White House Kills Environmental Protections

The executive order was signed late this past Wednesday (April 9). We saw it, but there were things like a stock market crash and financial ruin that distracted our attention for a couple of days. This is a matter that we must talk about, though, because some of us remember how it was before environmental regulations forced a cleanup. Now, as the President and his team of low-thinking neanderthals slash and burn their way through government bureaus, we have to realize just what they’re doing and how bad the situation is for all of us.

Anyone who traveled anywhere from the late 1960s to 1990 or so remembers what the US was like before environmental regulations took over. City skylines couldn’t be seen because of the amount of smog in the air. Acid rain was a serious situation not only in cities but spreading out hundreds of miles, poisoning both land and water. Critical species were dying off at an alarming rate. Incidents of cancers began to rise. The only ones who seemed to care about the environment were the people whose jobs put them out in it, such as park rangers.

The government did take action, but not without a lot of corporate complaints. You want clean air? We’re going to have to build all new factories. You want clean water? Then we need another solution for chemical waste. To be fair, the regulations did weigh heavy on the bottom line of companies such as Monsanto and DuPont, but we deemed that price worthy in order to save the air and water we need in order to survive. What’s the point in having a company if there are no people left?

Republicans have been crying about “overregulation” for the past 50+ years. In their warped and useless opinion, regulation stifles the free market, places burdensome costs on critical manufacturing, and prioritizes silly little breeds that no one paid attention to anyway. Now, that ignorant thinking has a champion both in terms of the President and his chief ally, Elroy Muskrat.

“Regulations, basically, should be default gone,” the Muskrat said on a public call in February on his social media site, X. “Not default there, default gone. And if it turns out that we missed the mark on a regulation, we can always add it back in. We’ve just got to do a wholesale spring cleaning of regulation and get the government off the backs of everyday Americans so people can get things done.”

Ugh. Such nonsense shows the extreme ignorance of this administration, and a continuous disregard for the law. “On its face, all of this is totally illegal,” said Jody Freeman, the director of the Harvard Law School Environmental and Energy Law Program and a former White House official under President Barack Obama. “Either the real lawyers have left the building or they just don’t care and want to take a flier on all these cases and see if the courts will bite.”

Environmental regulations serve as crucial safeguards, establishing essential standards that protect both human health and the natural world upon which we all depend. Primarily, regulations are fundamental for preserving public health; rules limiting air pollution, for instance, directly reduce respiratory illnesses like asthma, while standards for clean water ensure our rivers and taps are safe from contaminants that cause disease. This protection extends beyond immediate health concerns to shielding communities from exposure to hazardous wastes and toxic chemicals that can have long-term detrimental effects.

Furthermore, environmental regulations are vital for maintaining the integrity and functionality of our ecosystems. They protect habitats essential for wildlife, conserve biodiversity which underpins stable ecosystems, and ensure natural processes like pollination, soil regeneration, and water cycling can continue effectively. Healthy ecosystems, in turn, provide indispensable services, from forests cleaning our air to wetlands mitigating floods. These rules also promote the sustainable management of natural resources, ensuring that water, timber, minerals, and fertile land are available not just for us today, but for generations to come.

Beyond direct health and ecological benefits, environmental regulations possess significant economic value, contrary to the sometimes-heard argument that they only hinder business. By preventing widespread pollution and environmental degradation, they help avoid enormous future costs associated with cleanup efforts, healthcare burdens, and damage to property and infrastructure. Clear environmental standards also drive innovation, fostering growth in green technologies, pollution control industries, and renewable energy sectors, creating new jobs and economic opportunities. Moreover, they provide a stable and predictable framework for businesses, ensuring a level playing field and protecting industries like tourism, fishing, and agriculture that depend directly on a healthy environment.

Ultimately, environmental regulations represent a collective commitment to a better quality of life through cleaner surroundings and accessible natural spaces for recreation and enjoyment. They embody our responsibility to act as stewards of the planet, ensuring intergenerational equity by passing on a healthy, functional environment. They are not merely restrictions, but necessary investments in our collective health, long-term economic prosperity, and the enduring stability of the natural systems that sustain us all.

Why do we have to say all that, again? We went through these same arguments before. Was no one listening? Apparently not.

Here’s the list of programs and agencies that are set to go away according to the executive order.

 The Atomic Energy Act of 1954; the National Appliance Energy Conservation Act of 1987; the Energy Policy Act of 1992; the Energy Policy Act of 2005; and  the Federal Power Act of 1935; The Natural Gas Act of 1938; and the Powerplant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of 1978. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954; the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974; and the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977. The Mining Act of 1872; the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976; and the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Outer Continental Shelf Act of 1953; and the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Outer Continental Shelf Act of 1953.  The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act; the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918; the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act of 1934; the Anadromous Fish Conservation Act of 1965; the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972; the Endangered Species Act of 1973; the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 1976; and the Coastal Barrier Resources Act of 1982.

For the EPA and ACE, within 30 days of the date of this order, the Administrator of the EPA and Secretary of the Army shall provide to the President, through the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB Director), a list of statutes vesting EPA and ACE with regulatory authority that shall be subject to this order.   

On the White House website, EPA administrator Lee Zeldon foolishly says, “Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more. Alongside President [Punk], we are living up to our promises to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, and work hand-in-hand with our state partners to advance our shared mission.”

Again, all of this is likely to be found illegal. It is unclear how many regulations the sunset order would affect. Legal experts pointed out that the executive order says it “shall not apply to regulatory permitting regimes authorized by statute,” which describes most major regulations that are authorized by laws like the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.

“That’s a huge loophole that could make the rest of the order completely ineffectual,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. “Most environmental laws would seem to fall under that category.”

That doesn’t mean the administration won’t try their damndest to sneak all of this past us. The instant they do, you can no longer trust the air you breath, you can no longer trust the water you drink, nor can you trust the food you eat. We’ve seen what happens without these regulations. We don’t need to go back to that situation. Damaging the environment is literally signing our own death warrant.

Make it stop.