WASHINGTON, DC. - Today, Donald Trump’s EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, faced scrutiny in his testimony before Congress about the Trump Administration’s proposed cuts to essential programs that protect the air and water that all Americans breathe and drink.
If this budget passes, it will mean dirtier air and water, as its massive budget and staff cuts would hamper the implementation and enforcement of EPA’s bedrock protections and safeguards. It will eliminate funding for clean-up programs in places like the iconic Great Lakes, the Puget Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay, while vastly expanding drilling on public lands. It will end the Energy Star program, which saves consumers money, end the program that keeps dangerous diesel emissions away from kids’ schools, and end AmeriCorps and programs that connect kids with the outdoors. It slashes nearly all funding for climate action and climate science research -- and that’s just the start.
In response, Sierra Club Legislative Director Melinda Pierce released the following statement:
“Pruitt’s testimony today further exposed the complete and total failure of this administration to demonstrate a willingness to protect Americans’ clean air and water. Pruitt shamelessly defended severe budget and staffing cuts that would cripple the Environmental Protection Agency in its core mission, endangering the health and safety of all families in our country.
“This entire hearing was a transparent and hypocritical exercise in Pruitt making the absurd claim that he and Trump will protect clean air and water by cutting the very programs that do exactly that, ranging from grants to states, funding to clean up Superfund sites, and initiatives that protect and restore vital areas including the Great Lakes, Puget Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay.
“Pruitt’s testimony made clear that he will continue to put ideology and polluter profits ahead of science and public health every time. Pruitt’s actions are directly at odds with the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency, and he is using his position to advance extremist political views like withdrawing America from the Paris agreement. The fact that Pruitt continues to be allowed to hold this awesome responsibility reflects poorly on those who enable it.”
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