing the Obama-era emissions standards for passenger cars and light trucks, revoking California’s authority to institute stricter tailpipe emission standards, and replacing President Obama's Clean Power Plan, which set stringent caps on CO2 emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants, instead of allowing states to set their own standards. Among the policy reversals still in progress under this category is the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement – a process scheduled to be completed in November 2020.
As far as wildlife is concerned, the Trump administration has infamously weakened the landmark Endangered Species Act, and mounted challenges to defending wildlife from the long-term effects of the climate crisis. The administration has also, among other reversals, rolled back a policy protecting migratory birds and lifted a restriction on the hunting of predators in Alaska.
The report goes on to list countless policy reversals either already implemented or in progress in the spheres of drilling and extraction, infrastructure and planning, toxic substances and safety, and water pollution, as well as other reversal initiatives not grouped into a specific category.
The war waged by the Trump administration against the environment (and by extension, against the human race) was made possible by the meticulous gutting and deregulation of the government’s own environmental protection mechanisms, and particularly of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Under Trump, the EPA, an agency tasked with protecting the environment, has morphed into an entity working to corrode its own authority and clear the way for industrial pillaging of environmental resources. Over the past several years, the EPA has been staffed with unscrupulous individuals with industry affiliations who are determined to undermine and discount science – making climate change denial, for instance, the official stance of the department.
The inconceivable damage inflicted by the Trump administration will be evident for years to come. And while many of the new rules have or are expected to be challenged in court, it could take years to undo them. As stated in the New York Times report, even a Democratic victory in November does not guarantee a quick enough reversal of Trump’s catastrophic environmental agenda.
