Trump Environmental Rollbacks Roll On Despite Pandemic. Opponents Cry Foul – By Liz Ruskin, Cassandra Profita, Jennifer Ludden (NPR) / May 28 2020
Do public hearings over Zoom unfairly suppress opponents’ comments, or allow even more people to engage?
That’s just one point of dispute as the Trump administration pushes ahead with some of its most controversial environmental policy changes this spring despite the coronavirus pandemic. November’s vote is driving momentum, since policies finalized too late could be overturned more easily should President Trump lose re-election or Democrats gain control of the Senate.
But environmentalists, state regulators and lawmakers say the public is distracted by the coronavirus pandemic. They’ve asked the government to hit pause on a host of proposals, with little success so far.
Recently finalized rules include scaling back regulations for fuel efficiency in cars and trucks, air pollution coming from power plants and water pollution in streams and wetlands. The administration is also pushing ahead with a string of more localized policies, such as expanded logging and oil drilling in Alaska.
“It really switched the power dynamic”
In April, the Bureau of Land Management canceled in-person meetings and instead held eight Zoom sessions on a plan to develop as many as 250 oil wells in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Continue to article: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/28/863055318/trump-environmental-rollbacks-roll-on-despite-pandemic-opponents-cry-foul
