12 Trump attacks on the environment since the election
By Tara Lohan
But
a close look at regulatory actions and executive moves shows that, even as
Trump makes a show of refusing to concede or transition power to the incoming
Biden administration, his team is pushing through a slew of last-minute rules
and regulations.
Many
of these changes will harm the environment and public health.
It
isn’t surprising that an administration that has attempted to roll back more
than 100 environmental protections in
the past four years would step up its assault in its waning months. But that
doesn’t make the continued attacks any less important. Here’s some of what’s at
risk:
1.
Tribal Lands
Tribes
and environmental groups have fought for decades against a proposed copper mine
in an area of Arizona known as Oak Flat, which is a sacred site for a dozen
tribes, including the San Carlos Apache.
Now
the Trump administration is pushing to fast-track a deal that would transfer
ownership of the land, which is in the Tonto National Forest, to Resolution
Copper, a firm owned by mining companies Rio Tinto and Billiton BHP.
“Last
month tribes discovered that the date for the completion of a crucial environmental
review process has suddenly been moved forward by a full year, to December
2020, even as the tribes are struggling with a COVID outbreak that has stifled
their ability to respond,” an investigation by The
Guardian found. “If the environmental review is completed before Trump
leaves office, the tribes may be unable to stop the mine.”
2.
FERC Shakeup
Just
days after the election, Trump switched up the leadership of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, which has a hand in regulating hydroelectric projects,
as well as interstate transmission of electricity, oil and natural gas.
Chairman
Neil Chatterjee was replaced by fellow Republican James Danly, who has a more conservative view on
federal energy policy. Chatterjee, once
known as a “coal guy,” had recently advocated for policies supporting
distributed energy and for regional grid operators to embrace carbon pricing as
a market-based solution for addressing climate change.
3.
Hamstringing LWCF
The
Great American Outdoors Act, a major conservation bill signed into law in
August, allocated $9.5 billion to help fix national park infrastructure and
permanently fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
But
despite (falsely) hailing himself as a conservation hero at the law’s signing,
Trump has already begun undermining the legislation’s effectiveness. An order
signed by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt on Nov. 9 allows state and local
governments to veto any land or water acquisitions made through the fund.
Chris
D’Angelo at HuffPost called the move a
“parting gift to the anti-federal land movement.” Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who
advocated for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, wrote a letter to
Bernhardt urging him to rescind the order. “This undercuts what a landowner can
do with their own private property, and creates unnecessary, additional levels
of bureaucracy that will hamstring future land acquisition through the Land and
Water Conservation Fund,” he wrote.
In
another blow, officials and conservation groups in New Mexico were surprised to
learn that none of their projects proposed
to receive funding through the Land and Water Conservation Fund were selected
by the Department of the Interior. Some believe the move is political
retribution for being critical of the Trump administration and its policies.
4. Dam Raising
On
Nov. 20 the Trump administration finalized a plan to
raise the height of Northern California’s 600-foot Shasta Dam by 18.5 feet,
which would allow for more water storage. The reservoir feeds the federally run
Central Valley Project, which funnels water hundreds of miles south to cities
and farms. That includes the politically connected Westlands Water District in
the San Joaquin Valley, which formerly employed Interior Secretary David
Bernhardt as a lawyer and lobbyist.
The
state of California has strongly opposed the effort to raise the dam’s height
because it would flood the McCloud River, protected as wild and scenic. Conservation
groups also say the plan would threaten endangered species such as Chinook
salmon, delta smelt and Shasta salamanders.
California
Rep. Jared Huffman called it the
“QAnon of water projects, meaning it’s laughably infeasible and just not real.”
The
staunchest opposition has come from the Winnemem Wintu Tribe,
which lost 90% of its sacred sites with the construction of the dam and faces
the loss of its remaining sites and burial grounds if the reservoir is
expanded.
5.
Pesticide Changes
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Nov. 20 it was taking away a
tool states can use to control how pesticides are deployed. The action could
further endanger farmworkers and
wildlife.
A Section 24 provision of
the Federal, Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act lets states set
stricter restrictions on federally regulated pesticides in response to local
needs and conditions. But after numerous states sought to limit the use of the
weed killer dicamba, the agency will now no longer allow states to set more
protective rules for any pesticides.
6.
Migratory Birds
A
gutting of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 took a big step forward at the
end of November, clearing the way for the administration to finalize the rule
change by the end of Trump’s term.
The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its Final Environmental
Impact Statement to redefine the scope of the law to no longer
penalize the energy industry or developers for “incidentally” killing migratory
birds.
The
agency’s own analysis found that the rule change would “likely result in
increased bird mortality” because — without penalties — companies wouldn’t take
additional precautions to help make sure birds aren’t killed by their
operations.
That’s
already proving true. “Since the administration began pursuing its looser
interpretation of the law in April 2018, hundreds of birds have perished
without penalty, according to documents compiled by conservation groups this
year,” The Washington Post reported.
7.
ANWR Auction
The Bureau of Land Management announced on Dec. 3 that oil and gas leases in
the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would go on sale on Jan. 6, following a
shortened time frame for the nomination and evaluation of potential tracts to
be drilled.
“Once
the sale is held, the bureau has to review and approve the leases, a process
that typically takes months,” The New York Times reported. “But holding
the sale on Jan. 6 potentially gives the bureau opportunity to finalize the
leases before Inauguration Day. That would make it more difficult for the Biden
administration to undo them.”
Despite
the fact that the Trump administration is intent on opening the door to
drilling in the 1.6 million-acre coastal plain — one of the wildest places left
in the United States — it’s still unclear how interested the oil industry will
be. Or how readily they’ll be able to finance their operations. All the major U.S. banks have
said they’ll no longer fund new oil and gas exploration in the Arctic.
8.
Dirty Air
One
week into December, the administration finalized its decision declining to enact stricter
standards for regulating industrial soot emissions.
This
came despite the fact that the administration’s own scientists found that
maintaining the current limits on tiny particles, known as PM 2.5, results in
tens of thousands of early deaths each year. And despite the fact Harvard
researchers found that those who have lived for decades with high levels of PM
2.5 pollution are at a greater risk of dying from
COVID-19.
9.
Border Wall
The
incoming Biden administration has vowed to not build another foot of the border
wall, but the borderlands ecosystem remains under threat as the Trump
administration is continuing to push ahead.
In
some cases wall builders are even attempting to speed up the work.
“That’s
happening from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to Arizona’s stunning Coronado
National Memorial and Guadalupe Canyon, a wildlife corridor for Mexican gray
wolves and endangered jaguars,” NPR reported. “At $41
million a mile, the Arizona sections are the most expensive projects of the
entire border wall.”
In
Arizona they’re needlessly razing vegetation and blasting mountains for
roads in remote areas to help enable construction that likely won’t even take
place.
10.
Harming Whales and Dolphins
Trump
may be leaving office, but marine mammals won’t be able to rest easy. NOAA
Fisheries issued a rule on Dec. 9 allowing the oil and gas industry to harm
Atlantic spotted dolphins, pygmy whales, dwarf sperm whales, Bryde’s whales and
other marine mammals in the Gulf of Mexico while using seismic and acoustic
mapping, including air guns, to gather data on resources on or below the ocean
floor.
In
an effort to further efforts for oil and gas drilling, nearly 200,000 beaked
whales and more than 600,000 bottlenose dolphins could be “disturbed.” And
“pygmy and dwarf sperm whales are expected to be harassed to the point of
potential injury, with a mean of 308 whales potentially harmed per year,
according to the final rule,” E&E News reported.
11.
More Lease Sales
The
Arctic isn’t the only place where the rush is on to exploit public lands. On
Dec. 9 the Bureau of Land Management updated an environmental assessment
for a 2013 plan for leases to
extract climate- and water-polluting tar sands on 2,100 acres in northeastern
Utah. But then just days late it hit the pause button on the effort.
While
that one may be on hold, the administration did kick off the
sale of leases for oil drilling on 4,100 acres of federal land in
California’s Kern County on Dec. 10. The first such sale in the
state in eight years could be canceled by the Biden administration and if not,
would face legal challenges from environmental groups.
12.
Cost-benefit Rule
One
of the administration’s biggest parting gifts to industry — the “cost-benefit”
rule — was finalized on Dec. 9. It would require the EPA to weigh the economic
costs of air pollution regulations but not many of the health benefits that
would arise from better protections.
“In
other words, if reducing emissions from power plants also saves tens of
thousands of lives each year by cutting soot, those ‘co-benefits’ should be not
be counted,” in the EPA’s new analysis, the Washington Post explained.
The
rule would be a big blow to efforts to improve public health and curb
pollution.
“The
only purpose in making this a regulation seems to be to provide a basis for
future lawsuits to slow down or prevent future administrations from
regulating,” Roy Gamse, an economist and former EPA deputy assistant administrator
for planning and evaluation, told Reuters.
Slowing
down the Biden administration will continue to be a big part of Trump’s last
month in office — along with the finalization of more rule changes to add
insult to injury.
Legal experts have begun mapping which rollbacks will be quick and easy to undo and those that will take sustained effort. But one thing is certain: There’s a long road ahead to reverse dangerous regulations, restore scientific integrity and make up for lost ground on climate change, extinction and other cascading crises.
Tara
Lohan is deputy editor of The Revelator and
has worked for more than a decade as a digital editor and environmental journalist
focused on the intersections of energy, water and climate. Her work has been
published by The Nation, American Prospect, High
Country News, Grist, Pacific Standard and
others. She is the editor of two books on the global water crisis. http://twitter.com/TaraLohan