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President Donald Trump plans to allow air polluters to more easily hide the lives lost through their actions – and a senior climatologist and geophysicist calls for him to be held accountable.
The Trump administration has asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use a new method of projecting health risks related to air pollution, which would drastically reduce last year's estimates that an additional 1,400 premature deaths would occur each year through a new project proposal. emission regulations for coal-fired power plants, according to the New York Times. The plan is controversial, in part, because experts say it's not subject to peer review and it's not not scientifically sound, which sets a precedent for how the EPA tries to manage environmental regulations.
Its immediate effect, however, would be to allow the Trump administration to more easily apply its "Affordable Clean Energy" rule. Despite its name, there are ways to reduce the environmental protection measures set out in President Barack Obama's original clean energy plan, which he replaced.
"This is the next logical step in Trump's efforts and polluting interests that dictate his environmental policy to dismantle environmental protections put in place by both Republican and Democratic presidents," said Michael E. Mann, distinguished professor. Atmospheric Science at Penn State University, told Salon by email.
"Let's be honest: Trump chooses to kill people to increase profits from the polluting interests to which he is indebted," said Mann. "I can not think of a more insane act than that, and we are talking about a president who is known for his crazy acts.There is a reason I warned in October 2016 that Trump is a threat to the planet. "
When asked if he felt that the scientific community had a responsibility to break with his usual apolitical position in order to denounce Trump's positions, Mann forcefully stated that it was indeed the case. .
"I've been advocating for years, but better late than never," said Mann. "The short answer is: Yes, our planet is attacked by polluting interests and by politicians who charge it.The stakes could not be more important.We, scientists, can not remain on the sidelines. we need to be on the front lines, doing everything we can to inform public discourse on science relevant to policy. "
"The elections will have consequences." If a tiny fraction of the voters who had attended the last presidential election on the false pretext that there was no difference between the two candidates had voted, we would not be in. the difficult situation in which we find ourselves, "continued. "That being said, we can influence policy in many ways – we need to use our voice, say it, encourage others to do it, and support our children literally on the street because they recognize the issues. voice and use it, we must demand that policymakers represent our interests rather than polluting interests and we must exclude those who do not. "
Kevin Trenberth, a prominent senior scientist from the Climate Analysis section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, echoed this statement, telling Salon by e-mail that "there are many responsible companies that clean up after their activities, but it is often easy for others to exploit them by dumping their waste and pollution into the environment to the detriment of all.The government's essential role is to ensure that this does not happen With rules and regulations designed to protect the innocent, including many animals and ecosystems, the current US administration has given up its responsibility and ultimately paid a much higher price in many respects. Clean Again!"
Ken Caldeira, of Carnegie's global ecology department, was more direct and told Salon by e-mail that "it's a thing for the Trump administration to decide that more people should be killed because of air pollution in suspension because their life is worth less than the money Trump complains of false news, but then justifies his policy, creates his servants. false science and then use it to create a true politics ".
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