DELMARVA - The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to cut back on regulations under the Trump administration is drawing sharp criticism from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), a nonprofit focused on restoring and protecting the Bay.
On March 12, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced sweeping plans to claw back regulations on numerous industries including the oil and gas, power plants, and automakers. Zeldin outlined 31 actions the EPA planned to take to implement the deregulations, calling it the “most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history.”
“Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin.
Zeldin cited lower costs and taxes on U.S. families as benefits of the proposed cuts, as well as a boost in manufacturing jobs in local communities. Regulatory statutes on greenhouse gases, wastewater regulation, carbon, and EV mandates were all included in the list of cuts the EPA planned to make.
In total, Zeldin said the EPA aims to slash 65% of the agency’s budget.
The news of the vast deregulation at the EPA raised alarm bells with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, however, who referred to it as a “bombshell” and called the plans to deregulate an “unprecedented assault” on efforts to restore the Bay.
“This barrage of deregulatory declarations essentially removes the word protection from the Environmental Protection Agency and undermines the federal/state effort to save the Bay,” CBF President and CEO Hilary Harp Falk said in a statement on March 13.
CBF also specifically pointed to the EPA’s reported plans to change the definition of wetlands and other waters protected under the Clean Water Act, a move they say could leave more wetlands at risk of destruction. CBF says the Chesapeake Bay watershed includes 1.5 million acres of wetland.
“Clean air and clean water are rights that cannot be taken for granted. We must stand up for the health and wellbeing of our region’s people, the Chesapeake Bay, and its rivers and streams,” Falk concluded.