Recently, the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee had an oversight hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt claims it is a priority for him, but our senators and communities don’t have trouble deciphering his real priority, which is to protect the dirty energy industry at the expense of the health of our planet.
In addition to Pruitt’s far-reaching budget cuts to the EPA, which would cripple its ability to protect public health, skeptics say his plan for Superfund sites relies entirely on quick fixes while giving polluters a free pass.
Destroying our public health and climate protections does nothing to help the 53 million Americans living within 3 miles of a Superfund site, and it is absolutely disastrous for the nearly 11 million Americans with asthma who live in counties that consistently fail air quality standards.
Pruitt’s agenda is completely translucent, from his plan to slash funding for Superfund cleanup activities to his attempts to hamstring clean air and climate protections, and we cannot let him rig the system for corporate polluters at the expense of public health.
Alex Benjamin
Portland
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