Trump's corrupted EPA again approves added air pollution

The New York Times lays out another stunning example of why it's important to watch what Trump and his lobbyist-led agencies are doing - in addition to whomever he's insulting on Twitter - because the actions 


lead to long-term environmental damage and everyday harm to our health:

The Trump administration formally weakened a major climate-change regulation on Thursday — effectively freeing oil and gas companies from the need to detect and repair methane leaks — even as new research shows that far more of the potent greenhouse gas is seeping into the atmosphere than previously known....

President Trump last year rolled back the rule on coal-plant pollution, and this spring he significantly weakened the rule on auto pollution....

A scientific study published last month found that the United States fossil fuel industry in 2017 emitted about 13 million tons of methane, the heat-trapping equivalent of a year’s worth of carbon dioxide pollution from all the nation’s coal-fired power plants. A 2018 study in the journal Science also concluded that, in 2015, the United States oil and gas industry was leaking about 13 million tons of methane annually. 

Trump's war on clean air and the environment was enabled by several former Walker appointees and additional WI/GOP/Walker policies and actions, as noted her recently recently:

Wisconsin's smog alert is back for a third recent day, so people with breathing problems and other cardio-vascular issues should definitely limit their outdoor activities.

Also - don't forget Walker's relentless war on cleaner air.

Two months after Walker was sworn in, I wrote this:

Walker administration will stop publishing some air quality information 

And please don't forget his final favor from Trump's EPA that loosened air quality standards in the Lakeshore/Foxconn zone.

[Then US EPA administrator Scott] Pruitt subsequently decided to significantly reduce the size of areas in Wisconsin required to crack down on the emissions of pollutants that cause smog. That ruling, which reversed the findings of an agency decision under the Obama administration, would have saved Foxconn from having to install expensive and more stringent pollution controls.

Note a recent Federal court ruling in clean air's favor, but it's final fee rests with Trump's Supreme Court.