President Trump and his Environmental Protection Agency are on mission to pollute our air and attack our health and environment. They’re rolling back the clean car standards, which will make our air more polluted and worsen climate change.
As a business owner, I care about the bottom line, the health of our communities and the strength of the economy we build our businesses in. That’s why protecting the fuel efficiency standards is so important.
Senators Corker and Alexander voted previously for the fuel efficiency standards, a common sense policy that’s working for Tennesseans, saving us money at the gas pump, cutting our dependency on big foreign oil, keeping us competitive in the economy, and reducing air pollution. They should continue to hold their ground and oppose President Trump and Senator Blunt’s assault on fuel efficiency standards that have been successful in saving money, reducing our consumption of foreign oil, and cutting tailpipe pollution that harms the health of our communities.
Clean car standards have dramatically reduced tailpipe pollution from cars and trucks, helping clean up our air and reduce the carbon pollution that is the main driver of climate change. Trump’s decision to gut these standards is a huge step backward for Tennesseans and Americans. 25 million Americans, including 6.3 million children, suffer from asthma. We should be protecting them. Instead, this rollback will cause more pollution, trigger more asthma attacks, and result in more emergency room visits. We’ll see more negative public health impacts like respiratory diseases and it’s only to get worse with climate change.
I strongly oppose their rollback of these commonsense protections, and I urge senators Alexander and Corker to call on the president and his administration to change course and leave the clean car standards in place.
We don't have to choose between protecting clean air, water and land - and growing our economy. In fact, strong communities depend on clean, healthy, vibrant environments to grow.
The Trump administration has proposed deep budget cuts to clean air and public health programs - including grants that communities across Tennessee rely on to keep harmful pollution of out the air we breathe and the water our children drink. Gutting funding for these essential protections would jeopardize our health and safety and make it harder for our state to build on the progress we’ve already made to make the outdoors safer for our families.
Tennessee also depends on federal grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency to fight pollution from lead, and to clean up toxic sites where chemicals threaten the safety of our neighbors. All of these efforts to create a healthier environment also mean a better climate for businesses in our state, and we’ve already seen the results.
Chattanooga reinvented itself from once being considered America's dirtiest city, showing we don't have to choose between protecting health and economic growth. Our great outdoors, from the Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee to farms in West Tennessee and our rivers and valleys in-between fuel our state's growth.
If President Trump succeeds in his plan to cut EPA’s budget by almost a third, the results will be more asthma attacks among children, more toxic pollution in our communities, and more lead in our drinking water. Putting the health of our communities at risk also makes it hard for small business owners to pursue new opportunities and threatens our long-term economic growth.
Senators Corker and Alexander, we are counting on you oppose these cuts to the EPA, and protect our clean air, land and water from pollution that threatens the wellbeing of our state, economic growth and health.
