ATLANTA – President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he is repealing a fundamental Nixon-era environmental law that says it stifles infrastructure projects, but is credited with preventing large construction projects from dirtying the environment and make sure there are public input on big projects. .
“Together we are reclaiming the proud heritage of the United States as a nation of builders and a nation that can do things,” Trump said.
Trump was in Atlanta to announce changes to the National Environmental Policy Act regulations on how and when authorities should conduct environmental reviews, making it easier to build roads, pipelines, solar and chemical plants, and other projects.
The 1970 law changed environmental oversight in the United States by requiring federal agencies to consider whether a project would harm air, land, water, or wildlife, and granting the public the right of review and input.
Critics called Trump’s move a cynical attempt to limit the public’s ability to examine and influence proposed projects under one of the country’s environmental protection laws.
“This may be the greatest gift to polluters in the past 40 years,” said Brett Hartl, director of government affairs for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that works to save endangered species.
Trump has made reducing government regulation a hallmark of his presidency and presenting it as a way to boost jobs. Environmental groups say regulatory pullbacks threaten public health and make it harder to curb global warming. With Congress and administration divided on how to increase investment in infrastructure, the president is confident of his deregulation drive to demonstrate progress.
Among the main changes to the new rule: limit when federal environmental reviews of projects are required, and limit how long federal agencies and the public have to assess and comment on any environmental impact of a project.
“We will not achieve certain projects for environmental reasons. They have to be environmentally sound. But you know what? We will know in a year. We will know in a year and a half. We won’t know in 20 years, “Trump said.
NEPA requires all federal agencies to assess the potential environmental effects of the proposed projects, but less than 1% percent of those reviews are the kind of complex and detailed review Trump focused on: environmental impact statements.
Opponents say the changes the Trump administration made will have a disproportionate impact on predominantly minority communities. More than 1 million African Americans live less than a kilometer from natural gas facilities and face a cancer risk above the Environmental Protection Agency’s level of concern about toxins emitted from those facilities, according to a 2017 study. by the Clean Air Task Force and the National Association for the Advancement of People of Color
“Donald Trump is removing the last lines of defense for front-line communities and continues to demonstrate a total disregard for our environment and for those who demand racial and environmental justice,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN. AND.
Mustafa Santiago Ali, a former associate administrator in the Obama administration’s EPA environmental justice office, said black communities and other minorities “will pay with their health and ultimately their lives” for the rule changes. .
Business groups generally supported the changes.
“Modernizing and clarifying NEPA could not come at a better time for our country as we are recovering from COVID-19,” said Anne Bradbury, CEO of the American Exploration and Production Council, a trade group for oil and gas explorers.
For his announcement, Trump chose Georgia, a decisive state in the general election. Trump won the Republican trending status by 5 percentage points in 2016, but some polls show him behind former Vice President Joe Biden, the alleged Democratic candidate. This will be Trump’s ninth trip to Georgia and his sixth visit to Atlanta during his presidency.
The president’s trip also comes as the state has seen coronavirus cases rise and has now counted more than 12,000 confirmed cases and more than 3,000 deaths.
The White House said the administration’s efforts will expedite the expansion of Interstate 75 near Atlanta, a major cargo route where traffic can often slow down. The state will create two interstate lanes designed exclusively for commercial trucks. The state announced last fall, before the White House revealed its proposed rule, that it was bringing the deadline to substantially complete the project to 2028.
Trump, who spoke at a UPS facility, said the project will save the company and its drivers an extraordinary number of hours a year. Much of the crowd wore a mask, but not all. Trump was not wearing a mask.
Republican lawmakers applauded the new rule, saying an update had been long overdue.
“We can protect the environment and move our economy forward at the same time. This rule does it, “said Senator John Barrasso, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Commission.
Trump’s trip to Georgia came a day after former Vice President Joe Biden announced an infrastructure plan that places great emphasis on improving energy efficiency in buildings and homes, as well as promoting conservation efforts in the agricultural industry. In the plan, Biden agrees to spend $ 2 billion over four years to promote his energy proposals.
Matt Hill, a Biden campaign spokesman, said Trump’s regulatory efforts were an attempt to “destroy a fundamental bipartisan law to distract himself from the fact that ‘Infrastructure Week’ never happened and will never happen as long as he is president.” .
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Freking reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed to this report.
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