Conservation Notes: Emailing for exemptions

Trump invites polluters to email him for environmental exemptions

By Tom Molloy

The EPA in March announced that it would allow large stationary sources of air pollution to apply for exemptions that would allow them to bypass key provisions of the Clean Air Act that limit hazardous emissions of nearly 200 pollutants. The Trump administration invited large emitters to apply for the exemptions simply by sending an email. The EPA said the exemptions could be granted under the president’s authority “if the technology to implement the standard is not available and it is in the national security interests of the United States to do so.”

The L.A. Times reported on August 16th that more then 340 facilities nationwide accepted Trump’s invitation and have asked the regime’s EPA for a break from hazardous emissions regulations. Three facilities in the Southland have already received exemptions to emit a carcinogenic chemical – ethylene oxide. The EPA website notes that short-term exposure to ethylene oxide by inhalation can cause adverse health effects including headaches, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, respiratory irritation, gastrointestinal distress and vomiting. Chronic exposure to ethylene oxide over many years increases the risk of cancers of the white blood cells, such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma, as well as breast cancer, according to the EPA.

This is just one of eight rules for which the EPA has recently offered exemptions via email. The others include rules governing mercury and air toxics; polymers and resins; rubber tires; copper smelting; and coal power.

Multiple environmental groups have filed freedom of information act requests seeking the list of applicants and their purported justifications for the presidential exemptions to the Clean Air Act. Environmental organization Earthjustice says “We’re prepared to take all steps to defend our clients and communities who really look to these rules to protect their health and their livelihood.”

Dear reader, with the House, Senate, and Supreme Court in the pocket of the Trump regime, all that citizens can do to stop the madness is support organizations that are taking legal action against the regime’s dystopian policies. In addition to Earthjustice, you can consider supporting other organizations that are filing lawsuits to slow the constant assaults on our environment and our democracy.