In the Final Weeks of the Trump Administration, Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Finalized a Rule attempting to Block the Agency from using Vast Swaths of Scientific Data in their Rulemaking.
The Plan could have Undermined meaningful Implementation of the Clean Air Act and other Landmark Environmental and Public Health Protections.
A Federal judge has now Thrown-Out Trump's Anti-Science Rule. It's a Huge Deal, and the Backlash is coming Quickly. Industry Groups Staffed by former Trump Officials are Speaking Out, calling to Reinstate Aspects of the Original Trump Plan.
The Trump Administration's Rule was Released under the Guise of Encouraging Transparency. It would have Prevented Policymakers from using any Study where the Data, Code, and Models, weren't made Public.
It sounds innocuous enough, but in Practice, the EPA currently relies on Public Health Studies based on Confidential Medical Information, Data that is incredibly Private and should Never be made Public.
These Public Health Studies are absolutely Critical to implementing Virtually every Law that Protects the Water we Drink and the Air we Breathe. If it Stayed in Place, it would have fundamentally Broken how the EPA uses Science and further Harmed our Communities, especially Communities of Color and lLw-Income Communities who Suffer from the Effects of Dirty Air and Dirty Water at a Disproportionate Rate to the Rest of the Country.
The only reason this Rule isn't in Full Force right now is because the Environmental Movement turned out in a major way.
Trump's EPA had tried to Fast-Track these Rules for years, but were able to be Stalled. In the end, Final Implementation was caught up in Lawsuits, and now the Biden Administration is in a Position to Reverse Course.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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