Statement From Ken Berlin, Climate Reality President & CEO, On The Trump Administration’s Rollback Of The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

“Removing consideration of the climate crisis in infrastructure planning is yet another example of this administration’s willful ignorance and negligence, equivalent to constructing an ice sculpture in a desert. Instead of working to safeguard our national infrastructure for years to come, the administration  is rolling back the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and risking real harm to local communities and major damage to our economy. 

“The rollback of NEPA is deadly on three fronts. First, it deprives vulnerable Black and brown communities of the right to fight dangerous pollution in their own backyards, continuing a legacy of environmental racism right as Americans are filling the streets demanding justice for people of color. Second, it flouts well-established climate science that tells us major infrastructure projects are more vulnerable than ever to extreme heat, water intrusion, rising seas, and other climate impacts. Finally, this decision continues a harmful precedent of building roads, bridges, energy systems, and transit networks with old tools and technologies that lock in dangerous greenhouse gas emissions. It’s time for a better way forward, in which infrastructure is rightly considered a key opportunity to build the healthy, equitable, zero-emission future we all deserve.”