Menendez Statement on Trump Rollback of Clean Air, Climate Change Standards

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) today released the following statement on President Trump’s executive order reversing efforts to combat climate change and protect our nation’s air quality:

“Today’s action by President Trump is an abdication of American leadership in the battle against climate change.  By attempting to scrap the Clean Power Plan, President Trump is undermining our ability to meet our goals under the Paris climate agreement, and setting the world on a dangerous course that jeopardizes national security and threatens the health and wellbeing of people around the globe.  This executive order is grossly misguided and shortsighted.

“New Jerseyans in particular will suffer from the rollback of clean air and climate change protections.  Lifting pollution standards on dirty, upwind power plants would result in more toxic emissions blowing towards our communities, shrouding the Garden State in a cloud of soot and smog, eroding our air quality and exacerbating already high asthma rates.  Allowing climate change to continue unchecked threatens the viability of our shore communities, and paves the way for more frequent and more powerful storms like Sandy that put lives and property at risk.

“We have a prime opportunity to build a resilient, 21st century energy economy focused on the clean, limitless energy sources of the future.  Rather than embracing American ingenuity and sound science, President Trump is trying to perpetuate the dirty energy sources of the past.  Today’s executive order is another transparent effort by the corporate polluters and fossil fuel cronies that run the Trump Administration to line their own pockets at the expense of the health and wellbeing of everyday Americans.”