Trump’s scorched earth executive orders for the environment

The Bottom Line from NC Newsline

(Photo: US Forest Service)

“President Trump’s executive orders read like an industry fever dream: no protections, no limits, no rules.” So said North Carolina Sierra Club state conservation policy director Erin Carey last week in response to a series of regressive edicts handed down by the president during his first days back in the White House.

And truth be told, Carey was actually a being bit understated in her assessment.

Trump’s orders aren’t just about giving polluters a free hand to do whatever they please; it’s more like the president is actually encouraging them to speed up the global climate crisis and render more of our desperately fragile planet poisoned and damaged beyond repair.

What’s next? An executive order that requires people to drive gas guzzlers and turn their furnace thermostats up to 80 degrees?

The bottom line: like a drunk driver taking another swig of vodka and punching the gas pedal as he leaves the scene of a wreck, President Trump is recklessly endangering our planet and the lives of our children and grandchildren.

Other elected leaders must muster the courage to stop him.

For NC Newsline, I’m Rob Schofield.