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No matter who’s in the White House, most Americans agree that our leaders should prioritize the health and safety of our communities—especially our children. However, the Trump administration’s recent decisions on fossil fuels are endangering both our country and the rest of the world.
Here on the Gulf Coast, we’ve experienced firsthand the damage caused by the petrochemical industry, including polluted air and water, oil spills, more intense hurricanes and floods, rising energy costs, and other heartbreaking impacts on our children’s health. It’s already been devastating, but now the Trump administration is doubling down on its fossil fuel agenda, which will only cause further suffering.
Trump’s Department of Energy (DOE), run by a gas industry CEO, finally responded to over 100,000 comments submitted on its LNG exports studies from last year. Instead of listening to the public, this response just buried the truth and cleared the way for even more exports. Trump has already approved multiple LNG projects, including Golden Pass, Delfin, and Commonwealth LNG, and pushed for a fast-tracked deep-water port.
Numerous reports and former President Joe Biden’s DOE have shown that LNG exports release deadly pollution, raise energy prices, displace clean energy globally, and could cause disasters like the explosion at the Freeport plant due to outdated regulations. Instead of fixing these regulations, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is trying to rewrite them in favor of cost savings for industry, not safety for the public.
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Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just made it easier for companies to delay or avoid pollution rules that protect our air and water. The Department of the Interior is also asking the public which environmental safeguards they should scrap—while people across the country are already living with toxic air and contaminated water.
Trump hasn’t stopped there—the administration and its allies in Congress have announced plans to expand reckless drilling in our oceans while rolling back safety measures put in place to safeguard our waters, marine life, and coastal communities from development harms. These short-sighted decisions on fossil fuels are part of Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” executive order.
But this isn’t about American energy independence; it’s about further enriching wealthy corporate polluters who bought access to Trump by giving millions to his campaign—while Americans are left with dirty air, unsafe drinking water, rising bills, and a climate crisis spinning out of control.
Our elected officials have given untrustworthy fossil fuel companies far too much access to the places we know and love, all for the sake of making more money and gaining more power. As a mom, frontline leader, and advocate for environmental justice living in Sulphur, La., I refuse to stay quiet while our government sells out our health and well-being just to benefit a handful of politicians and fossil fuel billionaires.
Will our leaders protect our communities or continue serving the interests of a few CEOs? It’s becoming clearer every day which side they’re on.
📚 Reading Comprehension Quiz
What is a primary concern regarding the Trump administration's fossil fuel agenda according to the passage?
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