When a fire erupted at a landfill in Morris County, New Jersey, in 1979, entrepreneur Ed Russo was launched into a career in environmental work that led all the way to the White House.
The fire sparked an interest in understanding how his local landfill was regulated. What he and others found was that contaminants from illegal dumping were making their way into nearby groundwater, potentially threatening the drinking supply. As a result, the landfill was designated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a superfund site, which forces the responsible parties to clean-up and pay for contamination they cause.
That experience led to Russo, who now lives in Key West, launching various environmental businesses — and becoming a trusted counsel to Donald Trump. He served as a consultant on his properties over the last 23 years, and in 2016 he self-published a book called Donald J. Trump: An Environmental Hero, based on that work.
Now he has been tapped as chair of a federal environmental advisory task force, making suggestions directly to the president and shaping federal environmental policy. "To me, the MAGA movement is Make America Green Again, and that's where President Trump is taking us," he told WRLN.
READ MORE: As Trump vows to embrace fossil fuels, U.S. climate policy won't change quickly
In a recent conversation with WLRN, he spoke about his new role and the philosophies guiding him to shape national environmental action. He also delved into what the president's environmental priorities are, his approach to climate change, why he is "absolutely right" on energy and what "nobody knows" about his achievements in conservation.
"All too often, environmentalists, environmental organizations, government agencies are focused on something that they can't be held accountable for. So with Donald's help and leadership, we're going to focus on clean air, clean water, supporting natural resources, and making our country energy independent," he said.
Russo is the co-founder and CEO of RussKap Water, a company selling technology that converts humidity from the air into drinking water, with a focus on contracting to the U.S. Department of Defense. Locally, Russo serves as president of the Florida Keys Environmental Coalition and a board member for Reef Relief, a nonprofit organization focused on coral reef protection.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
"There's no reason to just think of one type of energy source as the ultimate source, and the only source, and reject all others. It's all of the above. This is what Donald Trump is absolutely right on when it comes to that." Ed RussoEd Russo
WLRN: With the focus of the task force being clean air and clean water, what are going to be your priorities in ultimately advising the President on how to shape policies around environmental protection?
RUSSO: So, in focusing on clean air and clean water, there's a significant number of projects around the country that have been stalled in the regulatory field. Some are just nonsensical. Desalination operations, carbon capture, Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) — pushing the needle.
There's no reason to just think of one type of energy source as the ultimate source, and the only source, and reject all others. It's all of the above. This is what Donald Trump is absolutely right on when it comes to that. It shouldn't be electric and nothing else. It has to be a gradual transformation to get more efficient and better sources of energy, and there's other sources of energy and techniques of creating energy that are changing every day. There's innovations that are coming towards us and there's better ways of doing it.
So we have to develop an energy plan to use incentives and disincentives to provide a plan over the next eight, 30, 80 years that provides an opportunity to incorporate these new types of energies, but [also] to allow the energies to continue when the market requires it to. It's all about education and awareness. People want to be living in a world that is safer and cleaner for their children and grandchildren.
You mentioned diversifying American energy sources, and the president has been very vocal about his support of the oil industry. So, in your opinion, how does the country effectively move toward a clean energy grid while taking climate change into account?
Climate change should be studied, should be understood, more than anything. But it should not be used as an excuse not to address the immediate environmental problems we have today when you talk about climate change.
Yeah, let's talk about climate change. Let's talk about CO₂. CO₂ is one of the top fuels that affect our atmosphere. You have nitrous oxide, you have methane and you have CO₂. But CO₂ is the most dynamic. It's the most volatile, and it matters. There's the ways of carbon capture and there's ways to do things the right way, and we should go down that road, but it can't be everything. All too often, environmentalists, environmental organizations, government agencies are focused on something that they can't be held accountable for. So with Donald's help and leadership, we're going to focus on clean air, clean water, supporting natural resources, and making our country energy independent.
"When we talk about habitat enhancement and expansion, he has led the way to protect certain threatened endangered species ... but the fact of the matter is that nobody knows this. We protect thousands of acres of land in perpetuity." Ed RussoEd Russo
It sounds like you’ve already begun work in this role. Can you share a little bit about what you’ve already spoken with the president about and how receptive or not he has been to any suggestions that you’ve already made to him?
Well, my relationship with President Trump goes back to about 24 years. So you're going to get a knowledge base of what his direction is, and when I say clean air and clean water, the specifics means that you have to eliminate pollution, (focus on) erosion control and stream stabilization. That's how all the stuff gets into the water stream.
And when we talk about habitat enhancement and expansion, he has led the way to protect certain threatened endangered species of grasshopper sparrows, savannah sparrows, eastern meadowlarks, wood storks, roseate spoonbills. I can go on and bore everybody, but the fact of the matter is that nobody knows this. We protect thousands of acres of land in perpetuity.
To me, the MAGA movement is Make America Green Again, and that's where President Trump is taking us. Anything I can do to promote and achieve his goals and objectives of clean air, clean water, protect natural resources, fight for efficient energy and become an energy hero of the world is something that I will do everything I can to achieve and follow his leadership.
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