We urge Sen. Susan Collins to vote against Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Kavanaugh’s environmental record is clear – and it’s not good for clean air and water.

It is not good for our children who suffer from asthma, as he’s unlikely to support regulating pollution that crosses state lines. It’s not good for maintaining the progress we’ve made bringing back species like bald eagles from the brink of extinction. It won’t be good for sustaining the Gulf of Maine – now known to be among the fastest-warming bodies of water on the planet. Kavanaugh’s rulings show a steady willingness to bend his judicial philosophy to benefit polluters. In major cases and minor, Kavanaugh finds a way to rule against environmental regulations.

What’s at stake for Maine? Judge Kavanaugh would provide the fifth vote to deprive thousands of Maine’s small streams of the protections of the Clean Water Act. Polluters would no longer have to obtain a permit before contaminating – or even filling in – small streams that provide drinking water to thousands and habitat for our prized brook trout.

We know a great deal more than we did in 1972, when the Clean Water Act was passed. We have a better understanding of the importance of protecting headwater streams. We also have a better understanding of how toxic chemicals bioaccumulate and persist. We know that our changing weather patterns pose risks to Maine’s emergency services, and to our natural resource-based businesses – to farmers and fishermen, innkeepers, brewers and oyster growers. From ticks to green crabs, the changing climate is making life harder.

We urge Sen. Collins to take a close look at Kavanaugh’s record, examine his rulings and consider the impact his lifetime appointment would have on Maine. He should not be confirmed.

Landis Hudson

executive director, Maine Rivers

Yarmouth