Goodbye, environmental protections

The Trump administration has dealt another blow to key environmental protections in the U.S.

On June 4, President Trump signed an executive order that allows federal agencies to assert “emergency” powers to expedite the construction of environmentally damaging pipeline, highway and other infrastructure projects without environmental review.

The order allows companies and regulators to skirt key environmental review procedures outlined in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to push projects through, using a provision in NEPA that allows for such conduct during national emergencies.

The administration has been chipping away at NEPA and other environmental protections, drawing the ire of environmentalists, concerned citizens and communities that will be most affected by the rollbacks.

“A public health crisis is not an excuse to drill, mine and pave our public lands, and the American people won’t fall for it,” said Center for Western Priorities Policy Director Jesse Prentice-Dunn in a statement. “This order will almost certainly increase environmental injustice across America. Pipelines, highways and mines have significant impacts on communities, particularly communities of color. This executive order will limit or eliminate the ability of those communities to have input on projects that put the health of children and seniors at risk.”

Susan Jane Brown, the wildlands program director with the Western Environmental Law Center, Added bluntly: “This recent executive action cements the Trump administration’s legacy as the most callous and brutal regime in modern times.”