Statement: HECHO Statement on Halting Enforcement of Pollution Regulations Amid Public Health Crisis Despite Link Between Air Pollution and Covid-19 Deaths

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Recent reports demonstrate the link between air pollution and deaths from COVID-19. This distressing connection underscores existing failures of the Trump Administration to prioritize public health-- from restricting access to health care to allowing corporations to pollute the air, land, and water-- making the Trump administration’s shamefully inadequate response to this public health crisis even worse. In response HECHO issued the following statement.

“The Trump administration’s response to the COVID-19 crisis has put the demands of corporations over the health of people. This dangerous agenda is especially harmful to Latinos and low-income families that disproportionately live near polluting facilities and who are more vulnerable to respiratory disease as a result,” said Utah Representative Mark Archuleta Wheatley, Advisory Board Member of HECHO (Hispanics Enjoying Camping, Hunting, and the Outdoors). “From ordering the EPA to halt enforcement of pollution regulations to rolling back safeguards for clean water to pursuing handouts for the oil and gas industry, this agenda could cost lives at a time when public health and safety should be the federal government’s top priority. We are in a time of national crisis and we need leaders who recognize the importance of supporting people and communities. President Trump and his administration have failed this mandate.”