President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accords was one of the worst things he has done for the future of the United States and the planet. However, it is not the only thing he has done.
He has been rolling back EPA regulations since his presidency began. Here are just some of the awful things he has done to the planet since taking office:
1. February 14
Trump signed a bill repealing a rule that requires energy companies to report their payments to foreign governments.
2. February 16
Trump got rid of the stream protection rule, which prevents mining companies from dumping their waste into streams.
3. February 28
Trump instructs the EPA to rewrite a rule that protected the drinking water for over 117 million Americans.
4. March 2
On March 1, governors and attorneys general from several red states wrote to Scott Pruitt, head of the EPA, to request that they stop collecting methane emissions data from 15,000 oil and gas operations. The next day, Pruitt obliged after he said he had “heard from the industry.”
5. March 15
Trump announced that the EPA will be reviewing President Barack Obama-era standards to try and improve fuel efficiency in vehicles by 2025. Pruitt calls the standards costly for automakers and for the American people.
6. March 28
A huge executive order penned by Trump rolls back one of Obama’s key environmental changes. This ends the moratorium on coal mining and it removes climate change as a consideration for approving federal projects.
7. March 29
Pruitt denied a bid to halt the use of chlorpyrifos, a popular pesticide.
8. April 11
A court grants the EPA’s request to delay implementing Obama-era ozone pollution standards. Bad ozone can create smog and can trigger a bunch of health ailments, especially among children, the elderly and those with respiratory problems.
9. May 23
A pause is put on the implementation of methane landfill regulations, so the EPA can “reconsider certain aspects” of them.
10. June 27
The EPA proposes to scrap the clean water rule. This would reverse an Obama-era rule that protects the drinking water of over one-third of Americans.
Featured image via EPA.gov/ Public Domain.
