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During his campaign launch on Tuesday evening, Trump made the claim that the United States has “the cleanest and sharpest” air and water on Earth.
Trump also referred to the U.S. recently emerging as the leading global producer of oil and natural gas under his administration, by saying that the air and water is the cleanest it has ever been, even while “creating a future of American energy independence.”
Despite his claims on Tuesday, there has been plenty of data that shows the opposite. Just hours before his comments, a report citing federal data showed that the U.S. experienced a huge increase in the number of polluted air days in the past two years, compared to any of the previous four years under the previous administration.
In fact, there were 15% more days with unhealthy air both last year and the year before, than there were on average from 2013 to 2016. And in 2017 and 2018, there were almost 140 times when a city’s air pollution reached “very unhealthy” or “hazardous,” which is more than 2.5 times more than the average from 2013 to 2016.
With the current administration working to relax regulations on coal plants, cars, and other emissions, the air quality will continue to deteriorate. “There is zero reason to expect any other outcome,” said Neil Donahue, a Carnegie Mellon University engineering professor.
