Protesting the Administration’s Anti-Environmental Programs
Climate marchers. Tens of thousands protested the Trump administration’s anti-environmental agenda on Saturday. Hundreds of smaller events were held across the country. Since taking office, Trump has appointed one of the chief antagonists of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, as its administrator and proposed slashing its budget by nearly a third, more than any other federal agency. He has signed several executive orders aimed at rolling back President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan, a set of regulations intended to close heavily polluting coal-fired power plants, and restrictions on vehicle emissions, among others. Trump’s EPA removed information about climate change from the agency website shortly before the demonstrations.
Puppy mills covered up. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency that removed inspection reports about puppy mills from the internet, recently responded to a Freedom of Information Act request from Buzzfeed News about why it took the information down. The result? 1,771 completely blacked-out pages, redacted in their entirety. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the Animal Legal Defense Fund have sued over the removal.
Pumping water. The Trump administration has revoked legal guidance that former President Barack Obama’s team had used to block plans by Cadiz Inc. long-standing plans to pump Mojave Desert groundwater and sell it to urban Southern California. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a longtime opponent of the groundwater project, condemned the move. “The Trump administration has once again put corporate profits ahead of the public’s interest,” she said in a statement.
