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Davis statement on Trump Administration proposed rules which would harm the environment and public health

08/15/19
Davis statement on Trump Administration proposed rules which would harm the environment and public health
 
Climate change resulting from the burning carbon-based fuels for energy poses an urgent and critical threat to public health and welfare. Emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel powered electric utility generators account for nearly 40 percent of the United States’ carbon pollution. 
 
The Obama administration designed the Clean Power Plan to lower the carbon dioxide emitted by power company smokestacks and create new opportunities to develop an economically efficient, job creating, clean energy economy. The EPA projected that by 2030 the Clean Power Plan would reduce total CO2 emissions from U.S. power plants to 32% below 2005 levels yielding significant climate benefits along with important reductions in other harmful pollutants that will translate into thousands of lives saved per year and tens of thousands of avoided asthma attacks. 
 
Now the Trump Administration Is attempting to implement it's so-called Affordable Clean Energy rule, ignoring the E.P.A.’s responsibility under the law to set limits on greenhouse gases  by weakening clean air regulations and seeking to relax air quality rules imposed on coal-fired power plants and targeting vehicle emissions standards in states like California. Data shows that those standards have helped improve air quality. 
 
A newly released EPA funded study of more than 7,000 people of various ethnicities and races between 2000 and 2018 in six major metro areas including Chicago found that an individual’s exposure to ozone pollution by as little as 3 parts per billion was significantly associated with an increased risk equivalent to smoking one pack of cigarettes every day for 29 years.
 
This week the Trump Administration released another provocative proposed rule. This time proposing a sharp rollback in the protections of The Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act has legislative roots reaching all the way back to 1900. The new rule would prevent the Fish and Wildlife Service from automatically offering full endangered species protections to wildlife classified as "threatened" and minimize its consideration of climate change when analyzing a species. Once again it raises questions on whether inappropriate political influence overruled decisions that should have been based on the best scientific information
 
One reason theTrump administration is rushing forward with these dubious and harmful regulations Is that they are running out of time to propose major cuts in previous administration regulations beyond what they have already proposed. The process to undo such regulations is time-consuming and complex end involves multiple notices, public comment periods, cost-benefit analyses, agency reviews and, often, court challenges. 
 
I will continue to do everything in my power to prevent these disastrous regulations from going into effect. 
 
Climate change resulting from the burning carbon-based fuels for energy poses an urgent and critical threat to public health and welfare. Emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel powered electric utility generators account for nearly 40 percent of the United States’ carbon pollution.
 
The Obama administration designed the Clean Power Plan to lower the carbon dioxide emitted by power company smokestacks and create new opportunities to develop an economically efficient, job creating, clean energy economy. The EPA projected that by 2030 the Clean Power Plan would reduce total CO2 emissions from U.S. power plants to 32% below 2005 levels yielding significant climate benefits along with important reductions in other harmful pollutants that will translate into thousands of lives saved per year and tens of thousands of avoided asthma attacks.
 
Now the Trump Administration Is attempting to implement it's so-called Affordable Clean Energy rule, ignoring the E.P.A.’s responsibility under the law to set limits on greenhouse gases by weakening clean air regulations and seeking to relax air quality rules imposed on coal-fired power plants and targeting vehicle emissions standards in states like California. Data shows that those standards have helped improve air quality.
 
A newly released EPA funded study of more than 7,000 people of various ethnicities and races between 2000 and 2018 in six major metro areas including Chicago found that an individual’s exposure to ozone pollution by as little as 3 parts per billion was significantly associated with an increased risk equivalent to smoking one pack of cigarettes every day for 29 years.
 
This week the Trump Administration released another provocative proposed rule. This time proposing a sharp rollback in the protections of The Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act has legislative roots reaching all the way back to 1900. The new rule would prevent the Fish and Wildlife Service from automatically offering full endangered species protections to wildlife classified as "threatened" and minimize its consideration of climate change when analyzing a species. Data shows that those standards have been highly effective in protecting endangered species and the environments they live in. Once again it raises questions on whether inappropriate political influence overruled decisions that should have been based on the best scientific information
 
One reason theTrump administration is rushing forward with these dubious and harmful regulations Is that they are running out of time to propose major cuts in previous administration regulations beyond what they have already proposed. The process to undo such regulations is time-consuming and complex end involves multiple notices, public comment periods, cost-benefit analyses, agency reviews and, often, court challenges.
 
I will continue to lead efforts to prevent these disastrous regulations from going into effect.
 

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