The idea of US President Donald Trump’s defending his administration’s environmental policies on July 8 at the White House may have struck his critics as ludicrous. But it made sense when he again linked environmental protection to secure domestic energy supplies and strong economic growth.
“For years, politicians told Americans that a strong economy and a vibrant energy sector were incompatible with a healthy environment. In other words, one thing doesn’t go with the other, and that’s wrong. We’re proving the exact opposite. A strong economy is vital to maintaining a healthy environment,” Trump said.
The president said the Obama administration “waged a relentless war on American energy” which sought to punish US workers, producers, and manufacturers “with ineffective global agreements that allowed the world’s worst polluting countries to continue their practices.” He said his administration’s rejection of this approach has led to the creation of 6 million new jobs since it came into power early in 2017.
“We’re unlocking American energy, and the US is the world’s largest exporter of clean, affordable natural gas,” Trump said. “One of the main messengers of air pollution—particulate matter—is six times lower here than the global average. Since 2000, our country’s carbon emissions from energy have declined more than any other country on Earth. Emissions are projected to drop in 2019 and in 2020. We’ve been taking on a tough job, and not everyone knows it.”
US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew R. Wheeler, who attended the event with several members of Trump’s cabinet and congressional Republican leaders, noted that since the president came into office, all six criteria air pollutants have been reduced, US access to clean drinking water now leads the world, and the number of annual chemical waste Superfund deletions have reached their highest level since 2005.
Cleaner energy production
“Additionally, here in the US, our energy is produced in ways consistent with environmental progress,” Wheeler said. “From 2005 to 2017, total US energy-related carbon dioxide emissions fell by 14%, while the US became the No. 1 energy producer in the world. In contrast, global energy-related CO2 emissions increased by over 20% over that same time period.”
Trump said, “The US does not have to sacrifice jobs to lead on the environment. My administration is now in the process of revising the past administration’s misguided regulations so they will protect [both] the environment and American workers.”
Congressional Democrats might call such revisions rollbacks. “His speech today was a desperate and failed attempt to change public opinion about this administration’s disastrous environmental record,” Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Ranking Minority Member Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.) said following the event.
