Things may not be that rosy between Trump and his secretary of state, and his former HHS head Tom Price had to walk the plank, but the president’s EPA administrator Scott Pruitt seems to be conducting himself in accordance with the boss’s orders.
On Monday, Pruitt, in keeping with the Trump agenda, announced plans to withdraw the Clean Power Plan. This must have pleased Trump to no end, as it is another way of doing away with President Obama’s regulation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Trump was unable to celebrate the repeal of Obamacare, but the outlook appears to be brighter now with Pruitt’s promise to sign the proposal to repeal the wide-ranging regulation.
That regulation requires states to meet specific carbon emission reduction standards. Obama also attached a plan to enact renewable energy and low-income energy efficiency.
All of this is jeopardized, and unlike Trump’s threat to NBC, the removal of this emissions regulation would be devastating to the health and welfare of the nation, especially those suffering from asthma. Almost immediately there was an outcry from environmental activists, and they promised to fight the repeal.
We are in accord with Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, who said the repeal is “one of the most egregious attacks” on public health and climate safety.
Even former Mayor Michael Bloomberg assailed the plan, stating that the EPA “can repeal the Clean Power Plan but not the laws of economics. This won’t revive coal or stop the U.S. from reaching our Paris goal.”
In the past we have not always agreed with Bloomberg, but on this issue he is incontrovertibly true and we applaud him wholeheartedly.
On the other hand, there is no applause for Trump, and for him to get his way on this plan would be another notch in his belt and a repudiation of Obama’s legacy.
This is another piece of madcap lunacy from the Trump administration, and we cannot stress enough how this imperils the planet.
Pruitt is one of Trump’s most trusted and, we can see now, most dangerous surrogates, and he is sure to go if we can put his boss out of a job. And that is part and parcel of our charge that to Make America Great Again—Trump Must Go!