The Trump Administration has launched a massive assault on our climate, our public health and our environment. We think that's a really bad idea
By Kerrigan Clough, former Senior Ethics Officer, & Deputy Regional Administrator, EPA Region 8 & Joni Teter, former Deputy Ethics Officer & Senior Enforcement Attorney, EPA Region 8 William D. Ruckelshaus, EPA’s first and fourth Administrator set the standard for EPA employees’ ethical behavior. Shortly after taking office on December 4, 1970, two days after … Read more
EPA was created to protect our air, water, lands – and, above all, our health. Since its creation in 1970, EPA has made our air and water cleaner, prevented millions of asthma attacks and hospitalizations, and avoided hundreds of thousands of premature deaths, all while America enjoyed a growing economy and expanding population. Protecting the … Read more
The Trump/Pruitt team has released its roadmap for EPA. What is strategic planning? A systematic process of envisioning a desired future, and translating this vision into broadly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them. Strategic plans create a framework for accountability between the Agency, Congress and the American people. … Read more
Scott Pruitt came to Colorado on August 4th to visit the Gold King Mine. His companions, Senators Cory Gardner & Michael Bennet, Representative Scott Tipton, and Governor John Hickenlooper, held a town hall in Durango following their visit to the mine. Pruitt skipped out. There were folks outside the town hall who wanted to ask … Read more
The EPA Alumni Association has created an on-line job center to help EPA staffers find new work https://jobs.epaalumni.org On Monday, August 6, the Trump Administration begins its assault on EPA staffing. This Administration plans to eliminate more than 3000 jobs – in an agency with only 15,000 employees. The pink slips start flowing with folks … Read more
Thanks to the Environmental Protection Network for this summary analysis of the Trump Administration’s proposed budget cuts to EPA – and our environmental protections. The Trump Administration claims that it supports clean air and water, but its proposed FY 2018 Budget tells another story. Their deep cuts would slash the Environmental Protection Agency’s Budget 42% … Read more
“The push to block, rewrite and delay scores of Obama-era rules may be the administration’s biggest untold success.” Ironically, this is a statement many environmental professionals would agree with: “I think it’s something that’s just been lost on people in terms of the regulatory sediment that has built up — decade after decade after decade … Read more
Here’s an example of how environmental groups are using our federal courts to fight the Trump regulatory rollback agenda. NRDC and the Communications Workers of America have sued to overturn E.O. 13771 – the “2 for 1” directive. This Executive Order requires that each new regulation must be accompanied by the removal of two regulations … Read more
Yesterday’s Washington Post offered some insights into the Trump Administration’s plans to reduce earnings for federal workers – both present and past. (Article links below.) Perhaps only the heartlessness the president’s budget demonstrates for the poor, the hungry and the sick exceeds the billionaire’s absence of empathy for the federal employees who serve them… [it] would … Read more
We should tell our Senators to oppose a pair of bills aimed at crippling EPA. Both have already passed the House. If they pass the Senate, their effect will be felt long after the Trump Administration is history. (1) The HONEST Act would prevent EPA from using sound science making decisions about how to best … Read more
Save EPA has been an all-volunteer group of former EPA officials who became alarmed about the Trump agenda for EPA and joined together to fight it.
With newly-elected President-Elect Biden and VP-Elect Harris coming in January, the need to "save EPA" is much less urgent. This is not to imply all clear skies ahead - there is much re-building to do, there will be negative pressures on the new administration, and we will likely have policy differences in the future. However, we are hopeful that these differences will be discussed rationally, using science as a basis for moving forward, and keeping EPA's mission of protecting human health and the environment in the forefront.
And so, we are going back to retirement! We're keeping our website up at http://saveepaalums.info/ , as a resource for those who want to follow and influence the restoration work. Our report on the Trump record at EPA describes the actions that need to be reversed [saveepaalums.info/Trump+era+report], and our guide to participating in the rulemaking process [http://saveepaalums.info/Resistance+Guide] can help you be part of the solution.
Thank you for your support and commitment during the past 3.5 years. While the Trump assaults were unending, they were also frequently unsuccessful, and that was due in large part to public outrage. Keep it up! Although EPA will be in much better hands with a Biden administration, there is always a need for an informed and engaged public.