The Donald Trump who stayed on the teleprompter Tuesday night and sounded almost normal claimed he would work with both parties “to promote clean air and clear water.”
But pay attention to what he does, not what he says.
Just hours before his entreaty to Congress, he signed an executive order instructing the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers to begin the process of gutting EPA clean water rules.
Later in his speech, Trump bragged about his efforts to push more coal and oil into the market – fossil fuels which will make the air and water dirtier and degrade the earth’s climate further.
This is a scary premise when you look at the U.S. Geological Survey maps showing how early spring has arrived in each state this year. The mapping provides a snapshot of index-based plant events, like leaves appearing on trees and flowers blooming – and it shows a massive swath of the country from San Antonio across the Southeast to New York where spring arrived two to three weeks earlier than usual.