Worth A Review: Trump’s corrupt environmental rollbacks

16 million Americans. That’s how many lives are at risk with the Environmental Protection Agency’s new policy on perchlorate, a water contaminant tied to fetal damage that EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler decided not to limit. The EPA’s crusade to reverse environmental protections creates leniency for polluting corporations and has created toxic communities, especially for communities of color and folks in low-income neighborhoods.

These polluter giveaways also have major negative economic impacts. Take Trump’s reversal of fuel economy standards, which regulate the gas mileage and tailpipe pollution of new vehicles. In the report put out by his own administration, the rollback could cause as many as 1,000 premature deaths, eliminate nearly 13,500 jobs a year, and cost as much as $22 billion in net damage to the American economy. These protections are being undone at the same time that research shows pollution makes people more vulnerable to the coronavirus.

While the country — and scientific community, including health experts — are grappling with the pandemic, the Trump administration continues to push forward with the reversal of eight air pollution and emission rules, for a total of 100 environmental protections rollbacks.

Tom’s take: The Trump administration is weakening the economy and further endangering American lives during this public health crisis just to support fossil fuel CEOs and corporations. These rollbacks worsen existing environmental injustices and strip away the small progress we had made. If we’re going to address the COVID-19 pandemic and tackle the climate crisis, we must trust science — and stop putting corporate interests over American lives and our future.