Offering more evidence that President Donald Trump’s budget is a multi-faceted blow to everyone but the one percent, the proposal to be unveiled Tuesday would reportedly slash funding for clean-ups at so-called Superfund sites—the vast majority of which are found in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.
According to documents (pdf) obtained and released late last week by the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, Trump’s budget would reduce funding for those toxic clean-ups by nearly a third, while spending for an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) program to restore such sites would be cut by about 36 percent.
What’s more, the Guardian pointed out Monday, “the EPA’s environmental justice office, which champions the rights of communities burdened by pollution, would be closed down and the civil rights program would experience an 18 percent funding decrease.”
These reductions would undermine pledges made by EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, whom the New York Times noted “has vowed to prioritize the agency’s cleanup of hazardous waste sites.” Pruitt said just this month that he wanted Superfund clean-ups to be “restored to their rightful place at the center of the agency’s core mission.”
And the cuts would hit hardest in low-income and minority communities. Catherine Lhamon, chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, told the Guardian in response to Trump’s proposal: “If this budget is implemented, it will be at best a backward step and at worst extremely harmful to communities of color nationwide.”
As “Mother of the Superfund” Lois Marie Gibbs wrote in March, “I can tell you from first-hand experience that living in a toxic environment, with little hope of getting out, is a family’s worst nightmare.”
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