Protect EPA
Protect EPA?
We shouldn’t have to say it, or do it. EPA – the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – is supposed to protect us.
Yet, the EPA is under siege. And if we don’t help protect it, it won’t be around to protect us.
The threats EPA faces is real.
♦ The new Administrator of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, has a long track record of suing EPA and trying to overturn the very laws he is now supposed to enforce. And as thousands of his newly released private emails show, he’d rather protect oil and gas polluters than you or me. These are the same industries that are working to undercut our country’s efforts to stop climate change, keep our air safe to breathe, and our water safe to drink.
♦ Members of Congress openly oppose EPA doing its job – so much so that Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida has introduced a bill to terminate the EPA as of December 31, 2018.
♦ President Trump continues to attack EPA and the environmental laws and regulations it’s supposed to oversee. Though he’s only been in office for a month, already he has allowed coal companies to delay cleaning up their polluted mining sites. He has given mining companies permission to dump their toxic waste into our streams and rivers. He has also okayed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, despite well-documented concerns about the potential for the pipeline to leak and pollute drinking water.
Read More: Exploding Coal Mines, Crashing Oil Tankers Make Clear the Need for New, Clean Energy
In short, Pres. Trump is happily giving toxic industries permission to pollute your water, your air, and your planet, your health — and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — be damned.
That’s just wrong.
It’s wrong to pollute our drinking water with toxic chemicals that could give us cancer.
It’s wrong to pollute our air with toxic emissions that give us asthma and respiratory failure.
It’s wrong not to do everything possible to stop climate change.
It’s wrong to pollute the planet, destroying Nature and the natural systems that sustain our lives, and the biological systems we need to thrive.
And it’s wrong to undercut the federal agency that’s been designated to keep us safe.
EPA’s stated purpose is to ensure that:
all Americans are protected from significant risks to human health and the environment where they live, learn and work;
national efforts to reduce environmental risk are based on the best available scientific information;
federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and effectively;
environmental protection is an integral consideration in U.S. policies concerning natural resources, human health, economic growth, energy, transportation, agriculture, industry, and international trade, and these factors are similarly considered in establishing environmental policy;
the United States plays a leadership role in working with other nations to protect the global environment.
Thanks to EPA, the environment has gotten cleaner. Our air has gotten healthier.
Take a look at these photos pulled together by MomsCleanAirForce.org. They document how polluted our air was before the Clean Air Act was passed, when industries “treated our skies and water as cesspools.”
Does anyone really want to go back to a time like this? I sure don’t. And I can’t imagine you do, either.
That’s why we need to stand up for EPA: to protect the agency that’s been protecting us since it was created in 1970 – by a Republican president, no less.
CONTACT YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS
URGE THEM TO PROTECT EPA
Here’s what you can do:
First and foremost, contact your two U.S. Senators and your Representative in Congress. Let them know you support keeping a strong EPA working on our behalf to fulfill its mission to protect the environment and human health.
Find addresses for the President, Members of the U.S. Congress, state governors, state legislators, U.S. mayors and county executives all at USA.gov.
Second, attend town hall meetings with your Senators and Representative. Take friends and family with you. Make signs. Talk to the media. Make sure your elected officials know that you want them to protect EPA.
Check their website or phone their office to find out when they have a town hall scheduled. Or, ask when they’ll be back in their district and what their office hours are for meeting with constituents.
Want to see what it looks like to successfully use town halls to pressure Senators? Paige Wolf at SpitThatOutTheBook.com has documented her success organizing folks to hold Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) accountable. If she can do it, so can you!
We need the EPA.
But if we want it, we need to protect it.
Whether your Members of Congress are Democrats or Republicans, tell them today that if they want to protect their jobs, you expect them to protect the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
