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Udall Statement on Trump Move to Gut Clean Power Plan

EPA analysis shows new rule means more carbon pollution, more premature deaths and asthma cases

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee overseeing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, released the following statement after the Trump administration announced its proposal to replace the Clean Power Plan:

“The Trump administration’s proposal is a big win — for big polluters. The EPA’s new rule guts the Clean Power Plan, the latest – and most damaging – chapter in this administration’s campaign to surrender the fight against climate change. Today’s announcement represents a head-in-the-sand denial of climate science and a giveaway to corporate polluters on the backs of future generations, plain and simple.

“Even the EPA admits that this proposal would result in higher levels of carbon emissions and toxic air pollutants. The long-term repercussions of this rollback threaten to reverse the progress we’ve made and cause irreparable damage to our environment, especially in the Southwest, which is at the front lines in the fight against climate change. New Mexicans have a front row seat to the devastating effects of climate change: more severe droughts and lower snowpack leaving vast stretches of the Rio Grande and other rivers dried up earlier than ever, and more frequent and severe wildfires and hotter temperatures devastating our forests and other habitats. The increase in toxic air pollution associated with the rise in carbon emissions will lead to as many as 1,400 premature deaths and 48,000 new cases of asthma over the next 12 years, according to EPA’s own scientific models.

“We cannot stop fighting to protect our way of life in the West. New Mexico can help lead a new, diversified clean energy economy, bringing investment and good-paying jobs in wind and solar technology to our state. As long as this administration and Republican Congress refuse to act, it’s on all of us — states, lawmakers, businesses, communities — to work together and take bold action to secure a better future for generations to come.”

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