title:  Trump Targets Clean Water And Clean Air Regulations At Environmental Protection Agency
text: It s official. Donald Trump is literally trying to murder the American people.As humans, we need clean air and clean water to survive as a species. Without them, we would suffocate or die of thirst. Crops and livestock also require clean water and clean air to produce our food supply.This is basic stuff, but Donald Trump doesn t care about the needs of human beings. He only cares about corporate greed and that greed is going to kill millions.Trump has already launched an all-out assault on the Environmental Protection Agency, which works every day fighting for clean water and clean air for the American people.The agency has been ordered to freeze grants and contracts which has halted air and water quality tests.But now Trump is looking to chip away at the bedrock of what the EPA exists to do.According to Vox,Jonathan Swan of Axios got a look at an  agency action  plan that Trump s advisers have written up for the EPA. Among the initiatives they plan to target:  Clean Air Act greenhouse gas regulations for new (NSPS) and existing (ESPS or the  Clean Power  Plan) coal and natural gas power plants   [CAFE] Standards   Clean Water Section 404: Waters of the U.S. Rule (wetlands)   TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load) for Chesapeake Bay. By attacking the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, Trump would be sentencing America to a deadly polluted future the likes of which have not been seen since the EPA was created.Americans look at Beijing in horror as China allows the air in that city to be so thick and poisonous that people need to wear gas masks every day if they go outside.Here s an image of New York in 1973 before the EPA aggressively fought for air standards via the National Archives.And here s one of Los Angeles.If Trump has his way, American cities will once again be choked by smog and our air quality with significantly decrease. One wonders if Trump has investments in gas mask companies.Fresh water has also been a worry among millions of Americans over the years as Republicans continue to make decisions that allow companies like Koch Industries to pollute our waterways. Trump s executive order to let the Keystone XL pipeline move forward is a direct threat to the Ogallala Aquifer, which provides water to millions of Americans in the Midwest and is responsible for creating what is now called  America s Breadbasket. The Washington Post reports,In some places the aquifer is buried 1,200 feet deep, but in many places it is at or very close to the surface, often less than five feet below ground That s where concerns about the Keystone XL came in. Its original route traversed 92 miles of the Sand Hills and the Ogallala. TransCanada, which said it would bury the pipeline at least four feet underground, could in many places be putting it in water TransCanada submitted a revised route to the State Department, bypassing the Sand Hills but still passing over some parts of the aquifer.Should a massive oil spill occur, it could seep into the aquifer and poison it. And that would be a disaster even bigger than the lead poisoned water in Flint, Michigan because it would literally affect every American across the country.And these spills can contaminate water for decades. The reason why Flint s water supply was tainted with lead is because Republicans decided to save money by switching the city s water from Lake Huron to the Flint River, which was contaminated by lead decades ago, which is why Flint got it s water from Lake Huron. This is public knowledge, but Republicans ignored that and switched anyway.Trump also wants to expedite oil and gas permits and open up pristine natural lands to fracking and mining, which threatens habitats and our water supply. As we should all know, fracking has already poisoned water supplies in places around the country. Some people can even light their water on fire because of the chemicals fracking companies use. That will increase under Trump.Republicans now control Congress, so they will likely help Trump weaken the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts no matter how much the American people protest.So by letting Trump and the Republicans remain in office we are letting them kill us. Literally.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images