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Trump, who has dismantled scores of environmental rules and
rejected mainstream climate science since taking office, gave
the speech at a time of growing national support https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-climatechange/americans-demand-climate-action-reuters-poll-idUSKCN1TR15W
for strong environmental protections. He is widely seen as
vulnerable on that issue ahead of next year's presidential
elections.
Trump said America was a leader in providing clean drinking
water, had slashed air pollution and was cutting carbon
emissions, all while bolstering industry and reducing
regulation.
"A strong economy is vital to maintaining a healthy
environment," he said. "Punishing Americans is never the right
way to produce a better environment or a better economy. We have
rejected this failed approach and we are seeing great results."
Trump made the speech at the White House alongside Interior
Secretary David Bernhardt, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Council
on Environmental Quality chief Mary Neumayr and Environmental
Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
Wheeler told reporters ahead of the event that key air
pollutants have fallen around 70% since the 1970s, including
"under Trump's watch."
EPA data show huge improvements in air quality in recent decades
since the imposition of landmark environmental regulations like
the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. But they also show some
increases since Trump took office, in fine particulate matter
emissions like soot and smoke from the combustion of coal and
oil.
The United States also slipped in the global environmental
rankings to No. 27 in 2018 from 26th during the last year of the
Obama administration, according to the Environmental Performance
Index https://epi.envirocenter.yale.edu, a project by Yale and
Columbia universities to measure national performance on air,
water, forestry and other metrics.
Ken Cook, a spokesman for the Environmental Working Group,
called Trump's speech "utter fantasy".
"There has never been a president who has actively pursued an
agenda so hostile to the environment and public health at the
behest of polluters than Mr. Trump," he said.
"It’s absurd for President Trump to claim any environmental
credentials when his administration continues to drive a
destructive pro-polluter agenda at the expense of the American
people," said Jill Tauber, vice president of litigation, climate
and energy at Earthjustice, which has filed 120 lawsuits against
the administration.
FOSSIL FUEL SUPERPOWER
The United States has become the world's biggest oil and gas
producer over the last couple of years, thanks mainly to a
technology-led drilling boom.
Trump's administration has sought to pave the way for even more
development by reducing regulatory red tape for the fossil fuels
industries and expanding leasing on federal lands.
He has also vowed to pull the United States from the Paris
Climate Agreement, an international accord to fight global
warming through carbon emissions cuts and a transformation of
the world economy away from fossil fuels.
Trump's speech was scheduled in part to mark the EPA’s formal
completion of the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule to
encourage efficiency from coal-fired power plants.
The ACE rule replaces the Obama administration's Clean Power
Plan, a signature climate change measure that would have forced
utilities to shut down coal plants.
On Monday, the Clean Air Task Force filed suit on behalf of the
American Lung Association and American Public Health Association
to challenge the ACE.
(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Richard Valdmanis
and David Gregorio)
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