Last week, the City of Cortez was one of seven recipients to learn that on May 16, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded the city a $500,000 Brownfields Grant to clean up three unused buildings at the Cortez Municipal Airport contaminated with asbestos, lead-based paint and petroleum.
Think brown vs. green fields and you get the picture of why the EPA in 1995 established this aptly named program to return brownfields to productive use in both urban and rural communities. The premise is that brownfields funding can help communities clean up impacted sites, reduce environmental and health risks, and bolster economic development and community revitalization efforts. In some areas, former landfills have been redeveloped into community parks, new housing and businesses have been launched.
Kudos to the City of Cortez for seeking and securing this funding. Whether or not future EPA grant funding opportunities will continue to exist is unclear. Since the Trump administration came into office, DOGE has been chainsawing its way through the federal government and much of what we’ve come to expect (and taken for granted) has been thrown into question.
Under Trump, the EPA, founded in 1970 by Republican President Richard Nixon with a charge to protect the environment and human health, is facing up to 55% cuts to its budget. As Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said last week, in a heated exchange with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, “In your view and President Donald Trump’s view, more than half the efforts to make sure Americans have clean air and clean water is just a waste.”
Environmental protection has not always been a partisan issue. The 1970 Clean Air Act and 1972 Clean Water Act were also signed into law by Nixon. The Herald’s editorial board wishes our politicians could and would return to those days, as what is good for the environment and human health is also good for communities and economies.
We’re fortunate that Colorado CD 3rd Rep. Jeff Hurd, as it applies to adversely affected small businesses and communities, recognizes this fact. In February, with Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, Hurd introduced the Gold King Mine Spill Compensation Act to make whole Four Corners communities affected by the 2015 Gold King Mine spill. There is every reason this bill should continue to advance and be approved for funding by Congress. If approved, this funding would come through the EPA.
The editorial board is concerned about the future of the agency, however, as it learns it is poised to cancel another 400 grants to the already 377 that have been canceled nationally, illegally, without justification. Grants to communities for things such as detecting and preventing lead poisoning in children, flood mitigation, and disaster resilience are at risk. And with the administration’s firing of the agency’s best scientists, its refusal to spend money Congress appropriated, and attempts, through deregulation, to weaken the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, our nation's public and environmental health is also at risk.
Sen. Schiff warned of increased cancers from polluted and contaminated air and water. “Americans can expect more lung, bladder, head, neck, and breast cancer, leukemia, pancreatic, kidney, skin, liver, testicular, and colorectal cancer. This will be your legacy,” he said.
There is no way the agency can continue to function with a 55% reduction in budget, a return to funding at 1980s levels, and continue to provide the same protections it has for the past fifty years. We urge Rep. Hurd to fulfill his duty to protect constituents and communities and stand up for the future of the E.P.A.
