From DPVA:
Governor Youngkin Continues to Roll Back Crucial Environmental Protections
Richmond, VA – Yesterday, Governor Youngkin actively misled Virginians by signing an empty executive order to promote recycling, when in actuality he rolled back more environmental protections from the Northam administration and discarded a crucial program to ban single-use plastics. This is his latest attempt in a long list of actions to weaken environmental protections and worsen the ongoing effects of climate change.
In case you missed it, here are Governor Youngkin’s and Republicans’ efforts to roll back environmental protections:
- Slashing hundreds of millions in funding for key environmental and land conservation programs.
- Appointing Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist and Trump crony as Secretary of Natural and Historic Resources.
- Attempting to withdraw Virginia from the RGGI, which would have cut $180 million for clean energy and flood preparedness.
- Slashing an additional $26 million for agricultural Best Management Practices that support local farmers and foresters.
- Repealing key provisions of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, weakening our transition to clean energy.
- Gutting Virginia’s clean car standard, which is essential to reducing dangerous emissions.
“Since taking office, Governor Youngkin and his allies have repeatedly launched attack after attack on our environment, attempting to install a coal lobbyist and Trump’s former EPA head to ‘protect’ our natural resources, remove Virginia from the RGGI, and now discard crucial programs to protect our environment,” said DPVA spokesperson Gianni Snidle. “The Democratic Party is the only party in Virginia dedicated to tackling the worsening effects of climate change and we will continue to fight against any Republican attempts to roll back our progress.”
###
Sign up for the Blue Virginia weekly newsletter
