Williamstown
WILLIAMSTOWN — Congressman Richard Neal, D-Springfield, once again raised concerns about President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement as he stopped in Berkshire County Friday to announce local EPA grants.
The Springfield Democrat, who joined officials in Great Barrington, Williamstown and North Adams to announce a total of $800,000 in brownfields cleanup and community-wide assessment grants, lauded the progress that has been made on environmental issues in recent decades.
He, however, contended that “the mission remains cleaner air, cleaner water” and continued to question what impacts the Trump administration’s decision may have on such progress.
“It was not a god idea to withdraw from the Paris climate accord — I mean, that was something we were all accepting of,” he told constituents who gathered for the grant announcement in Williamstown.
President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord and plan to renegotiate the agreement drew criticism from several members of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation and other state officials Thursday.
Contending that Republican and Democratic presidents have historically agreed on the idea — if not the degree — that advancing environmental issues is a good thing, Neal argued that the withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement suggests a growing divide between the parties.
The congressman further raised concerns about letting another country, like China, step up and take over a leadership role in the accord and on environmental issues.
“I’m a globalist,” he said. “I think that if we retreat anywhere, someone else fills the void.”
Neal previously spoke out against Trump’s early June decision to exit the global pact, which calls on the world to cut and ultimately eliminate greenhouse gas pollution.
The congressman argued that withdrawing from the agreement “puts the United States “on the wrong side of history” and “damages America’s standing and reputation around the world.”
Trump, in announcing that the United States will pull out of the Paris climate accord, argued that the agreement gives other countries an advantage over America. He, however, offered that he’s open to renegotiating a possible entrance back into a “fairer” version the global pact.
President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the United States will pull out of Paris climate agreement, a 2015 international accord which committed nearly every country to take action against warming the planet.
Neal’s renewed criticism of the Trump administration’s withdrawal decision came as he stopped in the Northern Berkshire County town to announce a $200,000 EPA brownfields cleanup grant for the former Photech Imaging Systems site.
He also announced respective $300,000 EPA brownfields community-wide assessment grants in both Great Barrington and North Adams, as well as nearly $453,000 in Department of Homeland Security grant dollars to help fund firefighter breathing equipment and intervention packs in North Adams.
