By Steve Silverman
President Trump has been in office for only two weeks, but already his actions reveal an intention to destroy vast swaths of the Federal bureaucracy, including core elements of the government that are designed to protect the environment and public health.
One need look no further than Trump’s attempt last week to hobble an EPA unit headquartered in Colorado. Employees of the Children’s Health, Environmental Justice & Equity Branch at EPA’s Region 8 office located in Denver received notices placing them on administrative leave and directing them to stop work designed to protect the health of citizens in Colorado affected by pollution at sites like the Suncor Refinery in Commerce City.
Fortunately, career leaders at EPA convinced the new administration to relent for now, but the unmistakable attempt to intimidate dedicated public servants like those working at EPA Region 8 should send a chill down the spine of Coloradans who care about the threat to public health posed by contamination and pollution in many of our most vulnerable communities.
Trump fired an even larger salvo against the public interest last week when his administration’s acting leadership at the Department of Justice reassigned four career section chiefs at DOJ’s venerable Environment and Natural Resources Division (ERND), whose mission is to bring cases “against those who violate the nation’s environmental laws.”
One of the individuals reassigned was Tom Mariani, the Chief of ENRD’s largest unit, the Environmental Enforcement Section. Mariani has served with distinction at DOJ for four decades. He oversaw landmark litigation to recover damages against BP and other parties responsible for unleashing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the largest and most damaging oil spill in history.
Through the efforts of Mariani and his impressive team of attorneys, the United States secured a $4.5 billion settlement from BP under the Clean Water Act, the largest in history, to clean up the mess, compensate victims and restore natural resources in the Gulf.
Many communities in red states like Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Texas and Alabama have benefited from the restoration of their coastlines and the invigoration of their economies thanks to the tireless efforts of Mariani and his team of career public servants. I know, because I worked closely with Mariani’s team as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General at ENRD when the case against BP went to trial.
Trump last week also halted DOJ’s Honors Lawyer program across the entire Department, a recruiting tool used for decades to lure young, promising lawyers who wish to serve in the public interest rather than take lucrative jobs at private law firms in the service of clients such as banks, insurance companies, and, yes, polluters.
It’s worth noting that Mr. Mariani joined DOJ as an Honors Lawyer 40 years ago.
During Trump’s debate with President Biden last June, the then-former president looked into the camera and told the American people, “I want absolutely immaculate, clean water, and I want absolutely clean air. And we had it.”
But Trump’s actions both in his first administration and so far in his second term belie this promise to provide clean water and clean air to Coloradans and the American people.
Instead, Trump wants to hollow out the Federal bureaucracy to protect business interests, a prominent item on the agenda of the Heritage Foundation’s notorious Project 25, which Trump claimed he knew nothing about during the presidential campaign.
Trump’s insidious war on the Federal bureaucracy and his campaign to intimidate distinguished public servants like Mariani and other leaders at DOJ and EPA needs to be resisted at all levels, especially by our elected leaders here in Colorado, because if Trump and his minions are left unchecked, America won’t be great again, but Americans will live sicker and shorter lives.
Steve Silverman is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Colorado Law School. He previously served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division during the Obama administration and as the Colorado Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture.
