Contact: [email protected] Statement from Mar Zepeda, Legislative Director of the Climate Justice Alliance, on reports that the Trump administration is moving to repeal federal limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants: ‘Scrapping limits on climate pollution places public health and our communities at perilous risk . We just lived through the hottest summer on record, with communities across the country enduring health consequences due to brutal heat, floods, storms and drought, and the Trump administration’s response is to give the fossil fuel industry permission to make the crisis worse. Climate change reduces air quality leading to respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, while extreme heat and flooding can lead to illness, injury and death. These risks are not shared equally: they are often faced by the same communities that have spent generations living next to power plants and other polluting industries. ‘The previous power plant rule was far from perfect. We said at the time that its reliance on dangerous and unproven carbon capture technology gave the fossil fuel industry another lifeline when we should be moving away from fossil fuels altogether. The answer should have been stronger protections and a faster transition toward clean, affordable energy: not scrap federal limits on greenhouse gas pollution and give polluters free rein. ‘This is also a question of who pays. When pollution continues, the costs do not disappear, they are borne by families and communities, environmental damage, extreme-weather impacts and the public costs of responding to them. Federal policy should protect communities, not leave them and taxpayers carrying the cost that polluters are better positioned to prevent. ‘People deserve affordable, reliable energy, and the right to live in healthy communities without having to choose between keeping the lights on and protecting their health. Instead, this administration is choosing to keep us tied to an expensive, polluting energy system because it benefits the corporations that profit from it.’ ### The post Trump Move to Scrap Climate Pollution Limits After Hottest Summer on Record Is Self-destruction appeared first on Climate Justice Alliance.