Washington, D.C. — In response to President Donald Trump announcing the final rollback of environmental protections under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)—a critical law that protects the United States’ air, water, communities, and climate—Center for American Progress Senior Vice President for Energy and Environment, Christy Goldfuss, offered the following statement:
The purpose of government is to represent the voices of the people it serves, not the corporations or trade associations that write the biggest checks. Despite all of the bluster and noise, no one believes that sacrificing clean air and water will magically produce the funding necessary to build the infrastructure the United States so desperately needs. As COVID-19 and police brutality ravage Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, the Trump administration’s perversion of the protections under NEPA deal another blow to these same communities from Rondo, Minnesota, to Morgantown, West Virginia. The gutting of this bedrock environmental law denies the American people their simple right to have a say when pipelines are built next to their schools or coal mines are dug in their backyards. Today’s final rule denies the reality of our climate crisis and the reality of our democracy. The voices of the people will not be silenced.
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