Analysis, Commentary, Environmental

Analysis: Trump Infrastructure Scam Would Gut Environmental Protections and Benefit Corporate Polluters


Donald Trump on White House south lawn
President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, December 4, 2017. AP/Susan Walsh

Washington, D.C. —(ENEWSPF)—January 29, 2018

By: Christy Goldfuss and Alison Cassady

President Donald Trump’s so-called plan to fix the nation’s infrastructure would gut or require significant changes to no fewer than 10 bedrock environmental laws that protect the nation’s clean water, air, wildlife and national parks, according to a new analysis from the Center for American Progress.

“No one should be fooled by Trump’s infrastructure scam,” said Christy Goldfuss, CAP’s senior vice president of Energy and Environment Policy. “This is little more than a Trojan horse designed to promote the interests of corporate polluters over communities and the environment.”

The plan would target the Endangered Species Act by prioritizing new development over the protection of wildlife that is on the brink of extinction. It would make changes to the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act to make it easier for corporations to break ground and avoid “inconvenient” air and water quality protections. And it would hollow out the National Environmental Policy Act that requires federal agencies to reduce the impact of construction on the environment, public health, and cultural resources.

The proposal even includes some mystifying provisions, such as one to give Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke unilateral authority to site natural gas pipelines in national parks.

Rather than sell out clean water and air for short-sighted construction policies, the Trump administration should instead speed up construction permits by taking advantage of laws that are already on the books. That requires adequate funding for the federal agencies involved in the permitting process.

Read the analysis: “Trump’s Infrastructure Scam Will Gut Environmental Protections To Benefit Corporate Polluters” by Christy Goldfuss and Alison Cassady

Source: www.americanprogress.org


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