Sarbanes Calls Attention to Public Health and Environmental Consequences of Trump EPA Rollbacks [Video]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – During a House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing today, Congressman John Sarbanes (D-Md.) asked several former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrators about the detrimental effects of the Trump Administration's actions to undermine public health and environmental protections at the behest of special-interest polluters.

"One of the most important parts of the EPA's mission is to protect public health and the environment – ensure that our air is safe to breathe," said Congressman Sarbanes. "Can you just talk a little bit about how the rollbacks threaten the overall effectiveness of the EPA?"

Former EPA Administrator and New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman responded, "The EPA agency is being undermined, and public confidence in the agency is undermined. And our public health, bottom line, is being undermined."

Addressing Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Sarbanes continued, "You ran the office of air and radiation at EPA, which has been very busy in the current administration, as you know, proposing to rollback or undermine protections on methane, carbon, mercury pollution and automobile efficiency standards. Can you talk about how those rollbacks are going to affect public health?"

Administrator McCarthy responded, "They're going to have a significant impact on public health…. those pollutants really hurt us; they impact children, they impact the elderly."

See below for the full exchange.

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