Trump To Roll Back Environmental Standards To Cover For His Infrastructure Failures
July 15, 2020
Trump failed to follow through on his infrastructure promises and is now attempting to cover for his inaction by rolling back the country’s most established environmental law in Atlanta today under the guise of advancing American infrastructure.
Trump has been all talk and no action when it comes to infrastructure, having little to show after more than three years in office.
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Trump’s many pledges to focus on fixing the nation’s infrastructure have become “a running joke in Washington, emblematic of the administration’s bumbling approach to governing.”
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Trump’s 2018 infrastructure plan proposed $200 billion in federal infrastructure spending, far short of what experts believe is needed to fix the nation’s infrastructure.
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Trump’s 2018 plan flipped the current infrastructure funding model, increasing the burden on states and localities to provide 80% of project costs instead of 20%. Trump’s plan would have also increased costs for working families through more tolls and fees.
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Trump’s 2018 plan did not address the highway trust fund, which is rapidly running out of money. And it failed to specify any dedicated funding to expand rural broadband access.
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Last year, Trump refused to negotiate with House Democrats over an infrastructure plan, and last month threatened to veto Democrats’ $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan that would combat the effects of climate change while investing in mass transit.
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The Trump administration’s attempts to turn the focus to infrastructure have been frequently derailed by scandals of Trump’s own making.
After failing to carry out his infrastructure promises, Trump is now attempting to cover for his inaction by rolling back the country’s oldest and most established environmental law.
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Trump will roll back the National Environmental Policy Act, which will spare federal agencies from assessing if major infrastructure projects worsen climate change
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Despite Trump’s claims that environmental reviews hold up infrastructure projects, less than 1% end up requiring full environmental impact statements.
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Trump’s NEPA rollback could put roads and bridges at greater risk because regulators and developers would not have to consider sea-level rise when building projects
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Trump’s NEPA rollback is a major victory for the fossil fuel industry while it hurts communities of color who are already disproportionately affected by pollution.