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Andrew Wheeler testifies Photo: Al Drago, AFP via Common Dreams
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, appeared before Congress yesterday and when asked about all the rollbacks of environmental regulations by the agency recently, he defended his leadership saying “All our rules make things better.” Just in the last few weeks alone, under his leadership, the EPA has refused to regulateperchlorate, a toxic chemical compound that contaminates water and has been linked to fetal and infant brain damage, told polluters that because of COVID-19 he would suspend enforcement of environmental laws that require companies to monitor their pollution, and failed to back up his staff who objected to the Transportation Department’s rationale for rolling back the Obama Clean Car Rule.
Why This Matters: It is patently clear that EPA is making things better for corporate polluters, not ordinary citizens who are negatively impacted by them. This administration has systematically worked to pull back dozens of environmental protections for the public — these rollbacks make people sick and they hasten the deaths of thousands of Americans. And now as we face the COVID-19 pandemic, which we know is more deadly for people who have been exposed to pollution, they are busy trying to expose even more Americans to pollution.
Devastating Recent Rollbacks
In response to Administrator Wheeler’s testimony, the Environmental Working Group put out this list of the EPA’s recent rollbacks of environmental, health, and safety regulations. The EPA has:
Rolled back auto fuel efficiency standards to allow more than a billion additional tons of carbon dioxide pollution from tailpipes.
Used the coronavirus pandemic as a reason for halting enforcement of critical environmental laws for the fossil fuel, chemical, manufacturing and electricity industries.
Proposed to scrap protections for children from atrazine, a toxic pesticide linked to birth defects and cancer.
Ignored worker safety in the decision to keep methylene chloride, a lethal paint-stripper chemical, legal and in use.
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World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and HP just announced that they’re taking their friendship to the next level. The odd couple is teaming up and expanding their partnership to restore, protect, and improve the management of almost one million acres of forest. HP is pledging $80 million to forest conservation and restoration, and not stopping there […]
Researchers from the National University of Singapore used data from more than 1,000 twin siblings to evaluate their opinions about environmental policy. They found identical twins were more likely to have similar views on green policy than non-identical twins, suggesting that support for climate action may have a genetic component. Felix Tropf, a professor in […]
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