11/07/2024

Trump Win Brings RFK Jr.’s Agenda to the Forefront

E&E Greenwire | Miranda Willson, Ellie Borst | Nov. 6, 2024

Trump Win Brings RFK Jr.’s Agenda to the Forefront

E&E Greenwire | Miranda Willson, Ellie Borst | Nov. 6, 2024

Donald Trump’s victory is raising new questions about how Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could influence his next administration on environmental issues, from chemicals to drinking water.

Trump doubled down Wednesday on allowing Kennedy to pursue his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda, which pledges to address chronic disease and “environmental degradation” by reducing harmful chemicals in food, as well as changing regulations for pharmaceuticals and pesticides.

"He wants to do some things, and we're going to let him go do it," Trump said during his victory speech in West Palm Beach, Florida, in the early hours of the morning.

"Go have a good time, Bobby," Trump continued, cautioning that Kennedy must "stay away from the liquid gold," in reference to oil and gas regulations.

Kennedy, a former environmental attorney who abandoned his own presidential run in August to back Trump, made headlines this week by professing that one of the next president’s “day one” priorities would be to get fluoride out of drinking water.

Kennedy rose to prominence as president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a role he held for 20 years. In recent years, he's become a prominent vaccine skeptic and been widely criticized by public health advocates.

Since his endorsement of Trump, Kennedy has said the former president would give him "control" of the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture.

Barry Rabe, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, said he was unsure how effective Kennedy would be at driving policy decisions, describing him as a “show horse” rather than a workhorse.

“I really doubt that the Trump campaign was eager to have fluoride become a major focal point this past week,” Rabe said, referring to Kennedy’s statement that Trump would push for the end of fluoridation in water systems. “It’s hard for me to imagine him lasting very long in an administration. You’d expect him to burn out pretty quickly.”

In a recent post on X, Kennedy said he would seek to "end the pervasive conflicts of interest in our government health agencies."

Del Bigtree, CEO of the MAHA Alliance, a super PAC formed by former Kennedy campaign staffers, said he believes his former boss will take steps in the next Trump administration to block industry influence in the federal government.

“You’re going to see Robert F. Kennedy Jr. actually get rid of everybody that’s ever been proven to be taking funding from the industry and turning the EPA, the FDA, the CDC, NIH, Health and Human Services into regulatory agencies that work for the citizens of the United States of America and not the corporations,” said Bigtree, who was Kennedy’s campaign communications director.

Neither Kennedy's team nor the Trump campaign immediately responded to requests for comment.

Despite Kennedy’s past connection to the environmental movement, prominent green groups have slammed him over his alliance with Trump, who pledged during his campaign to return to the White House to claw back the Inflation Reduction Act and expand oil production.

Project 2025, the conservative policy playbook from the Heritage Foundation intended to guide a second Trump administration, also calls for cutting key EPA offices like the Office of Enforcement and changes to how new chemicals are evaluated. Trump has publicly distanced himself from that document, although many of his former officials helped draft it.

"The first time President Trump got the chance, he put the polluters in charge," said Scott Faber, the Environmental Working Group's senior vice president on government affairs. "There's no reason to think the next Trump administration will do any more to protect us from toxic chemicals than the last Trump administration."

Although Kennedy is not seen as in contention to lead EPA, he could still have an indirect influence on environmental issues if he ends up at HHS, said Betsy Southerland, a retired EPA staffer who previously led science policy in the Office of Water. The agency plays a key role in evaluating the science behind the health effects of pollutants, she said.

“When EPA does any kind of regulation, they have to get interagency review and approval from all affected agencies,” Sutherland said. “So HHS would certainly be able to greatly influence anything coming out of EPA on any regulation.”

“Certainly, if EPA were to undertake a change in fluoride recommendations for drinking water, they’d weigh in on that also,” Southerland added.

Many utilities have for years added fluoride to drinking water as means of helping to prevent tooth decay and cavities. The practice is broadly supported by dentists. In recent years, however, some research has linked fluoride to brain damage and cognitive impairment in children.

A judge also ruled this year that adding fluoride to drinking water at current levels poses unacceptable health risks and ordered EPA to further regulate the chemicals.

Steve Via, director of federal relations at the American Water Works Association, said he wasn’t sure how quickly the Trump administration would be able to require the removal of fluoride, if it decided to take that step. The judge’s ruling, he added, is going to spur a regulatory process that will likely take some time.

“Right now, communitywide fluoridation for drinking water is not done under federal law,” Via said.

Kennedy nonetheless doubled down on his fluoride pledge in an interview with NPR on Wednesday. Trump has not committed to taking action on the substance in water thus far, although he hasn’t dismissed the idea either.

Patrick Parenteau, a professor emeritus at Vermont Law School who crossed paths with Kennedy when he was a law professor at Pace University, said Kennedy’s influence might ultimately depend on what Trump prioritizes when he gets into office.

“With all the things that Trump has identified he wants to do — his enemies list, his undo-everything-Biden-has-done list, I can’t believe this particular item — putting RFK in a position to run wild through health agencies … I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen,” Parenteau said.