EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt wants to roll back environmental regulations. You can take action to tell him that srong regulations are good for our health, our climate, and our economy. Photo: Gage Skidmore via CC 2.0
Back in February, President Trump issued an executive order requiring government agencies to review and evaluate all existing regulations on the books. This is all in service to an earlier executive order that says federal agencies must axe two regulations for each new one they create.
We have an opportunity right now to speak up and tell Trump’s climate-change-denying EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, that we depend on strong environmental regulations –and that we won’t stand by while this administration plays politics with our health, our climate, and our environment.
A Healthy Environment Spurs Economic Growth
It’s no secret that the President wants to weaken the environmental protections that have helped to make our air and water cleaner and improved public health over the last 40+ years. He thinks our environmental regulations are a burden to business (or, more specifically, to Big Gas, Big Oil, and Dying Coal), despite evidence that many current regulations actually help to create jobs and economic prosperity.
That goes for climate regulations, too. A recent report by the Brookings Institute shows that more than 30 states have successfully decoupled carbon emissions from economic growth, including every state in New England. In other words, you don’t have to burn more dirty fuels to grow the economy. In Maine, emissions have dropped 25 percent since 2000, while its economy has grown by 9 percent. Massachusetts cut its emissions by 22 percent in the same period and grew its economy by 21 percent.
Cutting emissions and boosting clean energy also helps to spur job growth. In the U.S. alone, employment in the renewable energy sector increased 6 percent in 2016, reaching nearly 800,000 people working across the industry. The U.S. Department of Energy’s own figures that show the solar workforce spiked 25 percent in 2016, with wind employment up 32 percent.
We All Have a Right to Clean Air and Clean Water
This administration chooses to ignore facts that don’t align with the views espoused by its industry backers. But here’s something that cannot be denied: Clean air, clean water, and a healthy climate are human rights; they should not be endangered by profit-driven executives in the fossil fuel industry and their friends in Washington.
Imagine what Boston Harbor would look like today if we hadn’t had the Clean Water Act to help force its cleanup.
Think about the Charles River; thanks to tough environmental regulations, its “dirty water” is just old song trotted out at Red Sox games (though there’s still work to do to truly make its waters clean and we need a strong EPA to help get it done).
And consider the emerging threats to our health posed by chemical contamination of our waters; we need strong regulations – and the means to enforce them – if we’re to successfully protect our communities from these new dangers.
May 15 Deadline to Speak Out and Take Action
The stakes are too high to stand by while the President and Scott Pruitt put our environment, our economy, and our health at risk. Administrator Pruitt is currently seeking public input on which environmental regulations are “burdensome” and should be rolled back or eliminated.
Please join us and make your voice heard. Leave a comment for Administrator Pruitt about his evaluation of our existing regulations. Tell the Administrator that:
- The burdens you most care about are those placed on our communities by unregulated industries that want to pollute our air, water, and climate and put our health, environment, and economy at risk.
- We must hold polluters accountable, and that means stronger regulations, not weaker ones.
- The evidence is clear – economic growth is helped, not hindered, by clean water, clean air, and lower carbon emissions. Strong regulations that protect our air, water, health, and climate go hand in hand with innovation and a healthy economy.
Comments must be submitted by Monday, May 15. Please don’t wait – speak up for today.
Thank you for standing with us for a clean, healthy, and thriving New England for all.
