Donald Trump delivered an inaugural speech today promising to “put America first,” but the White House’s new website makes clear that his agenda for America puts polluters first. Allow us to introduce you to the America First Energy Plan, a radically backward approach to environment and energy. The platform invokes jobs claims—supplied by a think tank backed by the fossil fuel industry—as the rationale for rolling back federal safeguards that have helped Americans to breathe clean air and drink clean water, specifically the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan and Clean Water Rule. While entirely omitting the investments in wind and solar that are a leading source of new jobs, the plan promises to bring back the coal industry—despite the economic factors responsible for coal’s decline and the damage burning coal inflicts on human health. It also claims that “President Trump will refocus the EPA on its essential mission of protecting our air and water” (as opposed to climate), but Scott Pruitt, Trump’s nominee to head the EPA, has a long history of attacking the agency’s efforts to protect air and water from conventional pollutants.
Related Content
The Upcoming War on Our Health and Environment
NRDC Annual Energy Report: The U.S. "Clean Energy Revolution" Is Making Historic Gains and Will Not Be Reversed
Scott Pruitt Wants to Take Us Back to the ’50s
