Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works Democrats, SEEC, House Energy & Commerce Democrats Lead Colleagues in Sounding Alarm on EPA’s Wholesale Assault on Environmental Protections

Washington, D.C. – Today, environmental champions in the House and Senate—including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW); Senator Edward J. Markey, senior member of EPW; Senators Richard Blumenthal and Brian Schatz; House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) Vice Chairs Representatives Sean Casten, Mike Levin, and Chellie Pingree; and SEEC Co-Chair Representative Paul Tonko, who also serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Environment in the House Energy and Commerce Committee—held a press conference at the Capitol to oppose Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin’s attacks on clean air, clean water, and a healthy future for the American people.  Recently, Administrator Zeldin announced he was “driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion,” including rolling back 31 environmental rules and regulations that will cost families—with their health and with their wallets—and reward the planet’s biggest polluters.

Along with the press conference, SEEC leaders; Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; and Ranking Member Whitehouse, led a bicameral letter signed by 180 Members of Congress that called out Administrator Zeldin’s wholesale assault on the central mission of the agency he was appointed to lead and called on him to halt his egregious attacks.  Among the signers were Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

**WATCH: The full press conference here.** 

**READ: The full letter here.**

“In just two months as EPA Administrator, you have demonstrated a complete disregard for the central mission of the agency you were appointed to lead. Instead of protecting the environment—as the agency name directs—you are protecting the special interests of big polluters,” wrote the 180 Members. “We urge you to halt your egregious attacks on the public health and well-being of the American people.”

“What we are seeing right now at the EPA is corruption to the ears for Trump's big fossil fuel donors, and it does not come for free. The warnings abound about what is happening as climate risk now begins to hit Americans. We went through the science phase, when the scientists told us what was going to go wrong. We went through the politics phase, when fossil fuel dirty, dark money blocked action in Congress that would have prevented this. Now we’re in the consequences phase, and the warnings are deadly serious,” said Ranking Member Sheldon Whitehouse. “But in the face of all the risks and all the danger to our economy, Trump will do nothing but lie about climate change being a hoax. He will use the power and pressure of the federal government to do what the fossil fuel industry wants; it is bullying thug-ocracy of the worst order, paid for and chosen by the fossil fuel industry.”  

“Every day, we are witnessing Donald Trump and his henchmen attack the environment and threaten Americans’ rights, health, and wallets – all to give their billionaire buddies a tax cut,” said Senator Edward J. Markey. “We won’t let them turn EPA into Every Polluter’s Ally in their attempts to slash bedrock environmental safeguards. We will continue to fight for a world with clean air and clean water for all.”

“Administrator Zeldin’s actions are dysfunctional, dystopian – and just plain dumb,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal. “They’re also cruel, because they will cause suffering. We will lose something precious in our environment – in the water and air that sometimes we take for granted – but we are going to lose lives as well.”

“The Trump energy agenda is about raising costs, putting people’s health in danger, and making everyone more vulnerable to the devastation of extreme weather,” said Senator Brian Schatz. “What Lee Zeldin’s EPA is doing makes all of us less safe and more broke. We need climate action now.”

“Now that he is head of the EPA, Administrator Zeldin turned from a moderate environmental advocate to someone who is willing to go against scientific consensus, roll back dozens of protections, and kowtow to the worst polluters,” said Representative Paul Tonko. “We will not let him attack our environment and public health without a fight. SEEC, our democratic leaders, and colleagues have joined together to demand that he and this administration serve the American people, not corporate polluters.”

“As Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior and Environment, I condemn the Trump Administration’s reckless assault on the EPA in the strongest possible terms. From illegally withholding Congressionally-appropriated funds and eliminating environmental justice offices to gutting safeguards against toxic chemicals and air pollution, this Administration’s extreme anti-environment agenda puts the health and safety of every American family at risk,” said Representative Chellie Pingree. “This isn’t just a rollback of regulations—it’s a dismantling of decades of bipartisan progress, with devastating consequences for vulnerable communities, including those in Maine’s ‘tailpipe of the nation,’ where asthma rates are among the highest in the country. That’s why we led 180 Members of Congress to demand accountability from Administrator Zeldin, and why I’ll continue using every tool on the Appropriations Committee to defend our environmental protections and stop this dangerous agenda that prioritizes polluters over people.”

“Lee Zeldin and Donald Trump do not hate clean energy because it’s clean. They hate it because it’s cheap,” said Representative Sean Casten. “Fossil fuel demand in the United States is plummeting, and dirty energy cannot compete with clean energy in the open market. The longer they remain hell-bent on tilting the tables in favor of oil and gas, the longer Americans will be forced to pay more for their energy.”

“The Republican Party used to stand up for the environment. Nixon created the EPA. Reagan helped close the hole in the ozone layer. And Schwarzenegger passed some of California’s strongest climate legislation ever,” said Representative Mike Levin. “Sadly, the Trump Administration doesn’t believe in protecting the environment or people’s health. They only care about helping the fossil fuel industry. I’m proud to stand with my House and Senate colleagues to push back against the Administration’s reckless destruction.”

Background

On March 12, Administrator Zeldin announced the “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” which included rolling back 31 environmental rules and regulations. This list of actions directly threatens Americans’ health and fundamental right to clean air and water by:

• Rolling back National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter – some of the most dangerous air pollution known to directly cause asthma and other health issues;
• Gutting EPA rules that prevent hazardous metals like mercury and arsenic from ending up in our water supply;
• Reconsidering national emissions standards for cancer-causing hazardous air pollutants, including ethylene oxide;
• Ending the “Good Neighbor” rule, which simply acknowledged that pollution does not respect state lines and that downwind states should not be burdened by their neighbors’ pollution;
• Repealing power plant emissions standards, allowing existing gas and coal-fired power plants to pump unlimited climate pollution into our air; and
• Revoking the landmark “Endangerment Finding” that simply states climate-changing pollutants are dangerous to human health, and which serves as the foundation for climate pollution to be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

And more.