EPA: "Americans Should Be Optimistic About Environmental Progress"

In an op-ed contribution to USA Today, Andrew Wheeler, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), says Americans should be optimistic about the environmental progress that the Trump EPA is making.

In his column, Wheeler highlighted the nation’s plan to join the One Trillion Trees Initiative, which brings together government and the private sector to plant new trees in America and around the world. He also wrote that from 1970 to 2018, "America has reduced the six main criteria air pollutants by 74 percent while the economy grew over 275 percent." He added that in the past year, EPA finalized the Affordable Clean Energy rule, “which could reduce carbon dioxide emissions while allowing energy generation to continue at an affordable price.”

USA Today has more:

At the Environmental Protection Agency, we are fulfilling our mission of protecting human health and the environment, and we are doing it by making commonsense regulatory decisions that support our economy and help create jobs.

As the president stated in his State of the Union address, the United States will join the One Trillion Trees Initiative, an ambitious effort to bring together government and the private sector to plant new trees in America and around the world.

Planting and restoring trees, along with sustainable forestation practices, are some of the most beneficial means to protecting our environment, sustaining land and resources, reducing carbon in our atmosphere, and ensuring a natural environment for various species and wildlife. In joining the initiative, the United States will continue to show strong leadership in restoring, growing and managing our forests.

Read the full article here.