Will Trump’s Assault on Human Health Matter in Texas?

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As noted earlier today, Donald Trump is continuously engaging in assaults on US human health due to Trump’s incessant push for fossil fuels and against cleantech. The policies go beyond normal subsidies. Trump and his team are basically forcing the use of old coal power plants. And that will come with dire consequences.

“This Thursday, the Trump Administration is expected to finalize three decisions that will significantly increase climate-warming and health-harming pollution across America, especially in the state of Texas. As it continues to decimate the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to protect our health, Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin will eliminate the 2009 ‘Endangerment Finding’ that provides a fundamental scientific conclusion that greenhouse gases — like carbon dioxide from coal plants and methane from gas plants — endanger human lives,” the Sierra Club writes. “In the same move, EPA will obliterate its own vehicle emission standards and also roll back a rule that would have reduced mercury and air toxics emissions from power plants. And, last Friday, EPA gave coal plants, including two in Texas, three extra years to reduce heavy metal water pollution.”

Whether in Texas or elsewhere, humans will suffer and die from Trump’s absurd energy policies. However, will that actually come back to hurt Trump? Or will he and Republicans continue to power through with these harmful actions and then not pay the consequences in states — perhaps like Texas — where voters could shift to blue candidates? I’m not very optimistic, but I do think this is possible. Continuing to highlight these activities is key to that, though.

“Pollution from fossil fuels kills thousands of Americans every year, increases our electricity prices, and makes our nation less secure,” said Emma Pabst, campaign manager for the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign. “But the Trump Administration’s wealthy friends who own coal, gas, and data centers don’t want you to think about the deaths and sickness and high bills. They want you to look away. These shameful decisions by Trump and his EPA disregard millions of Texans struggling to raise healthy families and pay for insurance, electricity, and groceries. It’s past time for the Trump EPA to put people before polluters.”

“Today Trump and Zeldin deliver dirtier air, more extreme weather, and harms to our health all across Texas,” said Cyrus Reed, Legislative and Conservation Director of the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club. “A majority of Americans agree that climate change worsens extreme weather, and even oil executives admit that burning fossil fuels causes climate change. From hurricanes in the Gulf, to devastating floods in Central Texas, to drought and fires in West Texas, to a polar vortex that almost shut down our entire grid — this dangerous federal decision is a slap in the face to millions of Texans, especially the Texans who lost loved ones.”

A majority of Americans may understand this, but is a majority of Americans going to eventually step up enough to stop this kind of anti-American political behavior?