In another betrayal of our future, the Trump administration proposes to instruct US federal agencies to no longer consider climate change when making decisions about major infrastructure projects.
For fifty years, the 1978 National Environmental Policy Act has been one of our greatest protections has against environmental harm. NEPA requires federal agencies to weigh environmental impacts — to air quality, water quality, and plant and animal life — when making decisions such as permits and approvals for oil and gas development, pipelines, power plants, roads, and construction.
In a stunning concession to oil and gas interests, the administration now proposes to prevent federal agencies from even considering the climate change impacts of such projects.
At a time when we should be bending all our efforts to reduce carbon emissions, the Trump administration is promoting oil and gas development and pipelines, including opening federally protected lands to oil and gas leases. And now it proposes to institutionalize climate change denial in the federal approval processes of all US federal agencies.
This is another example of trading our future survival in the name of short-term profits. In the names of our children and grandchildren, climate change is real, caused by humans, and this generation has the moral responsibility to protect our environment.
See “Environmental law overhaul discounts climate change,” Washington Post, p. A 20, Jan. 5, 2020. #climatechangeisreal, #saveNEPA, #environmentalaction