Where to Listen:
Clean Wisconsin has been keeping track of the many attacks on bedrock environmental safeguards being carried out by the Trump Administration. Dozens of rules and regulations that protect our air, water, land, endangered species and more are being targeted. With so much happening in such a short time, how do you know what’s important, what’s just a lot of bluster, and what’s even legal?
Host:
Amy Barrilleaux
Guest:
Brett Korte, Clean Wisconsin attorney
Resources for You:
Running list of attacks on environmental safeguards
1/20 Freeze All In-Progress Standards
EO – Freezes in-progress climate, clean air, clean water (including proposed limits on PFAS in industrial wastewater) and consumer protections.
1/20 Energy Emergency Declaration
EO – Authorizes federal government to expedite permitting and approval of fossil fuel, infrastructure, and mining projects and circumvent Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act requirements.
1/20 Withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement
EO – Reverses the US’ international commitment to tackling climate change and reducing pollution.
1/20 Revokes Biden Climate Crisis and Environmental Justice Executive Actions
EO – Reverses U.S. commitment to fight climate change and its impacts, and protect overburdened communities.
1/20 Attacks on Clean Car Standards
EO – to stop clean car standards that required automakers to reduce tailpipe pollution from vehicles beginning in 2027.
1/20 Resumes LNG Permitting
EO – Expedites Liquid Natural Gas export terminal approval over analysis finding exports raise energy costs for consumers.
Attacks Climate and Clean Energy Investments from IRA and BIL
EO – Freezes unspent funds from the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and directs agencies to reassess.
1/20 Attacks NEPA Protections
EO – Rescinds order requiring White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to assess environmental and community impacts and allow community input into federal infrastructure projects.
1/21 Expands Offshore Oil Drilling
EO – Reopens U.S. coastlines to offshore drilling.
1/21 Terminate American Climate Corps
EO – Ends all programs of the American Climate Corps, which created thousands of jobs combatting climate change and protecting and restoring public lands.
1/21 Freezes New Wind Energy Leases
EO – Withdraws wind energy leasing from U.S. waters and federal lands.
1/21 Open Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other Alaska Lands for Drilling
EO – Reopens sensitive federal lands and waters in Alaska to drilling.
1/28 EPA’s Science Advisory Panel Members Fired
Memorandum – Acting EPA administrator James Payne dismisses members of the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and Science Advisory Board, which provides independent expertise to the agency on air quality standards and sources of air pollution.
1/28 EPA Suspends Solar For All Grants
Memorandum – The EPA halted $7 billion in contractually obligated grants for Solar For All, an Inflation Reduction Act program that delivers clean energy and lower prices to vulnerable communities
1/31 Trump administration scrubs “climate change” from federal websites
Memorandum – Mentions of climate change have been removed from federal websites such the Department of Agriculture, which includes the Forest Service and climate-smart agriculture programs, and the EPA.
2/3 Trump requires removal 10 existing rules for every new rule
EO – The order requires that when an agency finalizes a new regulation or guidance they identify 10 existing rules to be cut.
2/3 Interior secretary weakens public lands protections in favor of fossil fuel development
Sec Order – After Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” executive order, Interior Secretary Burgum ordered the reinstatement of fossil fuel leases, opened more land for drilling, and issued orders weakening protections of public lands, national monuments and endangered species, and overturned advanced clean energy and climate mitigation strategies.
2/5 Energy secretary announces review of appliance efficiency standards
Sec Order – Energy Secretary Wright ordered a review of appliance standards following Trump’s Day One order attacking rules improving the efficiency of household appliances such as toilets, showerheads, and lightbulbs as part of a secretarial order intended to increase the extraction and use of fossil fuels.
2/5 Army Corps of Engineers halts approval of renewables
Guidance via DOD – The Army Corps of Engineers singled out 168 projects – those that focused on renewable energy projects – out of about 11,000 pending permits for projects on private land. Though the hold was lifted, it was not immediately clear if permitting had resumed.
2/6 Transportation Department orders freeze of EV charging infrastructure program
Memorandum – A Transportation Department memo ordered the suspension of $5 billion in federal funding, authorized by Congress under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program, for states to build electric vehicle chargers.
2/11 SEC starts process to kill climate disclosure rule
Memorandum – The acting chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission paused the government’s legal defense of a rule requiring companies to identify the impact of their business on climate in regulatory findings. The rule was challenged in court by 19 Republican state attorneys general and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s Liberty Energy, among others.
2/14 EPA fires hundreds of staff
Memorandum – The Trump administration’s relentless assault on science and career expertise at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency continued today with the firing of almost 400 staff who had ‘probationary’ status.
2/14 DOE issues the first LNG export authorization under new Trump administration
DOE Secretary Wright issued an export authorization for the Commonwealth LNG project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, despite a 2024 DOE report finding that unfettered LNG exports increase energy bills and climate pollution.
2/18 Trump issues order stripping independent agencies of independence
EO – Trump signed an executive order stripping independent regulatory agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of their independence, moving them to submit proposed rules and final regulations for review by the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and granting the attorney general exclusive authority over legal interpretations of rules. The order is likely to be challenged as Congress created these agencies specifically to be insulated from White House interference.
2/19 Zeldin recommends striking endangerment finding
Memorandum – After Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” executive order, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has told the White House he would recommend rescinding the bedrock justification defining six climate pollutants – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride – as air pollution to be regulated by the Clean Air Act.
2/19 Trump administration moves to rescind all CEQ regulatory authority
Rulemaking – The Trump administration has moved to rescind the Council on Environmental Quality’s role in crafting and implementing environmental regulations, revoking all CEQ orders since 1977 that shape how federal agencies comply with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) which requires the government to consider and disclose environmental impacts of its actions.
2/19 Trump directs agencies to make deregulation recommendations to DOGE
EO – Trump issues executive order directing agencies to work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to make recommendations that will accelerate Trump’s efforts to dismantle regulations across the federal government as part of his 10 out, 1 in policy. Among the protections likely to be in DOGE’s crosshairs are those that keep polluters from ignoring environmental laws and protect clean air and water.
2/19 FEMA staff advised to scrub “changing climate” and other climate terms from documents
Memorandum – A Federal Emergency Management Agency memo listed 10 climate-related words and phrases, including “changing climate,” “climate resilience,” and “net zero,” to be removed from FEMA documents. The memo comes after USDA workers were ordered to scrub mentions of climate change from websites.
2/21 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Director Placed on Administrative Leave
Guidance – According to media reports, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin has put the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) director on administrative leave. The GGRF is a $27 billion federal financing program that addresses the climate crisis and is injecting billions of dollars in local economic development projects to lower energy prices and reduce pollution especially in the rural, urban, and Indigenous communities most impacted by climate change and frequently left behind by mainstream finance.
2/27 Hundreds fired as layoffs begin at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Guidance – On Thursday, February 27, about 800 employees at NOAA, the agency responsible for the nation’s bedrock weather, climate, fisheries, and marine research, were fired in the latest round of Trump administration-led layoffs. The layoffs could jeopardize NOAA’s ability to provide life-saving severe weather forecasts, long-term climate monitoring, deep-sea research and fisheries management, and other essential research and policy.
3/10 Energy secretary says climate change a worthwhile tradeoff for growth
Announcement – Speaking at the CERAWeek conference, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the Trump administration sees climate change as “a side effect of building the modern world,” and pledged to “end the Biden administration’s irrational, quasi-religious policies on climate change.”
3/10 Zeldin, Musk Cut $1.7B in Environmental Justice Grants
Guidance – EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the cancellation of 400 environmental justice-related grants, in violation of a court order barring the Trump administration from freezing “equity-based” grants and contracts.
3/11 EPA eliminates environmental justice offices, staff
Memorandum – EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin ordered the closure of environmental justice offices at the agency’s headquarters and at all 10 regional offices and eliminate all related staff positions “immediately.” The reversal comes just days after the EPA reinstated environmental justice and civil rights employees put on leave in early February.
3/12 EPA Announcement to Revise “Waters of the United States” Rule
Announcement – The EPA will redefine waters of the US, or WOTUS, to comply with the US Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Sackett v. EPA, which lifted Clean Water Act jurisdiction on many wetlands, Administrator Lee Zeldin said
3/14 Zeldin releases 31-rollback ‘hit list’
Memorandum (announced, not in effect as of 4/10) – EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans to dismantle federal air quality and carbon pollution regulations, identifying 31 actions ranging from from soot standards and power plant pollution rules to the endangerment finding – the scientific and legal underpinning of the Clean Air Act.
3/14 EPA halts enforcement of pollution rules at energy facilities
Memorandum – According to a leaked memo, the EPA’s compliance office has halted enforcement of pollution regulations on energy facilities and barred consideration of environmental justice concerns. The memo states: “Enforcement and compliance assurance actions shall not shut down any stage of energy production (from exploration to distribution) or power generation absent an imminent and substantial threat to human health or an express statutory or regulatory requirement to the contrary.”
3/14 Trump revokes order encouraging renewables
EO – Trump signed an executive order rescinding a Biden-era proclamation encouraging the development of renewable energy. Biden’s order under the Defense Production Act permitted the Department of Energy to direct funds to scale up domestic production of solar and other renewable technologies.
3/17 EPA plans to eliminate science staff
Memorandum – Leaked documents describe plans to lay off as many as 1,155 scientists from labs across the country. These chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists are among the experts who monitor air and water quality, cleanup of toxic waste, and more.
3/16 EPA invites waivers on mercury pollution and other hazardous pollutants
Memorandum – The EPA invited coal- and oil-fired power plants to apply for exemptions to limits on mercury and other toxic pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Mercury is an extremely dangerous pollutant that causes brain damage to babies and fetuses; in addition to mercury, pollution from power plants includes hazardous chemicals that can lead to cancer, or damage to the lungs, kidneys, nervous system and cardiovascular system.
4/3 Trump administration adds “deregulation suggestion” website
A new page on regulations.gov allows members of the public to submit “deregulation” ideas. The move is the latest in the Trump administration’s efforts to slash public health, safety, and climate safeguards, and comes soon after the administration offered companies the opportunity to send the EPA an email if they wished to be exempted from Clean Air Act protections.
4/8 Series of four EOs to boost coal
EO – Under the four orders, Trump uses his emergency authority to allow some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep producing electricity to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. Trump also directed federal agencies to identify coal resources on federal lands, lift barriers to coal mining and prioritize coal leasing on U.S. lands.
In a related action, Trump also signed a proclamation offering coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene.
4/9 Executive Order Attacking State Climate Laws
EO – Directs the U.S. Attorney General to sue or block state climate policies deemed “burdensome” to fossil fuel interests — including laws addressing climate change, ESG investing, carbon taxes, and environmental justice.
4/9 New expiration dates on existing energy rules
EO – The order directs ten agencies and subagencies to assign one-year expiration dates to existing energy regulations. If they are not extended, they will expire no later than September 30, 2026, according to a White House fact sheet on the order. The order also said any new regulations should include a five-year expiration, unless they are deregulatory. That means any future regulations would only last for five years unless they are extended.
4/17 Narrow Endangered Species Act to allow for habitat destruction
The Trump administration is proposing to significantly limit the Endangered Species Act’s power to preserve crucial habitats by changing the definition of one word: harm. The Endangered Species Act prohibits actions that “harass, harm, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect” endangered plants and animals. The word “harm” has long been interpreted to mean not just the direct killing of a species, but also severe harm to their environment.
Transcript:
Amy They say knowledge is power, and I’m about to drop a whole lot of knowledge in this episode. Hi there and welcome to the Defender Wisconsin’s environmental podcast. I’m Amy Barrilleaux. There’s a lot going on right now, so you’re totally forgiven if you’ve missed some of the many, many attacks on bedrock environmental safeguards being carried out by the Trump Administration. But Clean Wisconsin has been keeping track. More than 30 rules and regulations that protect our air, safe water, land, endangered species and more are being targeted. For the full list, check out the show notes or our podcast page at CleanWisconsin.org, but I’m going to list a few right now. You may have heard last week the EPA wants to change language in the Endangered Species Act to start allowing actions that degrade or destroy endangered species habitat. Habitat loss is the single biggest driver of wildlife extinction. In January, the Trump administration opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other Alaska lands for drilling. In February, the EPA administrator recommended striking the Endangerment Finding, a landmark rule that defines six climate pollutants, including carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, as air pollution that can be regulated by the Clean Air Act. In March, the EPA invited coal and oil-fired power plants to apply for exemptions to Clean Air Limits on mercury and other toxic contaminants. The EPA also moved to roll back standards for harmful soot pollution from industrial sites and power plants. And it moved to weaken safeguards against accidents at industrial and chemical plants that millions of people live around. In April, President Trump signed an executive order allowing some older coal-fired power plants set for retirement to keep on producing electricity. Trump also directed federal agencies to identify coal resources on federal lands, lift barriers to coal mining, and prioritize coal leasing on U.S. Lands. In a related action, Trump also signed a proclamation offering coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from requirements that they reduce emissions of toxic chemicals like mercury, arsenic, and benzene. Trump also sign an order that directs the U.S. Attorney General to sue or block state climate policies deemed burdensome to fossil fuel interests. So with so much happening in such a short time, how do you know what’s important, what’s just a lot of bluster and what’s even legal? Clean Wisconsin attorney Brett Korte will join me to break it all down. That’s right now on The Defender. The United States is fortunate to have bedrock environmental laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act. These laws protect lives every single day. And now that bedrock’s starting to feel shaky. Joining me is Clean Wisconsin attorney Brett Korte. Before we jump into all the executive orders and EPA announcements, what made you decide to become an environmental attorney? Because Trump or not, the environment’s always under attack in some way. And it can be. I think hard and stressful to try to protect all these things.
Brett Yeah, well I mean I do this work because I care about our environment. I love our natural places. I love spending time outdoors and when you think about how the environment impacts everyone’s day-to-day lives, their health, how the economy is doing. I mean all these things are dependent on a healthy environment and I probably wouldn’t be a lawyer if it wasn’t for environmental law, that’s what I’m passionate about. I’m often grateful to be able to do this work because it gives me a place where I can put that energy into making good change. And for me, it’s about kind of channeling that passion into real results.
Amy I think that’s interesting, what you just said, that you probably wouldn’t be a lawyer if you weren’t an environmental lawyer. So it’s not, you know, writing briefs and contracts that drew you in. It’s like the experience of being outdoors and appreciating that.
Brett Yeah, it’s the outcomes of the work and helping the places and people that we get to help every day. That’s what drives me.
Amy And now it feels like we’re at a place where things are getting intense in terms of protecting our environment. So I mentioned there are a whole bunch of rollbacks happening, some of which I listed at the top of the show. Let’s start with coal though, because I think that’s kind of notable. President Trump in his first administration tried to, you know, boost coal or bring back coal, and it didn’t really happen. Here we are again looking at a slew of executive orders aimed at boosting coal. In Wisconsin, we’re seeing coal plants start to come offline and retire. Do you think that’s going to change now that we have this kind of attempt at momentum behind coal again?
Brett I really don’t. I think that those decisions are being made by utilities in Wisconsin for a variety of reasons, not least of which is the economics of coal. Um, utilities are incentivized, um, to make good business decisions. And I don’t think that we’ll see those decisions in Wisconsin change based on Trump administration actions, trying to prop up what’s really an industry that we’re moving away from for decades and I don’t think there’s any amount of paperwork and documents that President Trump can sign that will keep coal online. It just doesn’t make sense.
Amy So maybe we’re not going to go back to coal. I forgot what it was called. Beautiful, clean coal.
Brett Beautiful, clean coal.
Amy But there’s been a number of other executive orders and EPA announcements and all kinds of moves. What are some that maybe we do need to be worried about in Wisconsin?
Brett Well, it’s kind of hard to say at this point which of the many executive orders aimed at environmental issues are actually going to have real on the ground results. A lot of the executive orders direct heads of different agencies to look at the regulations that they’re in charge of and come back with plans to roll back regulations or change regulations. And so, you know, a lot of the… Gusto that we’re hearing, you know, there’s been a flurry of executive orders and they’re important because they signal where the administration’s at as far as priorities, but it’s still yet to be seen how a lot of them are going to, like I said, actually have impacts on the ground. Executive orders don’t circumvent other laws on the books that govern how these things work. If a agency wants to change the regulations, they have to file the Administrative Procedures Act. You know, we’ve already seen lawsuits filed over several administrative actions. So at this point, we just have to kind of see what comes out the other side, both from the agencies and in the courts. Um, certainly things like pulling out of the Paris agreement are going to impact people in Wisconsin, in Wisconsin and across the country. Um, so I’m not saying that there’s, you know, no impact for many of the Trump administration’s actions. But we’ll kind of have to wait and see how they play out before we can really figure out what we need to be most worried about.
Amy It almost feels like it’s maybe an intentional thing to have so many executive orders come out that it’s hard to know where do we need to pay attention. So many announcements from the EPA, you know, “now it’s time to deregulate everything,” that it almost feels we’re defeated if we care about the environment before, maybe before we even get a chance to understand what’s happening. But I guess you would say, we’re not defeated. This is all, it’s a lot of words, but it has not translated into action quite yet.
Brett Yeah, and just like, as an example, the Trump administration announced that they want to roll back the transit rules, so fuel standards for vehicles. The auto industry was on board with these regulations when they were issued. So it’s just not clear to me that all this signaling from the Trump administration will actually have impacts. They want to take away California’s ability to set their own vehicle emission standards, but that’s in the Clean Air Act. That’s part of the law. So you can’t just undo that by executive fiat.
Amy Alright, well that’s good. Yeah, because another thing is that there’s, I think it was an executive order or it appears that the Trump administration is going after these kind of state-level climate laws, and you’re saying that that’s not really allowed or legally possible, maybe?
Brett Well, it depends on the thing, yeah. But generally we have a federalist system in the United States and states have authority over a lot of their own issues and things that go on in their state. And the irony of a conservative taking action that limits states’ rights is ironic. But again, we’ll have to see how all of this plays out. You know, courts are going to be the ultimate arbiters of whether anything that the Trump administration does is constitutional, ultimately.
Amy What do we need to be paying attention to here in Wisconsin? So we’re not California. We don’t have nearly as many different state level regulations as California, for example, does. But at the same time, we do have some. And we have clean energy projects happening here. We have a lot going on. What do need to do or be prepared for or be looking protections?
Brett Yeah, you’re right. So the state laws that protect our waters and other environmental resources are still in the books and will still be helpful in what we’re trying to do. I would pay attention to things on the energy side in particular. Wisconsin doesn’t have very powerful state climate laws, things that are helping us get to a carbon-free energy system or carbon-free economy, so the federal actions under the Inflation Reduction Act and other things were really helping spur renewable energy development in Wisconsin and we were really seeing a difference in moving away from harmful fossil fuels. And those were more the carrot-type legislation, the tax benefits and incentives to build renewables, So we’ll really be missing that. Federal support. So far you know the Trump administration has slowed down some of the funding from that. You know the IRA again is still on the books so it’s kind of yet to be seen how that’s all going to play out.
Amy So, yeah, Wisconsin hasn’t exactly been like a leader in the Midwest on clean energy, solar and wind in particular. I think we’re last in the midwest by a lot for the amount of wind energy we produce. So, are you worried that now the progress we have made in the past couple of years is going to really start to be eroded?
Brett I hope not. I think, you know, we still see projects coming to Wisconsin. I think the fact that we’re behind some of our neighboring states, again, it has more to do with the economics and kind of the viability of, of the renewable resources here. We’re not as windy as Iowa. We’re as sunny as the sunbelt. So it just took a while for the industries to kind of focus on Wisconsin. But we’re seeing that now and I fully expect that we’ll continue to see that trend. It’s just that the kind of invigoration from federal support might slow down a little bit, but we’ll have to see.
Amy Does it make it even more important, I guess, for people who live in communities where, like, hey, there’s this solar project or this wind project to kind of vocally support these things? Because I guess if there are projects that are here that are happening that are kind of waiting in the wings, this can maybe be an easier way to push back on some of this deregulation that’s happening on the federal level.
Brett Yeah, certainly. I think communities that want to support renewable energy in their area should speak out and make that clear. I think that that can only help show that the transition is happening and is here to stay and will continue on that path. But yeah, I think not just with renewable energy, but anything that, you know, your local government is doing. Climate adaptation plans, whatever it is, showing support and letting local officials know that their constituents care about these things. That’s really helpful.
Amy You’re an attorney, and a lot of what Clean Wisconsin does is work through the courts to uphold environmental laws, hold polluters accountable to what the law is. And we’re seeing some moves by the executive branch right now to maybe not listen to court decisions, which is, you know, what folks might call a constitutional crisis. So as an attorney. Uh… Whose work revolves around entities listening to a court order uh… What goes through your mind when you see these kinds of things start to happen?
Brett Well, it’s very concerning, I won’t dance around that fact. You know, when we’ve seen this constitutional crisis play out before in our past, I mean, honestly, those have been some of our darkest hours. The forced removal of Cherokee on the Trail of Tears was ultimately effectuated when President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce a Supreme Court order. And we’ve only seen issues like that crop up a couple times in the last 280 years or however long. Um, so It is a critical moment. We saw a kind of related situation play out during the civil rights movement with states refusing to desegregate schools, both K-12 public schools and universities, and those issues were ultimately resolved by the executive branch enforcing those court orders, right? Little Rock Nine. That was President Eisenhower saying, nope, the Supreme Court’s the law of the land, and it’s my job to effectuate that law. So when you have the executive branch potentially refusing to comply with the judicial branch, yeah, I’d say we’re in a constitutional crisis. Separation of powers and the checks and balances is the cornerstone of our constitution. And I think every American should be concerned if we get the inclination that the executive branch is not gonna abide by those really long standing and important tenants.
Amy You know, we’re at Clean Wisconsin celebrating our 55th year, and a lot of the early work we did was to establish, you know, the right to sue for the environment. When you look back on that now, in the context of what’s happening, how, I guess, special and unique is it that we do have the right to sue for the environment, on behalf of the environment.
Brett It’s critical. You know, the United States led the way in environmental protection in the middle of the 20th century. We set the example for countries all over the world of how you can have a Clean Air Act, how you can have a Clean Water Act. And it became clear that, you know, with different political priorities or whatnot, uh… regulators in charge of effectuating those laws may not always pursue what’s in the best interest of the environment. So organizations like Clean Wisconsin and other environmental organizations, you know, this kind of played out in different states and at the national level, but, you know establish that for these laws to actually do what they were supposed to and clean up the environment, someone had to be able to bring it to the courts and let them decide. Glad that we have that ability now and we’ll keep at it.
Amy What, you know, when you walk in through the doors at Clean Wisconsin and this kind of moment of extreme pressure, I think, as a country, but also as an environmental organization, when we see like this long, scary, more than 30 at my last count list of different attacks and rollbacks and efforts, makes you want to come through that door every day or to be here still in this.?
Brett Well, what we do is really important. I think everyone who cares about the environment can recognize that you need advocates speaking up for it, and you need to have the institutions in place that have the scientists, that have lawyers, that have communications teams, right, that can help spread the word and kind of do the dirty work of making sure that we’ve got good laws on the books, that they’re being enforced, that agencies are making decisions that are environmentally sound. And… I’ve been an environmental attorney for over 10 years now. It is a long haul, right? We don’t always see positive impacts in the short term, but I just think that it’s really critical that we keep at it, that we stay the course. And, you know, it helps knowing that most people agree with us, ultimately. You know, they may. Might not know that they do, but they do. We know that people want clean air. We know the people want clean water. We know most people care about climate change and want to see our governments do more to address it. So, I feel like our mission is in line with what almost everybody can agree is something that we should fight for. I’m lucky enough to get to come in every day and be a part of that and get paid to do it.
Amy Brett Korte, attorney with Clean Wisconsin, thank you so much for talking, it’s a hard conversation to have, but for talking with me about all this, I appreciate it. And thank you for listening to The Defender. If you have questions, comments, something you want me to talk about, reach out, podcast at cleanwisconsin.org. I’m Amy Barrilleaux, talk to you later.
