The actions of President Donald Trump are not only affecting the environment, but they are also controlling certain activities of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees said a WSC professor.
One of Trump’s new policies that is raising concern is the regulation that he is putting on EPA employees, who are restricted from writing press releases, publishing blog posts or posting anything on social media.
“I think it is unprecedented, what is going on,” said Dr. Barbara Hayford, professor of life sciences at Wayne State.
These stiff regulations have come under the same kind of criticism from people around the country, especially those in the field of science.
According to mainstream news sources, the objective of the Trump Administration is to review the EPA’s website and decide what information will stay and what will be removed. The Trump Administration doesn’t want any information coming out of the EPA until its website has been reviewed and aligns with his ideas.
“It is a war on facts and a war on science,” Hayford said. “This will lead to ramifications in all fields of science.”
Many speculate that the gag orders are part of Trump’s plan to curtail environmental regulations that hurt businesses. Going hand-in-hand with the gag orders, Trump has also revived the Keystone XL Pipeline, which Barack Obama rejected in 2015 because it would add to American dependence on carbon energy.
The pipeline would run 1,179 miles from the Canadian oil sands in Alberta to the Gulf Coast in Texas and would carry 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day.
For years now, the main objection to the proposed section of the Keystone Pipeline is the fact that it will run through the Ogallala Aquifer. The aquifer is one of the largest in the world, underlying a surface of 174,000 square miles in South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
The aquifer covers almost all of Nebraska and is one of the state’s most precious resources. A leak in the pipeline could have a devastating impact on Nebraskans’ drinking water and agricultural water.
“If there is a leak, it could affect our water quality,” Hayford said. “Our drinking water might not be safe.”
On Jan. 24, Trump signed executive orders to further the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. This pipeline would transport oil from Western North Dakota to refinery markets in Illinois.
The Dakota Access Pipeline made news in 2016 when Native Americans protested its construction through burial grounds. But contamination from leaks is another major concern.
Opponents of the pipeline also say that Trump is targeting the extensive legal review that is required for a large-scale project that could affect the environment. This is one of the reasons that many people are concerned with what Trump is doing with the EPA.
Not only do the pipelines pose the threat of leakage, but the way the oil is pumped also produces more greenhouse gasses than normal.
“It appears that we have underestimated how climate change can affect our lives,” Hayford said. “It is happening faster and worse than models have predicted.”