Rollbacks from Trump’s administration of environmental protection since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic have increased levels of pollution in the air and groundwater – something experts say has led to deaths in the United States.
Public health and environmental experts say “there is no one watching” US oil and gas companies along with other leading polluting operations after the sector complained about not being able to do business during the lockdown. An Associated Press report published Monday marked data from Environmental Protection Agency that 40 percent fewer pollution tests of smoking stacks were conducted between March and April this year. Such rollbacks on anti-pollution rules and anti-pollution have probably already led to countless deaths linked to heart, lung disease and premature births, experts say.
Environmental deregulation has included tests on North Dakota’s groundwater to include natural gas plantations, current in gas levels in New Mexico and thousands of pollution-level exemptions that allow companies to bypass any and all hazardous health precautions. References, says the EPA, citing the outbreak of COVID-19 as a reason for need to reduce environmental regulations.
“As surely as night follows day, there will be an increased number of deaths due to these causes,” biology professor and director of the Global Health and Common Goods Program, Philip J. Landrigan, said in an AP interview. the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection.
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Air pollution alone is associated with increased risks of stroke, heart disease, lung disease and premature birth. Water pollution is linked to countless additional risks to public health, experts warn.
The AP report found that 3,000 exemptions granted during the pandemic directly indicating the pandemic were the reason for requesting environmental protection rollbacks to continue with companies. EPA spokesman James Hewitt said the exemptions do not allow recipients to exceed the pollution limits, but will continue probes for those who “do not act responsibly under the circumstances.”
Newsweek reached out Monday morning to the EPA for additional context on the anti-pollution exemptions received primarily by oil and gas companies. Nearly all companies requesting COVID-19 considerations said it was intended to minimize risks to workers during the pandemic, but regulators say a handful simply tried to cut costs.
“We believe that by taking these measures, we can do our part to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus,” said Tim Peterkoski, environmental audit manager for Marathon Petroleum, Indiana Department of Environmental Management. . Marathon requested permission to scrap environmental tests at refineries and gas stations in Michigan, Texas, North Dakota and California.
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“The damage done by this policy has already been done,” said Cynthia Giles, the former EPA assistant director under the Obama administration. The agency told the AP that it will end the COVID-19 “enforcement force” by the end of August.
Port Arthur environmental activist Hilton Kelley responded to rising Texas Gulf Coast pollution levels by highlighting a story about the public housing project in which he grew up next to oil refineries: “you would always hear about someone dying from cancer, always smelling of odors, little looking babies using nebulizers, “he told the AP in April.
Reaction to the Trump administration’s environmental pandemic Kelley went on to say, “That is a death sentence for us. Now we may not die that day. But if you are overcome day after day [by hazardous emissions] we are dead. We’re dead. “
ROBERT NICKELSBERG / Contributor / Getty Images
