PART IV: TRUMP ERA IMPACT ON AIR/WATER. SCENE:WEST VA. IF there's a single thing helped motivate modern environmental movement in US it was Cuyahoga River repeatedly catching fire in OHIO back in 1950s/60s. How could a river (IT IS WATER) catch fire? ANSWER : SEVERE POLLUTION 
THE creation of the EPA in 1970--and the passage of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act--empowered the Fed Gov to clean up the terrible degradation that industrialization had wrought to our air and water. (STICK WITH ME ON THIS, sorry for history lesson)
Kanawha River, W Va. largest inland river is one of those rivers that had been severely hurt by decades of abuse by humans. Human waste, power plants, coal mine runoff, industrial pollution, etc. A MESS. Here is EPA report from 70s
BY the 21 CENTURY BIG progress has been made. The river is much cleaner today, as are many rivers in United States. Congrats America. Great work. EPA and INTERIOR in 2015 & 2016 targeted one of two last GIANT threats to rivers and streams. POWER PLANTS & COAL MINES. FACT SHEETS:
Well, guess what.?The POWER PLANT and COAL MINING INDUSTRIES HATED THESE RULES. TOO EXPENSIVE! TOO COMPLICATED! REDUNDANT! KILL /DELAY THEM, PLEASE. That was the message to President Trump and Congress. Industry push back here:
SO WHAT IS PRUITT GOING TO DO? And how about CONGRESS? Protect the rivers? OR address the industry concerns? This email is an answer. Who does Pruitt's chief of staff write to tell him EPA moving to stop a WATER POLLUTION RULE? THE NATIONAL MINING ASSOCIATION lobbyist of course.
Congress meanwhile moves to kill Interior's Stream Protection rule. President Trump holds a celebration at the White House, with coal miners lined up behind him.
So what does this mean? Of approximately 80 power plants in the US that were going to have to upgrade water pollution controls as a result of EPA rule, about 2/3s of them have stopped design and planning work. Here is what they were GOING to do. (One company's version) Now???
Re now repealed Stream Protection Rule, mines in West Va that have been subject to a permit revision since 2016 will no longer have to indefinitely monitor water discharge impact on like insects and fish. i.e. "biologic" monitoring. Areas like this will see more polluted streams.
PLEASE READ OUR NYT story, led by @SteveEder, on West Va, and the Trump-era slowdown on the effort to clean up the nation's rivers. AND PLEASE SHARE THIS STORY WIDELY. These stories only have impact if they are read. nytimes.com/interactive/20…
