Toxic Profiteers

 

Trump has tasked at least 146 administration officials connected to the chemical industry to target a variety of vital Obama-era environmental regulations including the Chemical Disaster Rule. 

Despite the fact that the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. has ruled that the EPA’s delay of the rule was illegal, Trump’s EPA is still considering a proposal to permanently rescind certain aspects of the law which will weaken the nation’s emergency response coordination and transparency provisions.

According to “Trump’s Chemical Romance,” a new Public Citizen report, in an initial effort to delay and weaken the Chemical Disaster Rule, groups representing chemical and petrochemical corporations, along with allies tied to coal-fired power plants and paper mills formed an alliance called the RMP Coalition, named for the EPA’s “Risk Management Program,” .

Among the administration members with ties to the RMP Coalition and the toxic profiteers for whom they front, 57 have connections to the American Chemistry Council, and 92 are associated with chemical and petrochemical interests, including Dow Chemical Co., Arkema Inc., BP, Chevron Corp. and Koch Industries.

“Corporate insiders with chemical conflicts have contaminated the Trump administration,” said Stephanie Thomas, Ph.D., an organizer with Public Citizen’s Texas Office. “The polluter-friendly regulatory rollback Trump’s EPA is seeking is a disaster for both the public and first responders.”