WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.), ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Transportation Subcommittee, called the actions by the Trump Administration to strip states of their ability to protect their citizens from dangerous air pollution “absolutely the wrong thing to do.”

Cardin: “President Trump continues to prioritize polluters over public health. Automakers have signed on to strong but reasonable standards led by California that Maryland and more than a dozen states covering a majority of the American people also follow. But this president insists on pulling all of us down to the lowest-common denominator. His latest move will add more pollution to our air and put children and others at higher risk for respiratory problems while contributing to our climate crisis. This is the absolute wrong thing to do. The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is “to protect human health and the environment.’ Taking unprecedented steps to strip states’ rights to set reasonable greenhouse gas emission standards for cars and light trucks runs counter to its scientific mission. People and public health need to come before profits.”

Senator Cardin has been a strong supporter of the Obama Administration’s California Waiver, which Maryland has been following for years. Wednesday he also cosponsored a Senate resolution supporting states’ rights to set their own pollution standards that are more stringent than federal standards.

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