12 Trump Attacks on the Environment Since the Election

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Byย Tara Lohan, The Revelator.ย Originally posted onย The Revelator.

In the aftermath of the Novemberย 3 election, President Donald Trump has tried every trick in the book to avoid facing the reality of his loss. A barrage of lawsuits accompanied by disinformation campaigns has attempted to cast doubt on the legitimacy of theย election.

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 andย regulations.

Many of these changes will harm the environment and publicย health.

It isnโ€™t surprising that an administration that has attempted to roll back more thanย 100 environmental protectionsย in the past four years would step up its assault in its waning months. But that doesnโ€™t make the continued attacks any less important. Hereโ€™s some of whatโ€™s atย risk:

1. Tribalย 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 Carlosย 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.

โ€œLast 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,โ€ย an investigationย byย The Guardianย found. โ€œIf the environmental review is completed before Trump leaves office, the tribes may be unable to stop theย mine.โ€

2. FERCย 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 naturalย gas.

Chairman Neil Chatterjee was replaced by fellow Republican James Danly, who has aย more conservative viewย on federal energy policy.ย Chatterjee, once known as a โ€œcoal guy,โ€ had recently advocated for policies supporting distributed energy and for regional grid operators to embrace carbon pricing as a market-based solution for addressing climateย change.

3. Hamstringing LWCF

Land and Water Conservation Fund program project in Springfield, Ohio
Sign showing a project funded by the Land and Water Conservation Fund at Buck Creek State Park in Springfield, Ohio. Credit:ย Dan Keck, publicย domain

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 Conservationย Fund.

But despite (falsely) hailing himself as a conservation hero at the lawโ€™s signing, Trump has already begun undermining the legislationโ€™s effectiveness. An order signed by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt on Novemberย 9 allows state and local governments to veto any land or water acquisitions made through theย fund.

Chris Dโ€™Angelo at HuffPostย called the moveย a โ€œparting gift to the anti-federal land movement.โ€ Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who advocated for the Land and Water Conservation Fund,ย wrote a letterย to Bernhardt urging him to rescind the order. โ€œThis 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,โ€ heย wrote.

In another blow, officials and conservation groups in New Mexico were surprised to learn thatย none of their projectsย 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 itsย policies.

4. Damย Raising

On November 20 the Trump administrationย finalized a planย to raise the height of Northern Californiaโ€™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 andย lobbyist.

The state of California has strongly opposed the effort to raise the damโ€™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 Shastaย salamanders.

California Rep. Jared Huffmanย calledย it the โ€œQAnon of water projects, meaning itโ€™s laughably infeasible and just notย real.โ€

The staunchest opposition has come from theย Winnemem Wintuย Tribe, which lost 90 percentย of its sacred sites with the construction of the dam and faces the loss of its remaining sites and burial grounds if the reservoir isย expanded.

5. Pesticideย Changes

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Novemberย 20 it was taking away a tool states can use to control how pesticides are deployed. The action could furtherย endanger farmworkers and wildlife.

Aย Section 24 provisionย 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 anyย pesticides.

6. Migratoryย 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 Trumpโ€™sย term.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceย released its Final Environmental Impact Statementย to redefine the scope of the law to no longer penalize the energy industry or developers for โ€œincidentallyโ€ killing migratoryย birds.

The agencyโ€™s own analysis found that the rule change would โ€œlikely result in increased bird mortalityโ€ because โ€” without penalties โ€” companies wouldnโ€™t take additional precautions to help make sure birds arenโ€™t killed by theirย operations.

Thatโ€™s already proving true. โ€œSince 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,โ€ย Theย Washington Postย reported.

7. ANWRย Auction

Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 1994
Alaska’sย Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Canning River tributary, in 1994. Credit:ย Jan Reurink,ย CC BYย 2.0

The Bureau of Land Management announced on December 3 that oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would go on sale on Januaryย 6, following a shortened time frame for the nomination and evaluation of potential tracts to beย drilled.

โ€œOnce the sale is held, the bureau has to review and approve the leases, a process that typically takes months,โ€ย Theย New York Timesย reported. โ€œBut holding the sale on January 6 potentially gives the bureau opportunity to finalize the leases before Inauguration Day. That would make it more difficult for the Biden administration to undoย them.โ€

Despite the fact that the Trump administration is intent on opening the door to drilling in the 1.6 million-acre coastal plain โ€” one of the wildest places left in the United States โ€” itโ€™s still unclear how interested the oil industry will be. Or how readily theyโ€™ll be able to finance their operations. All theย major U.S. banksย have said theyโ€™ll no longer fund new oil and gas exploration in theย Arctic.

8. Dirtyย Air

One week into December, the administration finalized its decisionย declining to enact stricter standards for regulating industrial sootย emissions.

This came despite the fact that the administrationโ€™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 aย greater risk of dying from COVID-19.

9. Borderย 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 pushย ahead.

In some cases wall builders are even attempting to speed up theย work.

โ€œThatโ€™s happening from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas to Arizonaโ€™s stunning Coronado National Memorial and Guadalupe Canyon, a wildlife corridor for Mexican gray wolves and endangered jaguars,โ€ย NPR reported. โ€œAt $41 million a mile, the Arizona sections are the most expensive projects of the entire borderย wall.โ€

In Arizona theyโ€™re needlessly razing vegetation andย blasting mountainsย for roads in remote areas to help enable construction that likely wonโ€™t even takeย place.

10. Harming Whales andย Dolphins

Trump may be leaving office, but marine mammals wonโ€™t be able to rest easy. NOAA Fisheries issued a rule on Decemberย 9 allowing the oil and gas industry to harm Atlantic spotted dolphins, pygmy whales, dwarf sperm whales, Brydeโ€™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 oceanย 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 โ€œdisturbed.โ€ And โ€œpygmy 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,โ€ E&E Newsย reported.

11. More Leaseย Sales

The Arctic isnโ€™t the only place where the rush is on to exploit public lands. On Decemberย 9 the Bureau of Land Managementย updatedย an environmental assessment for aย 2013 plan for leasesย 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 theย effort.

While that one may be on hold, the administrationย didย kick off the sale of leases for oil drilling onย 4,100 acres of federal land in Californiaโ€™s Kern Countyย on Decemberย 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 environmentalย groups.

12. Cost-benefitย Rule

One of the administrationโ€™s biggest parting gifts to industry โ€” the โ€œcost-benefitโ€ rule โ€” was finalized on December 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 betterย protections.

โ€œIn other words, if reducing emissions from power plants also saves tens of thousands of lives each year by cutting soot, those โ€˜co-benefitsโ€™ should be not be counted,โ€ in the EPAโ€™s new analysis, theย Washington Postย explained.

The rule would be a big blow to efforts to improve public health and curbย pollution.

โ€œThe 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,โ€ Roy Gamse, an economist and former EPA deputy assistant administrator for planning and evaluation,ย told Reuters.

Slowing down the Biden administration will continue to be a big part of Trumpโ€™s last month in office โ€” along with the finalization of more rule changes to add insult toย injury.

Legal expertsย have begun mapping which rollbacks will be quick and easy to undo and those that will take sustained effort. But one thing is certain: Thereโ€™s a long road ahead to reverse dangerous regulations, restore scientific integrity and make up for lost ground on climate change, extinction and other cascadingย crises.

This work is licensed under aย Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

Main image: President Donald Trump speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2018.ย Credit: Zach D.ย Roberts

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