Wheeler Can't Name 3 Policies To Cut Air Pollution In Public Forum; CA To EPA - Stay Out of Our Way
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Andrew Wheeler, acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), struggled to name Trump administration policies designed to decrease air pollution during a Wednesday event hosted by the Washington Post.
Washington Post reporter Juliet Eilperin asked Wheeler to name three policies that the Trump administration is championing to reduce air pollution and three policies that are contributing to cleaner water. After naming a proposed EPA rule-making to cut nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel-powered heavy-duty trucks, Wheeler hesitated, saying, “I’m not sure I’m going to be able to give three off the top of my head.”
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At Wednesday’s event, Wheeler regained his footing, but his answers were not backed up by facts. He claimed the Trump administration’s replacement for the Clean Power Plan — the Affordable Clean Energy rule — will lead to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by 35 percent by the time it’s fully implemented. But the EPA’s own numbers show the new rule would increase carbon dioxide emissions by 20 million to 61 million tons, nitrogen oxide emissions by 14,000 to 43,000 tons, and sulfur dioxide emissions by 29,000 to 53,000 tons, relative to the Clean Power Plan, according to John Walke, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s clean air, climate, and clean energy program.
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California Attorney General Xaiver Becerra, another featured speaker at the event, took the stage immediately after Wheeler. After already filing 12 lawsuits against the Trump EPA, Becerra emphasized that California will try its best to fill in the regulatory gaps left by the federal government. “I don’t perceive what we’re doing in California as opposing the Trump administration or the EPA. I see it as defending what the EPA was meant to do: protect the environment,” Becerra said. “If the EPA and its personnel are not going to do that, then we’re going to step up.”
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https://thinkprogress.org/wheeler-epa-clean-air-water-policies-946caed38776/