TL/DR –
Project 2025, a plan proposed by far-right groups for a hypothetical second term of Donald Trump, would have severe impacts on environmental, energy and food policies, putting Americans’ health at risk. The 1,000-page plan includes proposals such as the reduction of the Environmental Protection Agency’s classification of hazardous substances and the rollback of regulations surrounding food labelling and production. Its implementation could result in a significant rise in pollutants, with the Energy Innovation Technology & Policy predicting this could lead to nearly 25,400 premature deaths per year by 2050.
Far-right Project 2025 threatens Americans’ right to clean air, water, and healthy food
The extensive Project 2025 plan for a second Trump term could seriously jeopardize American health through its energy, environmental, and food policies. This 1000-page plan proposes significant regulatory rollbacks across government sectors and paves the way for corporate exploitation.
Among the most dangerous proposals are hidden in bureaucratic directives, such as the downgrading of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) reclassification of hazardous chemicals perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), set for November 4th.
These man-made ‘forever chemicals’ used in plastic production have been linked to fatal diseases. A recent study shows that over 200 million Americans could have toxic PFAS in their drinking water. Reversing the reclassification would sanction corporations to continue producing and dumping these toxins. The plan also threatens to slow down lead pipe removal, risking the health of minority and low-income communities.
Project 2025 aims to restrict scientific research and public awareness on dangerous industrial materials. It proposes to cut funding for databases like the Integrated Risk Information System, hampering the study of climate change and the monitoring of carcinogenic chemicals.
The right to consume healthy food is also in jeopardy. Big agricultural corporations aim to perpetuate the sale of ultra-processed and chemically altered foods. This would be facilitated by Project 2025’s strategy to undermine the power of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Proposals include deregulating production and removing corporate responsibility to disclose food content. The plan overtly states that the USDA should repeal the Dietary Guidelines and federal labeling mandate.
Abolishing the labeling mandate would revert nutrition information to the 1980s level, enabling food companies to deceive consumers about the quality and safety of their products.
Increased air pollution could cause premature deaths
Project 2025 displays severe hostility towards new regulations reshaping the energy sector. According to the nonpartisan Energy Innovation Technology & Policy (EITP), replacing Democratic energy policies with those proposed in Project 2025 would significantly increase atmospheric pollutants, causing nearly 25,400 premature deaths per year by 2050 and extensive environmental damage.
Robbie Orvis, the Senior Director for Modeling and Analysis at EITP, explains the projected increase in health-damaging pollutants comes from increased gasoline combustion from vehicles. EITP reached these conclusions using its US Energy Policy Simulator, which evaluates decarbonization policies’ impact based on EPA data.
The simulator projects that implementing Project 2025 would lead to 167,000 additional annual asthma attacks by 2030 and 771,000 by 2050; hospitalizations would increase by 3,000 by 2030 and 14,600 by 2050.
Project 2025’s greenhouse gas recommendations include repealing new incentives and regulations, weakening the EPA’s ability to monitor and limit emissions, promoting dirty energy, and exploiting public land for oil drilling.
This grim assessment could still underestimate the impact of this right-wing blueprint on the environment and public health, considering the numerous damaging policies it outlines and the potential lives at stake due to pollution and corporate profit prioritization over public safety.
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