Replacing the Guardrails

Larry J. Schweiger, PennFuture President Emeritus, likens the Trump administration’s environmental policies to removing highway guardrails. While some critics claim the administration isn’t accomplishing much, he notes that critical environmental regulations are being dismantled at an alarming pace. The Environmental Protection Agency under Scott Pruitt has abandoned the Clean Water Rule, withdrawn from the Paris Accord, moved to repeal the Clean Power Plan and weakened auto emissions standards. Meanwhile, enforcement of existing laws has declined and polluters are receiving favorable settlements.

Schweiger lists further assaults: Congress opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling as part of the tax bill, sacrificing a pristine wilderness and vital caribou habitat. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has proposed leasing nearly all U.S. offshore waters for drilling, rolled back safety rules enacted after the BP spill, shrunk national monuments like Bears Ears and Grand Staircase‑Escalante to allow mining, and doubled entrance fees at many national parks, pricing out families and marginalized communities. Members of the National Park System Advisory Board resigned in protest of Zinke’s disregard.

The administration also reinterpreted the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to permit incidental killing of migratory birds and imposed tariffs on imported solar panels. Schweiger warns that these actions reflect a broader erosion of democracy driven by corporate interests. He urges environmentalists to become politically active to restore democratic safeguards and emphasizes that recent efforts, such as Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court striking down gerrymandered districts, are steps in the right direction but much work remains.