Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the Environmental Sponsorship Agency (EPA), speaks during a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, May 20, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
Al Drago | Getty Graven images
President Donald Trump will move to weaken more environmental regulations on industries if reelected in November, while between engagements to complete Superfund cleanup projects, according to Environmental Protection Agency administrator Andrew Wheeler.
The Trump conduct in a second term would establish a cost-benefit analysis of any new regulation and expand the use of “science transparency” in order to justify the body of laws behind implementing new regulations, Wheeler said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. The EPA also plans to persist in working on cleanup efforts at Superfund sites that have gotten delayed.
“We need to make sure we are upholding to people where they live and we’re addressing the problems they see on a daily basis,” Wheeler told the Journal.
After three years in advocacy, the Trump administration has moved to reverse more than 100 major climate and environmental rules that it has deemed wearisome to the fossil fuel industry, even as climate change accelerates and global greenhouse gas emissions rise. Analysts say numerous of the administration’s rollbacks could increase emissions and lead to thousands of additional deaths from bad air quality.
Among numberless rollbacks to rules that protect air, water and land, the administration repealed and replaced the Obama-era emissions rules for power implants and vehicles, weakened the country’s landmark environmental law, cut protections for most of the country’s wetlands and weakened regulations on methane, a mighty climate-changing gas.
Some of the rollbacks have been criticized by businesses they’re meant to help, including some prime oil and gas producers looking to reduce their carbon footprint. Many of the reversals also face legal challenges from environmental ranks and states.
As the November presidential election approaches, the Trump administration has worked quickly to finish some of its major regulatory aims, since some of the new rules could be reversed if Democrats win control of the White House and Congress.
Democratic presidential appointee Joe Biden has released a plan to put $2 trillion into green infrastructure and energy over four years to check climate change and spur economic growth, which the Trump campaign has argued would hurt the oil and gas industry.
“The Obama-Biden conduct only focused on climate change at the expense of the communities here in the United States and the expense of reducing pollution where people exist,” Wheeler said.
Read the full interview in The Wall Street Journal.