Earlier this month President Trump, surrounded by multiple Cabinet members, presented his administration’senvironmental “accomplishments”in a speech to the nation. As noted by many fact-checkers, the president and his Cabinet made statements that were a series ofhalf-truths,cherry-picked data,andoutright fabrications．
One of my favorite words is “codswallop,” meaning nonsense. And a great synonym for codswallop is “trumpery.” I couldn’t have coined a better word myself to describe this ludicrous series of statements.
这不是无关紧要的,有这么多cabinet members in the room, including three who spoke (Interior Secretary Bernhardt, Energy Secretary Perry, EPA Administrator Wheeler, plus Mary Neumayr, director of CEQ). It is not clear why the other secretaries—Mnuchin, Azar, Chao, and Ross—were there. Maybe it was a slow day at Treasury, Labor, Transportation and Commerce. Or maybe it was just a way to stay out of the torrential rain that flooded DC that day.
Environmental action is too often pejoratively called “tree hugging,” when the reality is that it isn’t about that at all—it is truly about public health and safety. Protecting us from the health impacts of polluted air, water, soil, and oceans. Preserving natural systems to provide the critical services we need as a society (e.g. filtering water, buffering storms, sequestering carbon, providing food and recreation). And the loss of these “environmental” protections falls most heavily on the most vulnerable among us—the elderly, children, the poor, and communities of color.
Yes, this is a vital role of government—safeguarding our people. My colleagues at the Union of Concerned Scientists have written on many of the issues we are confronting where real federal government leadership, not Trumpery, is needed. The links below take you to a subsample:
Climate change
Trump’s speech falsely claimed the US federal government isleading the battleagainst climate change and its impacts. As recent Congressional hearings have shown, this isfar from the case．And the consequences are dire for oureconomy, oursecurity, andhuman health．To make real progress, we need to heed theinternational scientific advice on climate change, aggressively pursuecarbon sequestration policies, and reverse theadministration’s actionsongreenhouse gasemissions.
We need our government in both branches to enact national standards to make thetransition to low-carbon energy．Some states, likeMaine, are leading the way, but we need the federal government toget with the program．And we need to recognize and act upon the fact thatenergy povertyafflicts poor Americans with a heavy burden. We havemany of the toolsto change our energy system if our leaders will only help get us there.
Some members of Congress have stepped up, with innovative proposals for aGreen New Deal(which bears no resemblance to Trump’s description of it). This is a real opportunity to address climate change, environmental justice, and economic growth, if only our leaders can push ahead, not backward.
Transportation
Cars and trucks are a huge source of greenhouse gas emissions andpollution．它is clear that the brunt of that pollution falls onpoor communitiesandcommunities of color．Even as Transportation Secretary Chao and WPA Administrator Wheeler are trying toroll backfuel economy rules,Congressispushing back．
Thefuture of transportation is electricas our electricity system moves to zero carbon.Freight transportis a big part of this picture, and again, thetools are availableif our leaders would only aggressively lead the changes we need.
Air pollution
Air pollution kills.Trump and Wheeler were right when they said that we have made enormous progress as a country in reducing air pollution since the 1970s. That was accomplished by strong legislation, good regulations, and efforts to enforce the rules. What they left out was that this administration is努力拆除many Clean Air Act protections byrolling back rulesandsidelining science．Overall,Administrator Wheelerand his team seem to want to move the agency backward, not forward.
Because we have worked so long and so hard as a nation to reduce air pollution, we know what needs to be done if we had leaders who would step up to the problem, not deny it. Tighteningstandards基于science, evaluating regulations based onbenefits to the publicand not just costs, addressing ongoing issues such ascross-state pollution, andmonitoringandenforcingthe rules rigorously. Congress needs to step up and insist uponrigorous implementationof the Clean Air Act and other laws. And our agency leaders need to take the public interest as their mission, notindustry convenience．
Other pollution issues
While the President and Administrator Wheeler touted their work on Superfund site clean-up, the reality is rather different. Even the shiningexamplesthe President listed—West Lake landfill in St. Louisand the Kalamazoo River papermill in Michigan—are not completed, nor will they be in the near future. In addition torampant conflicts of interest, the Trump Administration has dramatically cut the budget for the Superfund program and reduced enforcement and accountability for industry, and the Superfund office has been hemorrhaging staff under Wheeler. And ignoringthe impacts of climate changeon Superfund sites adds to the mess.
What is really needed is a reinvestment in Superfund itself, a renewed effort to hold polluters accountable for legacy toxic waste, andprioritizingoverburdened, vulnerable communities. And planning for the severe weather events and other impacts that climate change is bringing.
Similarly, onwater pollution,chemicalsafety, andtoxic substances, Congress has pushed forward, but the administration has sidestepped the law. Congress needs to hold their feet to the fire and make sure real progress is made on these criticalpublic health issues．
Federal science and scientists
Real leadership to protect the public interest and public health and safety would ensure that ourfederal scientistscontinue to be at the top of their fields, theiradvice is valued and critical to policy decisions, and thatpolitical interferencethat censors science is stopped in its tracks. That’s not the record of this administration. Simply put, you cannot serve the public unless theprofessionalsin our federal agencies are supported and listened to, young talent is joining public service, and policies are shaped with the best information possible.
We need real environmental leadership in the federal government
All the Trumpery aside, we as a country clearly have a long way to go on a wide range of public health and environmental issues. We need to move forward and address the many challenges we face, new and old. The Trump Administration’s approach is seemingly predicated on the false assumption that we have no more public health and safety challenges to address and it is time to take a step back. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Reinvigorating our democracy means reinvigorating the approach the federal government takes to serving the public interest—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. To do that will take real leadership, not Trumpery. My colleagues and I will keep writing about what this administration is doing. We will also continue to write about what needs to be done. And when we do, we will call upon the American public to raise their voices—tell this administration that backtracking on public health and safety will not stand. Call on Congress to exercise their constitutional duty to oversee and as needed push back on the Executive branch. You are the constituents they are duty bound to serve, so speak up! Contact our federal agencies, submit formal comments on proposed actions, reach out to your elected representatives.We can help alert you to what is happening, but democracy is not a spectator activity. Democracy is a verb—something we all must do, not watch while shaking our heads.