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History of US Presidential Assaults on Modern Environmental Health Protection
Leif Fredrickson1, Christopher Sellers1, Lindsey Dillon1
1Leif Fredrickson is an independent researcher. Christopher Sellers is with the Department of History, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY. Phil Brown, Lauren Richter, and Sara Wylie are with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA. Jennifer Liss Ohayon is with Northeastern University, Newton, MA. Nicholas Shapiro is with the Science History Institute, Philadelphia, PA. Marianne Sullivan is with Public Health, William Paterson University of New Jersey, Wayne. Stephen Bocking is with the School of the Environment, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada. Vanessa De La Rosa is with Silent Spring Institute, Newton, MA. Lindsey Dillon is with the Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Cruz. Jill Harrison is with the Department of Sociology, University of Colorado, Boulder. Sara Johns is with the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, CA. Katherine Kulik is with Harvard College, Cambridge, MA. Rebecca Lave is with the Department of Geography, University of Indiana, Bloomington. Michelle Murphy is with the Department of History, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. Liza Piper is with the Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada.
Abstract:
The Trump administration has undertaken an assault on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency critical to environmental health. This assault has precedents in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. The early Reagan administration (1981-1983) launched an overt attack on the EPA, combining deregulation with budget and staff cuts, whereas the George W. Bush administration (2001-2008) adopted a subtler approach, undermining science-based policy. The current administration combines both these strategies and operates in a political context more favorable to its designs on the EPA. The Republican Party has shifted right and now controls the executive branch and both chambers of Congress. Wealthy donors, think tanks, and fossil fuel and chemical industries have become more influential in pushing deregulation. Among the public, political polarization has increased, the environment has become a partisan issue, and science and the mainstream media are distrusted. For these reasons, the effects of today's ongoing regulatory delays, rollbacks, and staff cuts may well surpass those of the administrations of Reagan and Bush, whose impacts on environmental health were considerable.
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