Bote, J. (2019, November 3). After years of improvement, US air quality has gotten worse since 2016, report suggests. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/11/01/us-air-quality-worse-since-2016-after-years-improvements-report/2499356001/.
According to a report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, particulate pollution has increased in the U.S. by 5.5 percent between 2016 (the start of the Trump Administration) and 2018. This data comes despite the fact that Trump Administration officials have said the environment is “getting cleaner”. The paper offers three reasons for this increase in pollution including less enforcement of environmental protection laws. However, the EPA denies these claims and suggests that pollution has in fact decreased since 2016, based on emissions reports, not ambient pollution levels like the new report.
This article was interesting because of the conflict between the two reports. It highlights that data can be manipulated to convey a certain result and it made me appreciate research done by a “non-profit, non-partisan organization”. I think it is important to look at data from a wide range of sources to determine the state of air and water quality in our country, but regardless of what those numbers might be, it remains very important that the government enforces all environmental protections.
As I read the headline of your article I was thinking wait a second, didn’t Trump just claim it’s the cleanest air in history? This seems to be a news/fake news issue. Everyone has conflicting information which is frustrating. As you point out, the value of objective reporting can’t be overemphasized. And we need the govt to enforce regulations (which are the law whether it likes it or not).
So how do we ensure enforcement happens? How do we get these nonpartisan investigations to happen?
I think it is important for people to elect officials on all levels of government who make it a priority of their administration to care for and protect the environment. It was clear during the election that Trump doesn’t believe in climate change, and that was quite possibly the primary motivator in certain people voting for him. However, California a good example of how elections at the state level have an impact because we have elected a governor who holds the state to a higher level of environmental responsibility than the President.