Op-ed: American Lives Lost Should Not Be a ‘Side Effect’ of Building Modern World.

Fifty years ago, Congress passed the Clean Air Act which promised Americans a commitment to air that was safe to breathe, water pure enough to drink, and communities protected from daily exposure to toxic chemicals.

The legislation remains the law of the land, but the Trump administration is taking aim at dismantling it and walking back numerous US government efforts to combat climate change and protect the environment. These laws have saved millions of lives, but we risk losing this progress if this walk back continues unabated.  

Just weeks after being sworn in as US Energy Secretary, Chris Wright spoke about the Trump administration’s efforts to support fossil fuels to a packed room of oil and gas executives in Houston. 

Wright dismissed climate change and environmental pollution as simply being a “side effect of building the modern world.” 

In other words, it doesn’t matter how many Americans die of cancer, how many pollution and climate disasters devastate American communities, or how many vicious  fires, floods, storms and droughts sweep through our neighborhoods.  The Trump administration’s view appears to be that this carnage should be expected.

But it’s illegal!

Trump’s biggest challenge in cutting back environmental protections is that the Clean Air Act is designed to protect Americans and remains a legally binding promise.

Backed by these protections over the last 50 years, citizens groups, local governments, health experts and responsible businesses have helped make everyday life safer.  Even with that progress, today only half of Americans can take a deep breath, turn on the tap and drink the water, and go eat a picnic in a park without risking their health and/or shortening their lives. We have accomplished half of the job.

Instead of Making America Great, or Making America Healthy, the Trump administration’s EPA is running roughshod over safety standards, allowing any responsible energy companies or other businesses to poison the air, pollute the water and disrupt the climate even if the law instructs them to avoid such dangerous behavior.

Trump seems to have chosen the Clean Air Act as his test bed for the premise that Congress (and the Courts) are powerless to make such policy decisions because he, as President, can refuse to fund or enforce them.  The fact that Trump’s decision to rollback environmental safety standards, if allowed, will kill at least tens of thousands of people has been largely absent from news coverage of these rollbacks. The actual death toll of the lethal toxic releases and climate disruption are available and verified.  .  It’s time to put these stark figures in the spotlight.  For example, for every increase in temperature of only 1 degree, the average life expectancy falls by five months.

Fifty years ago, America decided that modernity meant safety, not recklessness, and innovation, not insider capitalism. For fifty years we have demonstrated that cleaner air strengthens prosperity and clean water enhances property values. The destruction of America communities cannot be allowed to be dismissed as a “side effect” of “building the modern world.” Cleaner air and water were essential ingredients of that economy.