Food & Water Watch: Trump Declares War on Environment in First Week on Job

WASHINGTON –(ENEWSPF)–January 24, 2017.  In response to leaked information regarding the Trump’s transition team’s plans for the Environmental Protection Agency—which includes $513 million in cuts to state tribal and assistance grants—and today’s executive action to advance construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines, Food & Water Watch issued the following statement:

Statement by Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director, Food & Water Watch

“All of our worst fears about the Trump presidency are being confirmed this week. An enemy force has landed on EPA’s shore with Trump’s Beachhead team, led by its general, Myron Ebell. In the first few days of his administration, Trump is prioritizing gutting our environmental protections, declaring war on the EPA funding that supports clean water programs in states across the country. Whether his team cuts the ‘Healthy Beaches’ program in Erie County, Pennsylvania, brownfields clean-up programs in Michigan, or grants to Ohio to monitor water pollution in Lake Erie, Trump’s plans for the EPA are nothing less than an assault on our communities.

“He has also taken executive action to advance the construction of the Keystone and Dakota Access Pipelines, despite the threats to our climate, water, and tribal rights. At a time when our country must be turning decisively away from polluting fossil fuels, Trump seeks to double-down on them, for the sake of enriching his billionaire friends and cabinet nominees who are deeply entrenched in the industry. The grassroots resistance to Trump’s agenda is already mobilizing from coast to coast, and our elected officials should take notice.

“Trump’s war on the environment, the climate, and clean water protections is a war on all of us.”