The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed this week that it would be moving environmental enforcement officers away from energy companies.
The EPA can pursue civil or criminal cases against polluters.
Biden administration in 2023 That said it focuses on it Environmental enforcement officers of companies violate laws relating to climate change, toxic “eternal chemicals” and carcinogenic coal waste.
In a press release Wednesday, President Trump's EPA said it would modify environmental law enforcement guidelines in a way that would not “close energy production.”
The Trump administration also said it would refuse to focus on environmental justice during the Biden era. Environmental justice is trying to prioritize low-resource communities, including disproportionately high levels of pollution and communities of color.
“The Biden-Harris administration combined unpredictable but punitive enforcement aimed at shutting down American energy and promoting so-called “environmental justice” with burdensome legal regulations,” EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.
“Re-aligning enforcement with the law rather than activists' goals will allow us to provide economic prosperity and energy safety while ensuring sound regulations compliance,” he added.
In a press release, the EPA said it will focus on efforts to address “the most pressing health and safety issues.” It didn't say what they were.
The announcement wanted to collaborate with additional announcements from the EPA to reverse a wide range of regulations seeking to limit climate change and pollution from power plants and vehicles.
