The Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the Federal government of the United States which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. President Trump's administration has proposed major cuts to the funding of the EPA and there will be some huge effects because of it. It will decrease spending to $5.7 billion from $8.1 billion, and eliminate a quarter of the agency’s 15,000 jobs. These cuts will affect multiple aspects of our society. Climate protection, federal vehicle and fuel standards, water system regulation and criminal enforcement of environmental violators will all be affected negatively. All of these listed duties of the EPA are being hindered by the Trump administration. Of all the federal agencies in the United States the EPA is one of the most important and doesn't deserve to lose a portion of it's funding.
Links:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/10/climate/trump-epa-budget-cuts.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/31/new-epa-documents-reveal-even-deeper-proposed-cuts-to-staff-and-programs/?utm_term=.0ee5d3173033
1 comment:
I agree. The EPA is probably the most important agency to fund. While national security is far from the top of my priority list in the first place, re-allocating our money to a super-sized defense budget is pointless if we choose to seal our fate as a planet in exchange. Additionally, this decision will likely bring financial and humanitarian consequences as flooding and other climate change-related disasters such as increased infectious disease prevalence increase.
Climate change and infectious disease: http://www.chgeharvard.org/topic/climate-change-and-infectious-disease
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