Sierra Club Utah Chapter Statement on Trump Administration’s Gutting of Health and Climate Protections

Salt Lake City - Today, in a brazen assault on the health and welfare of the American public, the Trump administration finalized decisions that severely slash decades of environmental progress. Dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency's mission to protect human health and the environment, Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin have eliminated the EPA's greenhouse gas endangerment finding, limiting the agency's authority to curb deadly greenhouse gas emissions. EPA is also expected to dismantle modern-day pollution control standards for mercury and other toxic pollutants spewing from coal plants. This comes just after EPA granted the IPP plant in Utah three more years to remediate its heavy metal water pollution.

In response, Sierra Club Senior Campaign Organizer Luis Miranda issued the following statement:

"The absurdity of decisions like these taking place as Utah experiences its warmest winter on record cannot be understated. The Trump administration is using the federal government not to protect communities, but to undermine them-warping EPA's role and leaving communities like ours to contend with the aftermath: degraded air, droughts, and devastating wildfires. Polluters are reaping in dollars while community members are working to stretch them as far as they'll go. We remain steadfast in our commitment to a clean energy future that prioritizes people over polluters."

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About the Sierra Club

The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit https://www.sierraclub.org.