Inhofe defends Trump environmental policies—-says they are working

Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe has gone to the Senate floor to claim that the Trump administration is becoming one of the truly great environmental administrations.

“We’re seeing significant progress in environmental protection that we have not seen in any other administration,” said the Senator this week as he stood on the floor using a chart to make his point.

Inhofe admitted few Americans will admit the administration has made the progress it has.

“Now we have a White House dedicated to clean air, land, and water by cutting excessive, duplicative regulations. Based on what you see in the media, you’d think the president turned his back on the environment, but it’s been just the opposite,” he stated. “Americans should know the truth about how this administration is leading the world in environmental gains all the while growing the economy.”

The Senator said economic activity is increasing at the same time environmental gains are being made. Pointing to his chart, Inhofe stated that since 1970  emissions from the six common pollutants dropped by 74 percent while the U.S. economy grew by 275 percent.

“Is that possible, that that could happen?  Well it did happen,” he continued. “Because there it is, right there, all this economic activity, all this growth and yet the bottom line there are the emissions. The aggregate emissions of the six common pollutants. There they are, going down.” 

“It’s because this administration knows what this administration is doing and has the commitment that other people are not aware of.”

Inhofe went on to claim that CO2 emissions, which are not one of the six common pollutants yet they are debated greatly,  fell 14 percent in the U.S. while they increased in the rest of the world by 20 percent since 2005.

“Now we are talking about all the emission increases and still we had a reduction. Despite this drop in emissions, in 2018, the United States became the world’s leading producer of oil and natural gas and net exporter of oil and natural gas—fossil fuels—for the first time in 75 years,” added Sen. Inhofe.

“Now this administration has proven that we don’t have to impose massive tax increases or irregulatory burdens in order to reduce pollution. We are reducing pollution, clearly. The Democrats often say the United States is failing to properly reduce carbon emissions and this just isn’t true.”

Sen. Inhofe claimed the U.S. is now leading the world in reductions of CO2 emissions while China has seen the largest of the increases in the emissions.

“That defies everything else that you read about and yet, there it is. That’s the truth.”

Inhofe praised President Trump for pulling out of the “great Paris Accord” after President Obama made commitments that could not be kept by the U.S.

“We don’t need to do it we are already doing it, with what we are doing right now with our emissions and people don’t know that.  You would think environmentalists and Democrats would be praising our president given these undeniable successes, but instead they are pushing for the Green New Deal. We’ve all heard about the Green New Deal and what’s it’s going to be doing. It’s a little $93 trillion program that is being promoted by a lot of the liberals around this environment here in Washington.”

Inhofe told his colleagues that the nation runs on American coal, oil and gas and it isn’t going to change anytime soon. He pointed out how not one Democrat was willing to vote for the Green New Deal plan when it came up in the Senate.

“That’s what they are promoting over in the House. They know that their plan won’t work and is extremely unpopular so they weren’t going to join it.”

The Senator urged his Democratic colleagues to reject “radical, socialist environmental policies and come back to reality and support our President’s very effective approach.”

“I”m proud of President Trump and his administration’s record on improving our nation’s environment while streamlining government overreach. It is possible to have a thriving economy while safe guarding our air and water.”

Click here to view his speech.