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Former EPA Administrators Who Served Republicans Support Clinton

They say Trump threatens to destroy GOP environmental 'legacy'

Olivia Yost, 5, of Pittsburgh, hula hoops during a "play-in" protest by kids and mothers in Upper Senate Park organized by Moms Clean Air Force in 2015. About 400 gathered to support the EPA's Clean Power Plan and call attention to climate change and air pollution. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Olivia Yost, 5, of Pittsburgh, hula hoops during a "play-in" protest by kids and mothers in Upper Senate Park organized by Moms Clean Air Force in 2015. About 400 gathered to support the EPA's Clean Power Plan and call attention to climate change and air pollution. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Two former Environmental Protection Agency administrators who served Republican presidents have endorsed Hillary Clinton.

The Clinton campaign made public the endorsements by William D. Ruckelshaus and William K. Reilly in a statement early Tuesday.

Ruckelshaus was the EPA’s first administrator under President Richard Nixon and he held the same job under President Ronald Reagan. Reilly served as President George H.W. Bush’s EPA administrator.

“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,” the joint statement reads.

The statement goes on to say that “Donald Trump has shown a profound ignorance of science and of the public health issues embodied in our environmental laws.”

The statement describes environmental achievements by the presidents they served. Nixon is credited for creating the EPA and supporting the Clean Air Act. It notes that Reagan ratified the Montreal Protocol that sought to reverse damage to the ozone layer. And that Bush advocated for Clean Air Act amendments to combat acid rain and air pollution.

Ruckelshaus and Reilly also warned against backing away from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

“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,” they wrote.

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