From DPVA
Governor Youngkin Keeps Rolling Back Critical Environmental Protections
Richmond, VA Yesterday, Governor Youngkin intentionally misled Virginians by signing an empty executive directive to promote recycling. However, he actually rolled back environmental protections from Northam’s administration.RefusedA crucial program to ban single-use plastics. This is his latest attempt to weaken the environment and worsen climate change’s ongoing effects.
In case you missed it, here are Governor Youngkin’s and Republicans’ efforts to roll back environmental protections:
- Cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for important environmental and land conservation programs.
- Andrew Wheeler, a former lobbyist for coal and Trump crony, has been appointed Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources.
- Attempting to remove Virginia from the RGGI. This would have cut $180million for clean energy and flood preparedness.
- Additional $26 million to be used for agricultural Best Management Practices, which support local farmers and foresters.
- Repealing key provisions in the Virginia Clean Economy Act will weaken our transition to clean energies.
- Virginia’s clean car standard must be rewritten. This is crucial for reducing dangerous emissions.
Governor Youngkin and his aides have launched attack after attack against our environment since taking office. They tried to install a coal lobbyist, Trumps former EPA head, to protect our natural resources, remove Virginia off the RGGI, then dump crucial programs to protect it.Gianni Snidle, spokesperson for DPVA, said:The Democratic Party of Virginia is the only party dedicated to tackling climate change. We will continue fighting any Republican attempts at reversing our progress.
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