Contact: Jeff Tittel, NJ Sierra Club, 609-558-9100

Trump to Disband Climate Advisory Panel: Continues Assault on Climate

The Trump Administration will push ahead with disbanding the Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessmen. The 15-member panel made up of academics, corporate employees and local officials charged with simplifying findings from the National Climate Assessment and reporting on climate change. The mandated report was due to be released in 2018 but leaked this year. The report included conclusions that Americans are already feeling the effects of climate change. It also determined that its “extremely likely” that the majority of global temperature increases in the past 60 years are partially due to human influence. New Jersey Sierra Club Director Jeff Tittel released the following statement:

“Donald Trump is continuing his irresponsible and dangerous crusade against science and climate protections. By disbanding the climate change panel, he is putting us all at risk from the effects of climate change. Trump has sacrificed our environment and our economy to the Koch Brothers, the drill baby drill crowd and the dirty energy companies. He pulled as out of the Paris Accords, is silencing scientists all over the country, and now getting rid of the advisory panel altogether. By ignoring the very real threat of climate change, Trump is looking at his short-term national political interests over the long-term safety and security of the United States. This panel has been an important way for our government to understand and use climate science. We need this information to prepare us against future storm events and sea level rise. We need to be using this panel and their studies to reduce our greenhouse gasses and fight climate change.

“Under President Trump, governmental agencies can’t even say words ‘climate change,’ let alone incorporate climate change policies in their rules and regulations. Trump has also expressed desire to pull the United States out of the Paris Accord. Early on, Trump signed a broad executive order intended to kill federal action on climate change and push fossil fuels over renewable energy. These orders will suspend, rescind or flag for review more than a half-dozen measures under the Obama Administration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Since the he has eliminated the Clean Power Plan, increased limits on methane leaks, rescinded the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) guidance that directs agencies to account for the climate crisis, and eliminated review of emissions standards for new oil and gas operations.

“Trump has also gone after environmental and climate protections in other ways. He has rolled back the tailpipe regulations under the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standard set by the Obama Administration. Eventually achieving those targets would have drastically reduced the nation’s vehicle tailpipe pollution, which accounts for about a third of the United States’ total greenhouse gas emissions. Trump’s Administration has also cut programs for home heating and weatherization. There is a gag rule on international family planning, which can help prevent overpopulation. He also wants to cut research for renewable energy such as wind and solar. He has even removed climate change from the national website.

“In June Trump removed the US from the historic Paris Agreement. We are the only country out of 195 to withdraw. Our removal from the Paris Accords will not only hurt the environment, but the economy as well. Now places like China, Japan, and Germany will be getting jobs that Americans should have gotten. Despite his alternative facts, the data shows that there are vastly more jobs in renewable energy such as solar than there are in the fossil fuel industry. Trump is turning his back on the corporations and people of America that support the Paris Agreement. Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement will do considerable damage to the U.S.’s global standing and credibility in the world. Yesterday, the EU pledged to continue climate leadership via the Paris Agreement. Other countries will benefit from the booming clean energy economy while Trump seeks to drive our country back into the 19th century.

“Trump wants to slash the EPA budget by almost a third, the DOI’s budget by 11% and cut $5 billion from NOAA grants which will affect climate and resiliency projects. They’re eliminated climate programs across the board such as the Green Climate Fund and Global Climate Change Initiative. He’s cutting the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy by 70%. Trump is opening places like the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic and even public lands for oil drilling. Programs that protect our coasts like the Coastal Water Quality Monitoring Program and Sea Grant program, have been shut down. He’s even cut programs that do research on green energy and transportation such as EV’s. States like New Jersey will no longer be receiving important funding for resiliency projects against sea level rise and storm events.

“People want action on climate change and will stand up nationwide to demand it and resist Trump’s actions. Hundreds of thousands of people showed up in Washington DC for the People’s Climate March and we need to continue with that momentum. For every terrible decision Trump makes, grassroots activists, frontline communities, local governments, and concerned people across the country are fighting to make sure clean energy continues to grow by leaps and bounds. We will have a grassroots movement to fight these actions. New Jersey will have a new Governor soon and we can rejoin RGGI and commit to 100% clean energy. We must reopen our office of Climate Change and adaptation. We must implement renewable energy programs such as offshore wind and solar panels. We must be building with projections for sea level rise. The entire country is gearing up for resistance against Trump and his agenda. We’re going to keep fighting to Make Our Planet Great Again.”