Trump’s NEPA Environmental Review Rollback Should Alarm Republicans Too

Washington, D.C. – News reports indicate that the Trump administration is planning a new rollback of environmental review standards on major infrastructure projects. This unprecedented rule change to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) would nullify a longstanding requirement that officials consider the long-term impacts on climate change that any project may have before approving it. In response, Food & Water Action Policy Director Mitch Jones issued the following statement:

“By now we’ve sadly become numb to the Trump administration’s repeated attempts to roll back common-sense environmental rules for the sake of short-term industry profits. But this latest plan to disregard a key process that seeks to protect our society from out-of-control pollution and climate emissions should alarm decent people of all political stripes. 

“Trump’s intention to remove climate considerations from all new infrastructure decisions is akin to lighting the fuse on a bomb and standing idly by as it burns down. Even conservative Republicans should be alarmed at the prospect of a future where new highways are built in flood zones, new factories are constructed next to drinking water sources, and new air pollution condemns our planet to climate chaos.”

Contact: Seth Gladstone - sgladstone[at]fwwatch[dot]org, 917.363.6615