Opinion/Letter: Anti-environmental bill is appalling.
Congressman Tom Garrett once again has failed his constituents, this time by showing disdain for the environment in which we live.
I recently wrote him a letter, asking that he oppose HR 861 and any other actions that would compromise EPA’s mission.
HR 861 is one sentence long: “The Environmental Protection Agency shall terminate on December 31, 2018.” His response, in part, was: “I do not believe that onerous regulations put out by the EPA are the most effective way to ensure a prosperous future for the environment, but instead believe that it should be delegated by the states and other localities that know the area around them best.
Localizing environmental policies allows everyone to be a good steward of the area closest to them.” We tried that.
It didn’t work.
That’s why EPA was created in the first place.
State and local governments did not, or would not, exercise the political will to keep rivers from catching fire, forests from dying from acid rain, children from suffering permanent nervous system damage due to poisoning from lead in gasoline, house paint and drinking water.
Without national standards, there could be 50 or more different sets of drinking water standards, air quality standards for cities, hazardous waste disposal rules.
Economic turmoil would ensue if each state could decide which pesticides can be used on which crops or which chemicals can be used in the manufacture of virtually every product we use in our daily lives.