As our country is currently dealing with a pandemic crisis, our federal government has pushed dangerous policies through, many times without oversight or a public comment period, at an alarming pace.
One of these, and it affects all of us, as well as our wildlife and wilderness, is the action of EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler with the blessing of the White House to relax enforcements of the EPA’s single most important function in the protection of human health and the environment.
Making sure industrial toxins are not released via air, water or ground is a fundamental necessity. Allowing private companies to do their own monitoring and reporting, as we have found out from the past, is basically permitting the release of air pollutants at a time when it is known that COVID-19 takes particular hold on people with breathing problems, and it is irresponsible.
The startling baseless decision – the global health crisis being the reason given for doing this – to relax these very necessary regulatory actions should have us all concerned right now. Exposing a sick nation to some things that we know will harm our lungs and make us more susceptible to becoming sick is inexcusable.
In spite of the fact that our current EPA Administrator is a former coal industry lobbyist appointed by Donald Trump, he has a mandate to do his job.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler has a responsibility to reverse course on this decision in order to keep our environment clean and our citizens safe.
Lennette De ForestDurango
