Sunday, March 18, 2018

February 21, 2018

Henry Henderson is with the NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council).

Citing concerns (click here) about the impacts of the climate crisis on communities across the United States, mayors representing more than 51 million Americans have come out against efforts at the nation's top environmental agency to repeal the Clean Power Plan, an Obama administration rule that aimed to cut carbon emissions from power plants.

In a letter addressed to Scott Pruitt, the Trump-appointed EPA administrator, 236 mayors from 47 states wrote, "We strongly oppose the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan, which would put our citizens at risk and harm our efforts to address the urgent threat of climate change."

"Communities across the country are experiencing the effects of climate change today: sea level rise; hotter, longer, and more frequent heat waves; increased extreme weather; and many other harmful impacts," they noted. "Residents of our communities have experienced harmful impacts of climate change such as dirtier air, increased heat-related illnesses and deaths, damaged and disappearing coastlines, longer droughts and other strains on water quantity and quality, and increasingly frequent and severe storms and wildfires."

"No one is insulated from the impacts of climate change—people in cities of all sizes, along with suburban and rural communities are all at risk," they continued. "Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is essential to protect our citizens against the worst impacts of climate change."...