SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Protesters call for a stop to the Williams natural gas pipeline during a demonstration held on Centre Street adjacent to City Hall Park in New York City. (Photo: Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
'Egregious Handout' to Corporate Polluters as Trump EPA Moves to Accelerate Pipeline Approvals With Attack on Clean Water Act
"This attempted power grab at the expense of state-based clean water oversight is the epitome of hypocrisy."
Aug 09, 2019
Environmentalists on Friday denounced the Trump administration for once again attempting to boost fossil fuel industry profits at the expense of public health after EPA chief Andrew Wheeler proposed a rule to expedite approval of dirty pipeline projects.
The rule, according to the Wall Street Journal, would significantly weaken states' authority to cite Clean Water Act regulations to delay or block pipeline projects.
"The Clean Water Act is responsible for many of the most important improvements in public health and safety for generations. Any effort to strip its power is an affront to common sense and our overall wellbeing."
--Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said in a statement Friday that the Trump administration's proposal "should be seen for what it is: an egregious handout to corporate fossil fuel polluters."
"The Clean Water Act is responsible for many of the most important improvements in public health and safety for generations. Any effort to strip its power is an affront to common sense and our overall wellbeing," said Hauter. "For an administration that claims to prioritize states' rights, this attempted power grab at the expense of state-based clean water oversight is the epitome of hypocrisy."
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said the Trump EPA is "attacking the Clean Water Act because it's more interested in padding corporate polluter profits than ensuring communities have access to safe drinking water."
"This attack on one of our most fundamental clean water protections seeks to severely limit states' ability to protect their water, at a time when climate change, water scarcity, and pollution make access to clean water more important than ever," said Brune. "It's expected that we can't trust the polluting corporations behind these dirty, dangerous projects to protect our water, but it's disastrous that we can't trust our own president to do so, either."
In an interview with the Journal on Friday, Wheeler--a former coal lobbyist--pointed to New York's yearslong battle over the Williams pipeline as a justification for the new rule, which would carry out an executive order Trump issued in April.
"What we've seen is states using the Clean Water Act...to hold up these projects," said Wheeler, who is expected to discuss the proposed rule on Friday during a National Association of Manufacturers event in South Carolina.
New York lawmakers raised alarm at Trump's attempt to undermine their state's authority when he signed the executive order in April.
"It seems that not a day goes by when President Trump isn't spitting into the wind to try to stop the ongoing transition to a carbon-free future," a coalition of 20 New York state senators said in a statement at the time. "This executive order is more of the same--rewarding his fossil fuel cronies by removing the protections that keep Americans safe. This time he has taken aim at the right of New York state to have a say in what happens to our land and water."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Environmentalists on Friday denounced the Trump administration for once again attempting to boost fossil fuel industry profits at the expense of public health after EPA chief Andrew Wheeler proposed a rule to expedite approval of dirty pipeline projects.
The rule, according to the Wall Street Journal, would significantly weaken states' authority to cite Clean Water Act regulations to delay or block pipeline projects.
"The Clean Water Act is responsible for many of the most important improvements in public health and safety for generations. Any effort to strip its power is an affront to common sense and our overall wellbeing."
--Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said in a statement Friday that the Trump administration's proposal "should be seen for what it is: an egregious handout to corporate fossil fuel polluters."
"The Clean Water Act is responsible for many of the most important improvements in public health and safety for generations. Any effort to strip its power is an affront to common sense and our overall wellbeing," said Hauter. "For an administration that claims to prioritize states' rights, this attempted power grab at the expense of state-based clean water oversight is the epitome of hypocrisy."
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said the Trump EPA is "attacking the Clean Water Act because it's more interested in padding corporate polluter profits than ensuring communities have access to safe drinking water."
"This attack on one of our most fundamental clean water protections seeks to severely limit states' ability to protect their water, at a time when climate change, water scarcity, and pollution make access to clean water more important than ever," said Brune. "It's expected that we can't trust the polluting corporations behind these dirty, dangerous projects to protect our water, but it's disastrous that we can't trust our own president to do so, either."
In an interview with the Journal on Friday, Wheeler--a former coal lobbyist--pointed to New York's yearslong battle over the Williams pipeline as a justification for the new rule, which would carry out an executive order Trump issued in April.
"What we've seen is states using the Clean Water Act...to hold up these projects," said Wheeler, who is expected to discuss the proposed rule on Friday during a National Association of Manufacturers event in South Carolina.
New York lawmakers raised alarm at Trump's attempt to undermine their state's authority when he signed the executive order in April.
"It seems that not a day goes by when President Trump isn't spitting into the wind to try to stop the ongoing transition to a carbon-free future," a coalition of 20 New York state senators said in a statement at the time. "This executive order is more of the same--rewarding his fossil fuel cronies by removing the protections that keep Americans safe. This time he has taken aim at the right of New York state to have a say in what happens to our land and water."
From Your Site Articles
Environmentalists on Friday denounced the Trump administration for once again attempting to boost fossil fuel industry profits at the expense of public health after EPA chief Andrew Wheeler proposed a rule to expedite approval of dirty pipeline projects.
The rule, according to the Wall Street Journal, would significantly weaken states' authority to cite Clean Water Act regulations to delay or block pipeline projects.
"The Clean Water Act is responsible for many of the most important improvements in public health and safety for generations. Any effort to strip its power is an affront to common sense and our overall wellbeing."
--Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch
Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, said in a statement Friday that the Trump administration's proposal "should be seen for what it is: an egregious handout to corporate fossil fuel polluters."
"The Clean Water Act is responsible for many of the most important improvements in public health and safety for generations. Any effort to strip its power is an affront to common sense and our overall wellbeing," said Hauter. "For an administration that claims to prioritize states' rights, this attempted power grab at the expense of state-based clean water oversight is the epitome of hypocrisy."
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said the Trump EPA is "attacking the Clean Water Act because it's more interested in padding corporate polluter profits than ensuring communities have access to safe drinking water."
"This attack on one of our most fundamental clean water protections seeks to severely limit states' ability to protect their water, at a time when climate change, water scarcity, and pollution make access to clean water more important than ever," said Brune. "It's expected that we can't trust the polluting corporations behind these dirty, dangerous projects to protect our water, but it's disastrous that we can't trust our own president to do so, either."
In an interview with the Journal on Friday, Wheeler--a former coal lobbyist--pointed to New York's yearslong battle over the Williams pipeline as a justification for the new rule, which would carry out an executive order Trump issued in April.
"What we've seen is states using the Clean Water Act...to hold up these projects," said Wheeler, who is expected to discuss the proposed rule on Friday during a National Association of Manufacturers event in South Carolina.
New York lawmakers raised alarm at Trump's attempt to undermine their state's authority when he signed the executive order in April.
"It seems that not a day goes by when President Trump isn't spitting into the wind to try to stop the ongoing transition to a carbon-free future," a coalition of 20 New York state senators said in a statement at the time. "This executive order is more of the same--rewarding his fossil fuel cronies by removing the protections that keep Americans safe. This time he has taken aim at the right of New York state to have a say in what happens to our land and water."
From Your Site Articles
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.