Trump's made so many orders
— on the environment and everything else — that it's hard to keep track, much
less resist. That's the point.
By
But all that was just a warm-up act.
Before we could really act on the EPA, down came
Constitution-shredding executive orders against refugees and Muslim immigrants.
The problem, for those of us who care about due process and the
rule of law, is that it’s impossible to put out one fire before the next one
begins — or to even keep track of everything.
For instance, as lawyers worked to ensure that Iraqis who’d put
their lives in danger working for the U.S. weren’t deported back to Iraq, Trump
removed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national
intelligence from his National Security Council.
In their place, he installed the controversial white supremacist
Steve Bannon (who’s stated that his goal is to “destroy the state”)
and his own chief of staff, Reince Priebus.
With so much going on, some speculate that Trump is trying to
create chaos, so Americans are too distracted to uncover and resist what he’s
really doing.
On the environmental front, some believe that Trump is holding
back on his plans until he can succeed in getting his pick for EPA
administrator confirmed by the Senate.
That nominee, Scott Pruitt, is a climate skeptic with several
pending lawsuits against the agency he’s been picked to lead.
If that’s the case, we should re-examine what’s occurred with
regard to the environment since inauguration, in preparation for what’s to
come. Some changes were part of the normal change of power in Washington,
whereas others were not.
For instance, any mention of climate change was wiped from the
White House website.
This is in part because the entire website turns over with each
new administration, removing all of the old speeches and press releases of the
outgoing president. However, Trump’s new energy page presents a reality in
which climate change doesn’t exist.
Moreover, the new administration froze all Obama-era regulations that hadn’t yet been finalized. In
itself, this is actually a standard action new presidents take. However, the
Trump administration went further than all previous presidents, also halting all EPA grants and
contracts.
Another standard practice is to stop agencies from putting out
press releases before the new administration has time to get its feet wet.
That said, the Trump administration has indicated it might
muzzle its environmental scientists, threatening to subject their work to a case-by-case review by political appointees before their
findings can be made public. That isn’t normal.
Initially, rumor had it that the EPA would remove its climate change website. This hasn’t occurred yet, but
some believe it’s because Trump wants to hold back until he can get Pruitt, a longtime
friend of the fossil fuel industry, confirmed.
Meanwhile, Trump has taken steps to reinstate both of the
nation’s most controversial oil pipelines, the Keystone XL and the Dakota
Access Pipeline.
Of course, with the Tweeter in Chief now in charge, some of the
most interesting developments occurred on Twitter. When Badlands National Park
tweeted data about climate change, their tweets were soon removed.
Shortly thereafter, “rogue” government twitter accounts appeared, purporting to give citizens
the truth from our federal agencies.
In short, if this is the warm-up, what’s to come is scary.
The “environment” is an abstract concept, but it’s the air we
breathe and the water we drink. We all must work to stay informed. Don’t get
distracted by chaos when it’s used to cover up even more destructive harm to
our nation and the planet it lives on.
OtherWords
columnist Jill Richardson is the author of Recipe for America: Why Our
Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It. Distributed by OtherWords.org.
