At the White House Monday Trump gave a bizarre and rambling environmental speech that was attended by his daughter, some Cabinet members, congressional Republicans, and some people that were there just to praise him.
As usual Trump used today's event to praise and pretend he is doing all he can to protect the environment which is exactly counter to what his administration has done. It doesn't help that he and many in his administration are climate change deniers, an affliction which directly affects the environment.
A bait-and-tackle shop owner was invited to speak for a few minutes just to praise the glory of Donald Trump effusively. I thought Donald was going to get the hook out to pull him away from the podium, but after he started to repeat 'Trump 2020' he smiled with pride and let him go on.
As Trump took the microphone, Fox News' Shepard Smith cut away from the speech to give some context to the environmental record Trump actually owns.
It ain't pretty.
In fact, his administration is completely anti-environment.
Smith said, "Well there you go, the president talking the environment and the White House record on the environment and work to reduce climate change is widely criticized by environmentalists and academics."
Smith continued, "Harvard Law school and Columbia Law among others have comprehensive environmental trackers that identify deregulatory efforts related to the environment. As of last month, The New York Times analysis based on research from those groups found more than 80 environmental rules and regulations on the way out under President Trump.”
He didn't stop there.
"Here’s what the research and analysis found. In air pollution and emissions, ten rules have been overturned and 12 more removals are in the process," Shep said. "On drilling and extraction, nine overturned. Nine more in progress. On infrastructure and planning, 12 overturned. Protection of animals, eight overturned. Three gone regarding toxic substances and safety. On water pollution, four rules and regulations overturned.”
"The Times lists these notable moves and reversals," Smith said.
"The administration withdrew requests for oil and gas companies to report methane emissions data. It loosened decades-old rule to limit toxic emissions from major industrial polluters. It stopped enforcing a 2015 rule that would’ve phased out the use of hydrofluorocarbons. The administration has proposed weakening Obama-era fuel-economy standards for cars and light trucks, and the clean power plan, which would have restricted emissions from coal-fired plants.”
So much of what Trump said was a lie. Mother Jones' Rebecca Leber has some of the most egregious of them all in her article. I'll bet you already know what it is, don't you?
SPOILER ALERT: “From day one, my administration has made it a top priority to make sure America has among the very cleanest air and cleanest water on the planet,” Trump said. “We want the cleanest air. We want crystal clean water. And that’s what we’re doing.”
