In the last eight weeks, the deadly respiratory virus COVID-19 has spread rapidly across the United States, prompting unprecedented closures of schools, restaurants, and retail; flooding hospitals in the nation’s largest cities; and upending the American way of life. The virus kills by attacking the lungs, and seems to hit those with underlying health conditions particularly hard.
At exactly the same time – indeed, seemingly precisely timed to coincide with this distracting and tragic upheaval – the Environmental Protection Agency, led by Administrator Andrew Wheeler, has taken a series of steps to undermine pollution protections, under cover of the pandemic. Wheeler is laying the groundwork for more polluted air, which can lead to serious health conditions which, in turn, may make us more vulnerable to the health effects of COVID.
We have created a powerful graphic showing damage done by EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in the last several weeks: “EPA Moves Under Cover of COVID.” Wheeler’s dangerous record and the health-harming implications of his actions, coming in the midst of a respiratory pandemic, have defied all norms of decency.
What will Wheeler do next?
