Over the past four and a half decades, presidents from both parties
have furthered environmental protections designed
to keep the American people safe and healthy.
But President Trump and the Republican-led Congress,
are poised to wipe out these essential safeguards.
America is now facing the worst assault against
our environment
and health in our history.
President Trump has pledged to cripple the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
making it even harder to protect our natural resources,
and as a result,
the well-being of all Americans. Clean drinking water? Gone.
President Trump vowed to eliminate EPA's Clean Water Rule,
a critical rule that keeps contaminants out of drinking water supplies
for one in three U.S. residents. Clean air? Gone, too.
His plans to weaken smog standards and reject the Clean Power Plan
will give us dangerously dirty air
and higher risks of heart attacks, asthma attacks,
respiratory problems, and deadly heart and lung diseases. Climate progress? Derailed.
President Trump has called climate change a hoax
and has pledged to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
Now, instead of taking a leading role in curbing climate change,
the U.S. could fall behind some of the worst polluting nations. There is not a single environmental standard,
or regulation, or law, that is not going to be
challenged by this new administration.
If we care about the fate of our natural resources
and all they support,
if we care about American values,
of equity and justice for all people,
if we care about leaving our children a livable world,
it's on all of us, as citizens, to stand up to this threat.