President Trump Silences Public to Help Polluters

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is set to issue rules today that could curtail the public’s right to have a say in the pipelines, highways, incinerators, and other government-approved projects that will define their neighborhoods for decades to come.

The Trump administration’s rules would allow federal agencies to willfully ignore the serious environmental and health impacts of their decisions, undermining the core protections established in the landmark and bipartisan 1970 National Environmental Policy Act.

The following is a statement by Gina McCarthy, president and CEO of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“This is a clear attempt to silence and sideline people to make it easier for industry to pollute our communities. We will not let it stand.

“People have a right to weigh in before a highway project tears up their neighborhood or a pipeline goes through their backyard. Steamrolling their concerns will mean more polluted air, more contaminated water, more health threats and more environmental destruction.

“It is especially wrong-headed to undermine people’s right to speak up in the midst of a public health crisis that is hitting low-income people and communities of color the hardest because of the higher rates of pollution they live with every day.

“Now more than ever our leaders should be helping people breathe easier, not handing out favors to oil drillers, pipeline developers and other polluters.”

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NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Bozeman, MT, and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.​