Feds gut cornerstone environmental protection
Move curtails voices from communities affected by polluting projects
Houston Chronicle Pressreader:
ATLANTA, GA — The Trump administration in an announcement today hobbled the nation’s bedrock environmental protection, the National Environmental Policy Act, a law that has given marginalized communities a say in what happens to them when governments propose life-altering projects like highways and pipelines.
In doing so, the administration illegally cut corners in a way that the courts have rejected time and time again.
“This is a blatant and transparent effort from the Trump administration to further silence communities that are not as well connected, not as wealthy, not as valuable to the White House as others,” said Kym Hunter, a Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney who is heading the organization’s defense of NEPA. SELC is representing 16 conservation organizations.
“And the fact that it is happening now, when so many in our communities are crying out for equity and fairness, is particularly appalling,” Hunter said.
Article submitted by, shelotmlee.