(President) Trump just delivered his State of the Union address but I couldn�t help thinking it should have been called the "State of Pollution," because from climate and clean air to national parks and wildlife, Trump and his Acting EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler have made the degradation of public health a priority. I�m tired of Trump using rally rhetoric to instill fear in people so they�ll support his baseless ideas. While he railed about a �crisis� on the border, Americans know the real crisis is climate change.

�Victory is not winning for our party. Victory is winning for our country,� Trump said. Solving climate change is �Winning for our country�. Did the President acknowledge the urgent threat of climate change and commit to act? No, because he has slashed one vital environmental safeguard after another. From gutting Mercury and Fuel Economy Standards, to pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, to dismantling the Clean Power Plan and reversing the Clean Water Act; his goal seems to be to put vulnerable communities at risk regardless of the cost to our economy or public health.

When Trump denies climate change, he doesn�t want you to know he�s acknowledged it at his own golf course. He says he�s �not a big believer in global warming,� and calls it "a total hoax," and "pseudoscience," while he builds a seawall to protect his golf course from "global warming and its effects." An application filed by Trump International Golf & Hotel Ireland, cites climate change and its impacts � as justification for building those seawalls.

Seacoast residents know all too well the cost of rising seas with NH tidal flooding up 260 percent since 2000. As a result, NH�s tiny coastline has already lost more than $15 million in property values. And the climate crisis has serious public health and security costs too. Trump�s proposal to undermine the Clean Power Plan will result in 4,500 extra premature deaths and 48,000 new cases of asthma per year. Half of US military sites, including our own Naval Shipyard, are threatened by climate change, according to a new Pentagon study whose findings are contrary to White House views on global warming.

Yet Trump�s Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler was just nominated as permanent EPA head. Under Wheeler�s tenure, fuel economy and carbon pollution standards have been ripped up. He is against ratifying the Kigali Amendment which would phase down dangerous hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); this despite the fact that reducing HFCs is considered a priority solution to combating climate change. The former coal lobbyist has also reneged on EPA promises to protect Americans from the deadly chemical methylene chloride. Under Wheeler�s leadership, EPA fines have dropped a shocking 85 percent. And, NH families take notice; Wheeler is refusing to set limits on the toxic drinking water chemicals PFAS � a move that will potentially contaminate the drinking water of 110 million Americans, many of them on the Seacoast. Such an industry insider who clearly has only disdain for the environment and public health should not be running the very agency tasked with these matters.

So��What will we do with this moment? How will we be remembered?� Trump asked on Tuesday night.

I believe we are a strong and innovative nation that can come together to solve a true crisis like climate change. And we, the citizens of NH, have the tools, technology and will to tackle climate change by increasing our renewable portfolio standard to 100 percent, supporting renewable energy like on and offshore wind, solar and hydropower, by aggressively engaging in all types of energy efficiency and by continuing to support RGGI and other carbon tax measures. But, NH can�t do it alone; we need bold and innovative leadership at the top. Leadership like that proposed in the Green New Deal.

The State of the Union is supposed to put forth bold new ideas, talk about the real challenges we face as a nation and provide leadership to tackle them. If Trump wants to lose the "State of Pollution" nickname he�ll need to start listening to the American people and instead of rolling back lifesaving climate and health protections, act on the biggest threat to our Union; act on climate.

Hunter Brownlie of Newmarket is the founder of HDB Investment Group, a firm specializing in sustainable and socially responsible investments.

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