Trashing Republican enviro values
President Trump’s executive order effectively repealing the Clean Power Plan brands the Republican Party with an anti-environmental brush, forgetting that conservation and environmental protection are traditionally conservative values.
The modern environmental movement arguably began when the GOP’s founder, Abraham Lincoln, set aside the first public lands for preservation; then came Teddy Roosevelt, the Republican President who vastly expanded the national park system. A Republican President, Richard Nixon, and a Democratic Congress created much of our landmark environmental legislation, including the Clean Air Act and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The Clean Power Plan left decisions about how to reduce emissions up to individual states — exactly the type of policy that Republicans have advocated for generations.
Although Trump and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt may not believe climate change to be a legitimate concern, its effects are evident. Retired Brig. Gen. Stephen Cheney, CEO of the American Security Project, cites climate change as greater than an environmental issue; in fact, he describes it as a global security crisis.
The New York-based Regional Plan Association reports that by 2050, the sea level along the Atlantic Coast could rise by a foot. The rising of the sea level directly affects the severity, and, possibly, the frequency, of coastal storms, meaning the land is susceptible to erosion and the coastline is at risk for destruction.
That is why the American Security Project describes climate change as both a “threat multiplier” and “accelerant of instability.” Recent U.S. history is ripe with examples: In 2005, Hurricane Katrina caused 1,500 deaths and $135 billion in economic damage. More recently, Hurricane Sandy caused 117 deaths and $70 billion in economic damage in 2012.
Economic damage from natural disasters strains both human and financial resources — on our home turf and around the world. The United States Agency for International Development’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance responds to an average of 65 disasters in more than 50 countries annually. U.S. military personnel are often first responders, providing aid and relief; thus, resources are transmitted away from the U.S.
As has been said before, if we do something now about reducing pollution and in 20 years find out we were wrong about climate change, we will have done no harm. But if we do nothing and in 20 years find we were wrong, it will be too late.
Meantime, Trump maintains a determination to revive the coal industry. Coal is dying not from environmental regulation, but rather from the low cost of natural gas, extraction of which Trump has also said he wants to increase.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts that wind and solar energy will grow 51% over the next three years — because renewable energy is, increasingly, an economically viable source of energy. If renewable energy makes even a mild contribution toward reducing carbon, giving us healthier air to breathe and slowing the changing climate, it makes sense to support it not only from an environmental standpoint, but also from an economic one.
Trump’s executive order sets a dangerous precedent. While the executive order does not directly address the Paris climate deal — the agreement among countries to prevent the planet from warming more than 3.6 degrees — it surely indicates noncompliance. It will serve to increase pollution and magnify the effects of climate change.
Combine this executive order with Trump’s decision to review and likely roll back auto emissions standards, his Draconian budget cuts to the EPA, and the EPA’s decision to allow the pesticide chlorpyrifos to be used despite widespread scientific evidence that it damages children’s brains, and we have a truly anti-environmental President.
We should not stand by while Trump dismantles the Republican Party’s reputation for conservation and protection of our shared environment.