If passed, the bill would make a recent presidential executive order “null and void.” The execute order would “have no force and effect” and could not be “implemented, administered, or enforced.”

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist, D-St. Petersburg, has signed onto a bill that would nullify an executive order by President Donald Trump that dismantles environmental protections.

In all, 36 House Democrats led by Reps. Brad Schneider, D-IL, Doris Matsui, D-CA, Paul Tonko, D-NY, and Crist introduced legislation today (March 30) to prevent the implementation of Trump’s recent executive order that rolls back environmental protections and severely weakens efforts to address global climate change.

H.R. 1812, the Congressional Leadership in Mitigating Administration Threats to the Earth or CLIMATE Act declares the anti-environment executive order null and void and prohibits federal funds from implementing, administering, or enforcing the order. Click here to view the text of the bill.

“My home county of Pinellas is quite literally a peninsula on the peninsula of Florida, and we feel the effects of climate change daily. Our shorelines are impacted by severe storms and constant coastal erosion. And, as a result, there are real concerns that one of our key revenue sources – tourism – may wash away bit by bit,” Crist said. “We can’t afford to roll back these key environmental protections – more pollution and more climate change are direct threats to our community’s health, safety, energy independence, and economy.”

Schneider said, “This executive order ignores both the science and the impacts of global climate change, and jeopardizes our children’s future by reorienting our policies backwards toward higher-emission sources of energy. The United States must continue to play a leadership role in the international effort to confront climate change, or risk losing that role to other countries. We need to lead not just to protect our environment and national security, but to also ensure that the green energy jobs of tomorrow are created here at home.”

Matsui: “Communities in California and across the country cannot afford President Trump’s reckless actions on climate. The health and well-being of our children and our grandchildren depend on the United States remaining a leader in curbing carbon pollution. My colleagues and I are committed to fighting the administration’s attempts to undo the progress we’ve made to protect families from the severe impact of our changing climate.”

Tonko: “Carbon pollution and climate change pose an immediate threat to our communities, public health, national security and the global economy, and the situation is only growing worse. Instead of acknowledging science and confronting one of the great and growing challenges of our time, this Administration is playing political games with a radical anti-climate agenda. The President’s Executive Order is more than bad policy, it is a critical failure to respond to a real and proven threat to the lives and livelihood of millions of American families. This bill would stop it in its tracks.”

Signed on Tuesday (March 28), the executive order Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth makes it harder for the U.S. to comply with the international targets set under the Paris Agreement and effectively cedes American leadership on climate policy by instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to begin withdrawing and undermining the Clean Power Plan enacted by the Obama Administration to reduce carbon emissions. The order also undercuts regulations on methane emissions, lifts the moratorium on federal coal leasing, and reconsiders standards on the construction of new power plants.

Crist represents Florida’s 13th Congressional District, which covers mid- and south Pinellas County.

For information about Crist, go to crist.house.gov.

Charlie Crist | Environment | CLIMATE | Climate Change | EPA | TB Reporter

#CharlieCrist #Environment #CLIMATE #ClimateChange #EPA #TBReporter