🩺 REALITY CHECK: Trump Put Corporate Polluters Over Americans’ Health and Safety

Donald Trump is attempting to violate the law — again — for his ultra-wealthy friends and help corporate polluters cut costs by dumping deadly chemicals into our drinking water. Trump is risking the lives of millions to line the pockets of his billionaire backers. Once again, Trump’s agenda is clear: billionaires first, working families last.

In a “clear win” for corporate polluters, Donald Trump is breaking the law to help corporate polluters save billions by dumping toxic chemicals into Americans’ drinking water. 

Washington Post: “EPA will weaken rule curbing ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water” 

“The drinking water rules were adopted as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to limit public exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), hazardous chemicals linked to a range of serious illnesses. … 

“The EPA estimates that more than 158 million Americans are exposed to PFAS through their drinking water. …

“According to the [EPA] estimates, the [Biden administration] standard would cost utilities about $1.5 billion a year.” 

The Guardian: “The EPA is attempting actions that violate the law, some say, and Biden administration’s progress can’t be fully undone … 

“[T]he moves would deliver a clear win for the US chemical and water utility industries”  

The Trump administration previously rolled back environmental protections that protected children from toxic chemicals. 

New York Times: “E.P.A. Set to Cancel Grants Aimed at Protecting Children From Toxic Chemicals”

“The grants are designed to address a range of issues, including improving the health of children in rural America who have been exposed to pesticides from agriculture and other pollution; reducing exposure to wildfire smoke; and preventing ‘forever chemicals’ from contaminating the food supply. …

“Many grants involve issues that affect regions of the country where voters supported Mr. Trump.”

REMINDER: Trump spent his first term putting corporate polluters’ profits over the health and safety of Americans.  

The Hill: “The White House announced Tuesday that President Trump would likely veto legislation designed to manage a class of cancer-linked chemicals leaching into the water supply.”  

New York Times: “[S]cientists and administrators in the E.P.A.’s Office of Water were alarmed in late May when a top Trump administration appointee insisted upon the rewriting of a rule to make it harder to track the health consequences of the [PFOA] chemical, and therefore regulate it.

“The revision was among more than a dozen demanded by the appointee, Nancy B. Beck, after she joined the E.P.A.’s toxic chemical unit in May as a top deputy. For the previous five years, she had been an executive at the American Chemistry Council, the chemical industry’s main trade association.” 

Associated Press: “The Trump White House has intervened to weaken one of the few public health protections pursued by its own administration, a rule to limit the use of a toxic industrial compound in consumer products, according to communications between the White House and Environmental Protection Agency.” 

Politico: “Scott Pruitt’s EPA and the White House sought to block publication of a federal health study on a nationwide water-contamination crisis, after one Trump administration aide warned it would cause a ‘public relations nightmare,’ newly disclosed emails reveal. … 

“The study would show that the chemicals endanger human health at a far lower level than EPA has previously called safe, according to the emails.” 

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