Trump Administration’s Impact on the Environment
With the Trump administration, there has been lack of focus on the importance of environmental protection and conservation. The following stories bring focus to current proposals and policy changes being brought forth and the voices that oppose them.
President Trump released his proposal for offshore drilling earlier this year, which involved opening up the entire coastline of the United States for drilling. This was obviously met with harsh criticism from environmental groups, political officials, and the public. Dozens of protestors filled the streets of Concord, New Hampshire on Monday, March 5th, as officials met to discuss the process that could lead to drilling for oil on the Outer Continental Shelf. Protestors could be seen with signs reading “Stop Big Polluters” and “No Spill No Drill No Kill”. The director of the Conservation Law Foundation of New Hampshire, Tom Irwin, explained to reporters the impacts this proposal would have on fisheries, tourism, and recreation in New England. Drilling along the coast could impact nearly 250,000 jobs within New England and affect the $17.4 billion in economic activity. The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held the hearing, which was one of 23 scheduled. The next one is set to meet in Maine on March 7th.
Another controversial topic, which started in March of last year, was the Trump administration suggesting shrinking Bears Ears National Monument. Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, asked an official within the Department of Interior to consider shrinking the boundaries due to oil and gas deposits within the protected area. The extraction of oil in the area could raise revenue for public school if no longer under protection. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said, “We also have a pretty good idea of, certainly, the oil and gas potential — not much! So Bears Ears isn’t really about oil and gas.” This was said after President Trump made the announcement of shrinking Bears Ears by 85 percent. Majority of the deliberations were completed behind closed doors. The New York Times obtained the Interior Department emails after it sued the agency in federal court for failure to respond to an open records request in August asking for internal records related to the deliberations. It can be seen within the email exchanges that oil was central from the beginning in shrinking Bears Ears National Monument.
President Trump’s support for the coal industry grows even clearer as he suggests rollbacks to clean energy initiatives. In the FY2019 budget Trump proposed cuts to programs designed to study how to mitigate climate change and research on renewable energy. Some of these programs include the EPA’s climate change research program, STAR, which funds environmental research and graduate student fellowships, Human Health Risk Assessment, to be cut by 40%, several NASA Earth-science missions, as well as U.S. State Departments Global Climate Change Initiative. The budget also suggests increased spending of fossil fuels, which includes $200 million to be spent on “clean coal”. As the year continues we can expect more cuts to environmental programs and initiatives.
The Trump EPA earlier this year loosened regulations on air pollution. The EPA dropped “once in, always in” (OIAI), which is a Clinton administration EPA policy that hoped to lock in reductions of air pollution from industrial sources. Environmental activists and lawyers are concerned for populations near major industrial polluters, which could increase exposure to air pollution. “This is among the most dangerous actions that the Trump EPA has taken yet against public health,” said John Walke, clean air director at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), in a statement. Many environmental groups are ready to fight back and sue the EPA to attempt to block this policy change.
Another major set back in environmental progress was the Trump administration’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement. The summit was to set the world on course to keep global surface temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius. Trump stated, “I don’t want anything to get in our way. The U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate accord, but begin negotiations to reenter either the Paris accord or a really entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its taxpayers.” The United States is the second-largest emitter of carbon, after China, but it has contributed the most to emissions over time, accounting for about a third of the excess and warming carbon in the atmosphere today. However, because of the way the agreement was designed, it will take years for the U.S. to fully exit. According to its rules, the earliest Trump could give written notice of withdrawal would be November 2019, and we wouldn’t officially exit it until November 4, 2020, the day after the next presidential election. Hopefully, the next administration can put the U.S. back on track for mitigating climate change.
From the beginning of President Trump’s presidency he has made it clear that the environment isn’t of priority during his term. These are only five cases from the over the past year in which the president has changed important policy protecting the environment or suggested potentially destructive new policies. Increasing opposition from environmentalists, politicians, and the public will hopefully bring awareness that this is not the direction the U.S. wants to head in.
Works Cited
Casey, Michael, and Holly Ramer. Protesters Rally against Trump’s Oil Drilling Plans. 5 Mar. 2018, www.wral.com/meetings-about-oil-drilling-on-tap-for-maine-new-hampshire/17394052/.
Greshko, Michael, et al. “EPA LOOSENS REGULATIONS ON TOXIC AIR POLLUTION.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 12 Feb. 2018, news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/#close.
Greshko, Michael, et al. “TRUMP PROPOSES CUTS TO CLIMATE AND CLEAN-ENERGY PROGRAMS.” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 12 Feb. 2018, news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/#close.
Harrington, Rebecca. “Trump Withdrawing From Paris Climate Agreement.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 1 June 2017, www.businessinsider.com/trump-paris-agreement-climate-change-2017-6.
Lipton, Eric, and Lisa Friedman. “Oil Was Central in Decision to Shrink Bears Ears Monument, Emails Show.” The New York Times, 2 Mar. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/climate/bears-ears-national-monument.html.
