After wildfires destroyed Maui in 2023, EPA emergency workers worked with people on the ground to minimize residents’ exposure to dangerous air. After train derailments in East Palestine, Ohio, EPA monitored polluted air, water and soil on site, managed cleaning and put the railway company Norfolk Southern responsible for the illegal release of pollutants and hazardous substances. When states and cities suffer from floods, wildfires and leak disasters, they rely on the EPA to act quickly to mitigate harm to humanity, while small businesses and local tourism can recover quickly.
Much of the EPA’s work took place behind the scenes, just like one of its law enforcement teams raided a warehouse full of tagged oil barrels in Colorado that had been prepared for landfills and found that they contained nuclear waste. When acid rain pollutes forests and water throughout the Northeast, EPA staff finds sources and reduces pollution. Asbestos, lead and copper in water were not found before agent scientists tested it. Without this department of administration, most of these problems will never be resolved. Threats like this will recur, but if Mr. Trump is brave enough to put the institution timidly, then no one will intervene.
The vacuum first led to the creation of the EPA – in 1970, President Richard Nixon. In the years that followed, the agency has implemented major legislation passed by Congress to clear our land, water and air. Between 1970 and 2019, the EPA reduced emissions of common air pollutants by 77%, while private sector work grew by 223%, and our GDP grew by nearly 300%. An analysis of the Clean Air Act estimates that many of its benefits, such as premature birth, heart attacks, emergency medical visits, and lost schools and workdays, cost more than 30 to 1.
EPA does not work in isolation. Each year, more than $4 billion, accounting for about 40% of the agency’s funding, is used in states, local governments, tribal states and other entities. Governments should not interfere with these long-standing partnerships. Abandoning them will have a ripple effect on businesses that clean up pollution and slow down communities committed to enhancing grid reliability and investing in clean energy. This will undermine our ability to use non-contaminated, replace lead pipes, prevent “everything chemicals” from entering our drinking water, address the most polluted land in our country and concentrate resources in the communities that need it most.
