REPORT CARD: Trump’s Climate Record Gets an ‘F’ in Nevada. In November, He’ll Get an ‘L’

Carson City, Nev. – Ahead of the caucuses in Nevada today, we’re here to remind you that  Donald Trump failed Nevadans as president. Trump’s environmental record hurt families and set back climate progress. As president, Trump decimated Obama-era climate policies that would have helped families save billions on health care costs and protected thousands from climate-linked medical problems. If elected, he’s promised to do it again – this time, as a dictator. Families in Nevada can’t afford another Trump presidency. 

Nevadans gave Trump a failing grade in 2020. They’ll do it again in 2024. Here’s why: 

FAIL: Reno and Las Vegas are the nation’s first and second-fastest warming cities. In 2017, Trump’s first year as president, the number of heat-related deaths in Southern Nevada soared nearly 58% from the previous year.

• East Las Vegas, a predominantly Latino community, experiences higher temperatures than other neighborhoods because of the urban heat island effect. 

FAIL: According to the American Lung Association’s data from 2019, 2020, and 2021, multiple counties and metropolitan areas in Nevada have unhealthy air quality. Under President Trump, the U.S. saw 15% more days with unhealthy air than under President Obama.

• Carson City, Churchill, Clark, and Washoe counties received F grades for their high number of high-ozone days.
• Carson City, Clark, Douglas, and Washoe counties received F grades for particle pollution.
  • Since 2017, Clark County has seen an increase in the average number of high particle pollution days.
• By stark contrast, just yesterday President Biden strengthened tough air pollution standards to protect Americans from corporate polluters. The action lowers the amount of small particle pollution, like soot and smoke, allowed in the air we breathe.

FAIL: During Trump’s presidency, Nevada suffered four billion-dollar disaster events, including two wildfires and intense droughts. On Trump’s watch, climate disasters killed 145 people and caused $50.9 billion in damages. 

FAIL: In 2020, Trump rolled back protections that kept streams and wetlands clean under the Clean Water Act, removing protections for 89% of Nevada’s stream miles. 

FAIL: In 2020, Trump weakened regulations for cleaning coal ash and toxic heavy metals from coal power plant wastewater. Nevada is home to the country’s second-most contaminated coal ash site at NV Energy’s retired Reid Gardner plant, located northeast of Las Vegas. The site’s groundwater has a lithium concentration 243 times greater than safe levels and an arsenic concentration 121 times greater than safe levels.

FAIL: In 2019, the Trump administration released a series of proposed changes, loosening regulations of coal-powered plants and the disposal of coal ash, which can threaten drinking water quality. These actions are especially dangerous for Nevadans, where 772,000 tons of coal ash are generated annually.

FAIL: Trump imposed tariffs on solar, tried to eliminate the electric vehicle tax credit, and slow-walked the leasing and planning processes for renewable energy projects. This slowed down access to clean energy sources in Nevada, which has the highest solar power potential of any state and currently ranks sixth in the country for total solar capacity and generation.

• In contrast, since President Biden passed the Clean Energy Plan, companies have announced 11 new clean energy projects in Nevada, creating 15,580 new clean energy jobs and driving $12.19 billion in clean energy investments.