The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to permanently remove the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program today.

The program requires large emission sources to report their greenhouse gas data so that it can be made available to the public. Approximately 8,000 facilities are required to report their emissions data. This creates transparency for communities and is especially important to communities of color, which are disproportionately impacted by pollution.

Following the announcement, the BlueGreen Alliance issued a statement from Executive Director Jason Walsh:

“The Trump administration continues to prove it does not care about the American people and their basic right to breathe clean air. This flies in the face of the EPA’s core mission—to protect the environment and public health. The proposal is wildly unpopular with even industry groups speaking against it because they know the value of having this emissions data available. Everybody in this country deserves to know the air quality in their community and how their lives can be affected when they live near high emitting facilities.

“Knowledge is power and—in this case—health. The administration shouldn’t be keeping people in the dark about the air they and their neighbors are breathing.”