Trump’s EPA Will No Longer Consider Lives When Setting Air & Water Standards
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Washington, DC – Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reversing decades of precedent by not considering lives saved when setting rules on air pollution. This move will expose American families to harmful pollution that fuels asthma, heat stroke, and other illnesses while lowering costs for polluters. Once again, Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin are putting billionaire corporate donors over the health of the American people.
Climate Power Senior Advisor Alex Witt issued the following statement: “This stunning decision will leave American families sicker while corporations get away with polluting our air and water. Trump promised to ‘Make America Healthy Again’ but this move will put children at greater risk of asthma and other illnesses while putting harmful chemicals into the air we breathe and the water we drink. Trump and Zeldin are siding with billionaire oil and gas CEOs while American families pay the price with their health.”
Lee Zeldin and Donald Trump are hiding the truth to protect their industry donors, leaving our families to pay the price:
- Pollution protections could have prevented “an estimated 30,000 deaths and save $275 billion each year” in health care, gasoline, and other costs that are making America less affordable.
- In 2024 alone, the United States experienced 27 billion-dollar weather and climate disasters threatening our infrastructure and local economies.
- Families and communities are already paying the price of climate change. Health care bills are rising as childhood asthma increases, insurance premiums are soaring, and extreme weather is destroying homes, jobs, and crops. Without science-based protections, these costs will rise unabated. Families will face more hospital visits, more pollution-related illnesses, and more economic harm.
- These extreme events threaten our physical and mental health, as hotter days increase the risk of illness and medical emergencies.
- Americans want protection from climate pollution: 75% say they want the government to protect families from carbon pollution. Yet, Zeldin and Trump are just protecting profits for billionaire CEOs.