Vote for clean water and
air in the 2020 election
Prior to 1970, air and water pollution posed a danger to health in our country. Then the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts were put into place, with the EPA in charge of implementation. Since then there has been steady progress in lessening the danger of air and water pollution by establishing regulations on industries causing that pollution.
We are safer here in West Virginia and elsewhere as a result of the regulations, which form the basis of how industries must protect our environment.
A recent article in the New York Times pointed out that the Trump Administration has or is in the process of repealing 85 environmental rules.
Some of the rollbacks will remove rules that control methane emissions from gas wells, and others that loosen restrictions on toxic emissions by industrial polluters. The Trump administration is working to remove over 20 rules that regulate the drilling industry, rules that were established to protect our air and water quality.
Another 12 rules were rolled back that protect us from pollution due to large scale construction and infrastructure projects. Nine rules dealt with protection of wildlife and others allowed greater pollution of our streams by coal operations and natural gas drilling, On the positive side, 10 of the changed rules were reinstated by legal challenges.
In total, these efforts by Trump administration will negatively affect our air and water quality and endanger wildlife and human health.
Here in our state the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) depends on rules established by the EPA, so the removal of these protections will affect you and your children.
According to a recent report prepared by New York University Law School’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, “the Trump administration’s environmental rollbacks could significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions and lead to thousands of extra deaths from poor air quality every year.”
So, as we move into 2020, I implore voters to consider how important clean air and water is to our lives. When you vote, keep the well-being of your loved ones in mind.
Larry Harris
DEP Public Advisory Council
Morgantown
