Happy Wednesday, Democrats. Welcome back to our #TrumpCheck series, the LACDP's weekly newsletter that holds the Trump administration accountable for its lies, deception, and self-serving actions.
If watching the news seems to be giving you whiplash these days, you're not alone. One minute, the Epstein client list is on Attorney General Pam Bondi's desk 'right now' and the next it doesn't exist. One minute, House Speaker Mike Johnson is demanding the release of the Epstein list, and the next he's ending Congressional session early to prevent questions about it.
But there is a whole lot more happening in Washington outside of sex-trafficking revelations. While both liberals and conservatives have been calling for action and transparency in regards to the DOJ investigation, behind the scenes, environmental protections have been rolled back at record rates. Today, we're going to dive into the lies about habitat destruction and environmental problems being created and furthered by the Trump administration.
- Trump signed an Executive Order on July 3rd to create the "Make America Beautiful Again" commission, to "conserve America’s lands and waters, cut red tape, and drive conservation and economic growth."
FACT: Let's go one-by-one, shall we? In terms of land protection, Trump has already rescinded a Clinton-era protection that protected over 58 million acres of forest land, now making it vulnerable to road-building and logging. Water in the United States isn't faring any better, after a slate of Executive Orders removed protections for rivers in Alaska, as well as directing water flow out of rivers in historically drought-riddled California. $197 million was cut from conservation efforts in the new budget; it looks like the only thing that has been completed is expanding economic growth, as over one thousand previously protected park sites are now open for mining.
- On July 3rd, the White House released a statement announcing higher entrance fees for foreign visitors to National Parks, in an effort to "raise hundreds of millions for conservation projects that improve our national parks." This echoes a 2020 statement by Trump. "We want every child to have access to pristine outdoor spaces... they know that every American has truly a duty to preserve this wonderous inheritance. And that's what they're doing and that's what we're doing, we're preserving an incredible inheritance."
FACT: Trump's budget plan cuts over $1.2 billion from the National Parks, which would be the biggest cut to the department's budget in history. “This is the most extreme, unrealistic, and destructive National Park Service budget a President has ever proposed in the agency’s 109-year history. It’s nothing less than an all-out assault on America’s national parks,” said National Parks Conservation Association President and CEO Theresa Pierno.
- In a White House statement about energy production, Donald Trump promises to "remove all illegitimate impediments to the ... use of domestic energy resources — particularly oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower, geothermal, biofuel, critical mineral, and nuclear energy resources." He goes on in the statement to define "any such State laws purporting to address 'climate change' or involving 'environmental, social, and governance' initiatives, 'environmental justice,' carbon or 'greenhouse gas' emissions"
FACT: A well-researched government report, which has been widely accepted as fact, from 2009 established that greenhouse gases "threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations." This distinction is what allows the government to regulate greenhouse gases, and the Trump administration is working to completely 'scrap' the finding, and all environmental protections that go with that.
I'm sure Trump's billionaire buddies are happy to hear about the new resources they'll have access to, at the expense of Americans, endangered species, and all the natural space that will be destroyed in the process. But we cannot give up.
The first step in fighting back against the Trump administration is setting the record straight; correcting misinformation is a job for us all. If you had this email forwarded, you can sign up for the #TrumpCheck newsletter here.
Stay safe, stay strong, and keep up the good fight, Democrats.
We'll be back at defending the truth next week. Until then, stay tuned to our social media channels, linked below, for updates on the LACDP's fight against Trump.
In Solidarity,
Team LACDP
