There Will be a Deadly Price for Erasing Environmental Data

Since the presidential inauguration, the Trump administration has removed datasets, tools, funding and staff that were helping to solve environmental problems and protect our health. These changes will benefit no one.

Worse, this hurts everyone’s health and well-being, all while costing U.S. taxpayers more in the long run. It’s time for our leaders to wake up to these facts and fight to protect our health and environment.

Take, for example, the global air quality monitoring program that the Department of State has been running for 15 years at U.S. embassies and consulates across the world. This program not only helped to protect U.S. service people abroad by providing accurate, real-time information on air quality, it was sometimes the only available air quality information in that region. Notably, it spurred other countries to take action to improve their air, and is credited with preventing about 300 million premature deaths from air pollution.