AP Photo Former GOP EPA heads endorse Clinton: Trump ‘would set the world back decades’

Donald Trump would threaten the environmental legacy of presidents Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and George H.W. Bush, according to two former Environmental Protection Agency chiefs from their administrations.

“Republicans have a long history of support for the environment dating back to Theodore Roosevelt. Donald Trump threatens to destroy that legacy of respect for the environment and protection of public health,” William D. Ruckelshaus and William K. Reilly said in a statement endorsing Hillary Clinton’s campaign Tuesday.


Ruckelshaus served as EPA administrator under Reagan and Nixon, while Reilly served under Bush. The pair touted the administrations they worked under for their environmental efforts, but called Trump clueless on the matter.

“Donald Trump has shown a profound ignorance of science and of the public health issues embodied in our environmental laws,” they said. “He hasn’t a clue about Republicans’ historic contributions to science-driven environmental policy.”

They also blasted Trump for suggesting that climate change "is a hoax," noting that they view it as “the singular health and environmental threat to the world today.”

It “flies in the face of overwhelming international science and the public conviction and commitment of almost 200 national governments that adopted the Paris Agreement on climate change in December 2015,” they said, noting that their “leadership was essential to that agreement.”

“To back away now, as Trump wants to do, would set the world back decades — years we could never recover. The young people in this country deserve far better than that as our legacy,” they added, before praising Clinton as a candidate who understands the importance of environment protection and is “committed to reasonable, science-based policy to meet those challenges.”

“For us, there is simply no choice in this election,” they concluded. “We Republicans should be shocked, outraged even, at the prospect that all this progress, this legacy will be repudiated and rolled back by Donald Trump. This is a hugely consequential election; the stakes are that high. That is why as Republicans, we support Hillary Clinton for President.”