For Immediate Release: Friday, Oct. 13, 2017
Contact: Donna De La Cruz, [email protected] (202) 339-9331

Trump Siding with Polluting Industries Over Clean Air in Communities

(WASHINGTON)—The Trump Administration’s plan to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan will mean dirtier air for low-income communities since many are located in the shadow of power plants and industrial areas.

Trump’s decision will undermine efforts to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by power plants and signals that he is not willing to protect the air that Americans breathe and ensure that communities hardest hit by pollution benefit from high quality family sustaining jobs in a clean energy economy, said Dorian Warren, president of the Center for Community Change Action (CCC Action).

“After the devastation wrought by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria and the Western wildfires, the American people are demanding action, not retreat, on climate change,” Warren said. “He would rather keep his corporate friends happy than ensure that Americans are not exposed to toxins that can harm them. And he also does not care that power plant workers may be exposed to hazardous workplace conditions.”

“By not regulating these power plants, Trump is ensuring that future generations will be harmed greatly by climate change,” Warren added. “Repealing the Clean Power Plan is yet another reckless decision made by a ruthless administration.”

Mary Le Nyguen, Executive Director of Washington CAN!, a CCC Action partner, said: “The Trump Administration destroying the Clean Power Plan is indicative of how they are serving the greed of fossil fuel CEOs over the needs of poor people and people of color. For us, our livelihoods, homes, food sources, and health are at stake. Real climate leadership centers people and the planet. This means holding the worst polluters accountable, investing in clean energy, and prioritizes the needs of communities most-impacted by climate change.”

Rich Stolz, Executive Director of OneAmerica, also a CCC Action partner, said: “The Clean Power Plan is a thoughtful and ambitious rule to curb carbon emissions.  At a time when wild fires, hurricanes and other natural disasters are wreaking havoc across the United States, it’s hard to fathom how this Administration appears so wedded to corporate interests that it would remove a key tool available to the nation to head off the human and financial toll of these disasters.  For communities of color and impacted residents of communities subject to the health and financial impacts of pollution, the Clean Power Plan didn’t go far enough.  Yet again, this White House threatens to take us backward.”

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The Center for Community Change Action (CCCAction) empowers the people most affected by injustice. CCCAction uses training, political advocacy and electoral tools to help low-income people build political power and push for policy changes that improve their lives. For more information go to www.cccaction.org and follow us on Twitter @CCCAction