No, this is not satire. It’s real life.
In the latest GOP attack on the environment in the era of Donald Trump, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted Wednesday to limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s use of scientific data in their work.
Let me repeat: the GOP is telling the agency meant to protect the environment – especially at a time when climate change is an urgent threat – that it can’t use as much scientific data in its work.
“The days of ‘trust-me’ science are over,” said anti-science Congressman Lamar Smith, who serves as chairman of the Science Committee, according to The Hill. “In our modern information age, federal regulations should be based only on data that is available for every American to see and that can be subjected to independent review.”
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In other words, if Republicans don’t like that results of scientific studies and data, they should have the freedom to ignore it and implement policy accordingly.
Something, of course, that Donald Trump has wasted no time in doing since taking off in January.
Just yesterday, in fact, the president signed an executive order rolling back regulations enacted by President Obama to protect the environment and fight climate change. Trump’s move seeks to dismantle Obama’s Clean Power Plan with the goal of curbing CO2 emissions at coal plants.
That executive order came a month after Trump signed into law another attack on the environment, allowing coal companies to pour their sludge into America’s waterways.
While Wednesday’s House vote is troubling for Americans concerned with the environment, it’s important to remember that Republicans have been waging war against the environment for years. The difference now is that they just have control of both chambers of Congress and a White House occupied by a man who once tweeted that climate change is nothing but a Chinese-manufacture hoax.
Think of that the next time someone says voting doesn’t matter.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
