Trump's Environmental Damage
While the presidency of Donald Trump has resulted in 400,000 deaths (and counting) from COVID-19, an abysmal economy, an insurrection that resulted in the storming of the US Capitol that left five people dead, and the nation teetering on the edge of civil war, another aspect of his destruction that is not mentioned nearly enough is the lasting damage he has left on the environment and the beautiful lands of America.
The Trump administration has overturned over 100 environmental rules and laws.
These rollbacks cover the entire spectrum of environmental areas, from water and oil to wildlife and Native American reservations. Everything Trump has done has been to put money in the pockets of coal and oil executives, while polluting and destroying the land and everything in it.
In 2017, the Trump admin. tried to make it harder to track the health consequences of perfluorooctanoic acid, a chemical once used in stain-resistant carpets and nonstick pans that contaminated drinking water. This chemical can cause kidney cancer, birth defects, and immune system disorders.
The E.P.A.’s abrupt new direction on legacy chemicals is part of a broad initiative by the Trump administration to change the way the federal government evaluates health and environmental risks associated with hazardous chemicals, making it more aligned with the industry’s wishes.
In 2018, they allowed for drilling in nearly all U.S. waters, which was the single largest expansion of offshore oil and gas leasing ever proposed by the federal government. Even while facing pushback from states and other groups, the Trump admin. did everything it could to make oil and gas drilling attractive to companies.
[The Department of] Interior has taken additional steps to reduce the financial burdens facing offshore developers in the hope of boosting investment. Last month, the agency announced it intends to rescind key safety regulations enacted by the Obama administration in 2016 to prevent another Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.
In 2019, the Trump admin. tried to remove all funding for endangered species through habitat conservation projects on non-federal land.
In the 2019 budget proposal released on Monday, President Donald Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke recommend allocating not a single dollar to the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, a program authorized by the Endangered Species Act that divvies out money to states and territories for voluntary species and habitat conservation projects on non-federal land. In fiscal year 2018, the fund received $53 million in appropriations.
Also in 2019, the Trump admin. attempted to open the entire coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration.
A herd of musk ox graze in an area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge/AP)
“By opening the entire coastal plain to oil drilling, the Trump administration has ignored data showing likely impacts on wildlife including the Porcupine Caribou Herd and polar bears,” said Lois Epstein, Arctic program director of the Wilderness Society. “The sprawl from oil activities in the coastal plain allowed under the Tax Act would devastate this ecologically sensitive landscape.”
Furthermore, the Natives who inhabit this area - the Gwich’in - and other Native peoples have protected this land for thousands of years. This move was seen as such an affront to human rights that the United Nations called for an investigation into it.
In August, the United Nations took extraordinary measures to call for an investigation into the United States regarding violations of the Gwich’in peoples’ human rights from proposed oil and gas development. After the government accelerated the leasing processes, the U.N. submitted a rare follow-up inquiry asking for further precautionary measures given the severity and urgency of the situation.
Again in 2019, the Trump admin. repealed clean water regulation that had placed limits on polluting chemicals being used near bodies of water.
The rule that was rolled back was designed to limit pollution in 60% of the U.S.’ bodies of water, protecting sources of drinking water for 1/3 of the U.S.
In 2020, the Trump admin. took steps to weaken rules which compelled auto companies to produce more fuel-efficient vehicles. These changes will result in a billion more tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to 1/5 of annual U.S. emissions.
“This will mean there will be more pollution associated with oil extraction, transport, refining – sort of all the way from the well to the pump,” [Paul Billings, senior vice-president of advocacy for the American Lung Association] said. “This will mean high levels of smog, more coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, asthma attacks, COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) exacerbations and also more particulate pollution.”
The effects will be worse on communities near oil processing facilities and highways, often people of color and poorer Americans.
Also in 2020, the Trump admin. opened up the country’s largest national forest to more development and logging. The Tongass National Forest covers 25,000 square miles in Alaska, and plays a huge role in combatting climate change by holding an estimated 8% of all carbon stored in U.S. forests. Development and logging in certain parts of the forest could damage salmon streams and hunting grounds for Alaska Native tribes.
And now in 2021, just days before his exit, the Trump admin. approved a copper mine in Arizona that will destroy a sacred Native American site. They also approved one of the largest lithium mines in the world in Nevada, on federal land, along with a uranium mine in South Dakota, and a helium drilling project in Utah.
Donald Trump has destroyed America in so many ways, but the damage he has caused on our land and environment may be lasting.
While Joe Biden will reinsert America into the Paris climate accord, and has promised to put America on the path to net-zero emissions by 2050, we cannot afford another president like Trump who only acts on the basic impulses of greed and selfishness.
Now more than ever, we must be focused on our environment and the effects of climate change. As Copts, we should be caring much more about the earth and we should NOT be supporting candidates or parties that look to destroy the land for profit.