"On Earth Day, We Finally Have a President Who Follows Science," the statement declared of an administration that has cut so much funding for science that 75 percent of 1,200 scientists responding to a survey by the journal Nature said they were considering leaving the country. The Trump administration has also laid off thousands of researchers, sidelined climate research, frozen all new grants from the National Science Foundation, appointed noted anti-scientific kooks who praise discredited measles treatments, and reportedly plans to completely eliminate the EPA’s science and research arm.
The release further listed eight "key actions President Trump is taking on the environment." He’s "promoting energy innovation for a healthier future," the release announced, as Trump attempts to revive coal—a fuel so old its use predates the birth of Christ—while cutting black lung programs for coal miners. He’s "championing sound forest management"—an odd way of describing rolling back forest protections while firing so many U.S. Forest Service workers that their ability either to fight fires or administer logging contracts has come into question.
The third item on the list says, "President Trump is ending the forced use of paper straws," which can contain PFAS and are probably not much if at all better than plastic ones. This is more accurate than the last two statements, but technically Trump only signed an order reversing federal purchasing policies that favor paper over plastics. And the idea that he did this to protect people from PFAS (known as "forever chemicals") is risible, given that the administration has reversed a plan to limit PFAS in industrial wastewater, is trying to reverse bans of PFAS in consumer goods, and just canceled about $8 million in grants for research on how to prevent PFAS "from accumulating in crops and the food chain," according to reporting this week from The New York Times.
"President Trump is cutting wasteful regulations that stifle innovation and raise costs," the release continues. It explains that this means "pausing restrictive emissions rules for coal plants and revising the National Environmental Policy Act implementation," which will save "American families thousands annually on energy bills and [prove] that a strong economy and a healthy environment go hand-in-hand." In reality, energy prices are spiking, in part due to Trump’s tariffs; the administration is dead set against renewables, which are cheaper than fossil fuels; and the "wasteful regulations" the administration is targeting were projected to save 200,000 lives over the next 25 years.
"President Trump is protecting public lands," the release says, explaining that this means "opening more federal lands and waters for oil, gas, and critical mineral extraction." Also, the first Trump administration invested in conservation, the release insists. (In 2020, one conservationist described the last four years of Trump conservation policies as "gleefully" taking "a meat cleaver to our national monuments and land protections.")
Then come two desperate attempts to include some positive spin on tariffs, which are tanking the economy: "President Trump is pushing back on unfair trade practices that harm the environment and undercut U.S. producers and exporters," and "Trump is cracking down on China—the most prolific polluter in the world." The release denounces, specifically, Chinese overfishing—a practice the Trump administration is encouraging at home—and ocean plastic pollution. Trump’s election is widely perceived to have torpedoed the world’s best chance for a global treaty to limit plastic pollution.
The release concludes by saying that "Trump is protecting wildlife," specifically by "pausing certain wind projects." Last week, the administration proposed a rule change that would gut the Endangered Species Act by claiming that destroying habitat—the primary driver of endangerment and extinction—doesn’t count as "harming" wildlife.
Anyway, go ahead and take that "plalk." Earth Day comes but once a year.
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