Apparent Coordination Between the White House and the EPA to Affect US Senate Election
One of the important tenets of America’s federal government is the necessary separation of the three branches, but also the independence of federal agencies that report to the President. And it’s important that the President not use federal agencies as campaign props.
That has all but disappeared in the Trump administration.
At 7:57 AM Tuesday President Trump tweeted he is once again heading to West Virginia. It will be his sixth visit to the Mountain State.
Trump’s trip is clearly a campaign event – whether or not the American taxpayers will be footing the bill. His tweet even calls it a “rally,” and he e says he’s there to drum up support for a Republican U.S. Senate candidate. He concludes the tweet by shouting, “CLEAN COAL!!!!”
Next to Wyoming, West Virginia is the nation’s second-highest producer of coal. There is no such thing as “clean coal.”
Less than two hours later the EPA announced a massive rollback of Obama-era policies regulating coal, which are designed to battle climate change and to protect the environment, air, wildlife, and people.
The Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale reports on some of the consequences of the rollbacks:
But what appears obvious is the coordination between the White House and the EPA. Trump is all but guaranteed to brag about the EPA’s rollback Tuesday night at his campaign rally (that may or may not be paid for by taxpayers, in whole or in part) that he is using to try to elect Republican Patrick Morrisey and unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Manchin.
In fact, this lobbyist tweeted that Trump “is expected” to announce the EPA’s rollback of environmental regulations tonight in West Virginia.