What Happens when You Place a Fossil Fuel Lobbyist in Charge of Our Air Quality
President Trump placed a career fossil fuel lobbyist in charge of air quality, and sadly as a result, the American people are getting exactly what you would expect: a rollback of clean air policies that that puts the profits of fossil fuel companies ahead of the health and safety of all Americans. And New Hampshire, which is downwind from Midwest coal plants, will suffer disproportionate negative impacts from this rollback.
In New Hampshire, we’ve acted to clean our air, requiring our power plants to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and moving to increase our use of cleaner, renewable energy. But New Hampshire could take all of our cars off the road, and still suffer from air quality problems because of the pollution from upwind coal plants. For years, under both Democrats and Republicans, New Hampshire has fought at the federal level and in court to force the EPA to make Midwest power plants clean up their act and thanks to these efforts, we had begun to make progress.
But, President Trump is reversing our hard-won progress, and giving his friends in the fossil fuel industry free rein to pollute the air our children breathe. This decision will have real consequences for our health. The Trump Administration itself estimates that rolling back clean energy protections will result in up to 1,400 more premature deaths a year, 48,000 new cases of “exacerbated asthma,” and at least 21,000 new missed days of school annually by 2030. In contrast, in 2015, the EPA estimated that the Clean Power Plan would prevent up to 3,600 premature deaths each year once fully implemented.
But instead of putting people first, President Trump has put the fossil fuel industry in charge.
Consider the case of Bill Wehrum. Prior to his nomination as the Associate Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Air and Radiation — a critical office at the EPA in charge of our country’s air quality — Bill Wehrum fought to weaken clean air regulations on behalf chemical manufacturers, refineries, oil drillers, and coal-burning power plants.
In fact, in 2006, Mr. Wehrum was nominated by the Bush Administration for the same position, but given his record on air pollution, he was not confirmed by the Senate. In the years that followed, he continued to push the fossil fuel industry’s interests, representing clients like the American Petroleum Institute, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, and the American Chemistry Council in 31 cases of ligation against the EPA. Now, Mr. Wehrum is supposed to be responsible for holding his former clients accountable.
Rolling back clean air rules is another win for Mr. Wehrum’s friends in the fossil fuel industry, but a huge loss for the people this administration is supposed to serve. It threatens our citizens’ health, severely undermines efforts to restrict greenhouse gas emissions and combat climate change, hurts our long-term economic growth, and places the beautiful natural resources that define our state at risk.
We must combat the threat of air pollution and climate change. Unfortunately, the Trump Administration has refused to accept the settled science on climate change — and has instead worked to reverse the protections that are already in place and hired fossil fuel industry insiders to run the department that should be holding the industry accountable.
This fight isn’t over. I will continue working for a cleaner environment and stronger renewable energy future that reduces our dependence on fossil fuels and helps our people, businesses, and economy thrive.
