State leaders and environmental organization members spent the 55th anniversary of Earth Day defending Vermont’s climate change initiatives in the face of threats to such policies from President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration’s actions include rolling back regulations on air and water pollution, cutting grant funding and banning clean energy, Lauren Hierl, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, said at a Statehouse press conference Tuesday.
She said that mass government firings mean that “the protections that don’t get gutted will not have the staffing or expertise they need to ensure our laws are actually enforced.”
In addition, an April 8 executive order from the Trump administration singles out Vermont for its efforts to hold energy producers financially responsible for contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, including a first-of-its-kind state law known as the Climate Superfund Act.
During the press conference, Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark doubled down on her commitment to fight Trump’s executive order, which is aimed at climate laws that the president believes threaten “American energy dominance.”
“We marked our calendar 60 days from April 8, because that’s when we expect that the (Department of Justice) is going to act in response to this executive order,” she said in an interview. “There’s probably a number of things they’re considering, and whatever it is, we will be ready. We will be ready to defend Vermont, we will be ready to defend the Climate Superfund Act.”
During the press conference, Clark said this order “is another attempt to undermine state sovereignty, a theme with the Trump administration.”
“There is no national energy emergency, and in fact, American energy is at an all-time high. State laws are not a threat to American energy,” she said.
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth emphasized on Tuesday that Trump’s policies have created uncertainty within Vermont’s energy, housing and climate resiliency initiatives.
“We passed the Climate Superfund, the flood safety, pollinator protection bill, S.25, banning toxic forever chemicals … all of those things were groundbreaking, as is the renewable energy standard and the Global Warming Solutions Act,” Baruth said. “All of those things are under attack. Every single one of them.”
He said that while climate protection laws have historically faced opposition from state Republicans, some may attempt to distance themselves from the Trump administration’s “wholesale attack on the environment.”
While some state Republicans initially opposed many climate solution bills, Baruth said there has not been much demonstrated follow up, which he takes to mean “that the stronger minority has looked at those laws and the support for them, and in some cases, decided to pull back.”
Baruth, Clark, Hierl and all of the speakers present at the meeting stated their confidence in the ability of Vermont lawmakers. Baruth said that over the past decade, Vermont has passed numerous laws to ensure a healthy environment and to uphold the mantra “protect and defend.”
20 million Americans — at the time, 10% of the population of the United States — gathered at the first Earth Day event in 1970.
Despite Earth Day’s previous bipartisan support, the current U.S. leadership seeks to reverse the progress of past administrations, Hierl said, by allowing corporations to “maximize their profits at the expense of our health and our communities.”
