Thursday, March 2, 2017

Republicans Introduce Bill to Dissolve the Environmental Protection Agency




On February 3rd, a Florida U.S. Representative, Matt Gaetz-R, introduce a bill that would dissolve the EPA entirely. He titled the bill “To Terminate the Environmental Protection Agency” The bill is published under H.R. 861. Three others republicans U.S. Representatives have co-sponsored the bill including: Rep Massie Thomas- Kentucky, Rep. Steven Palazzo- Mississippi, and Rep. Barry Loudermilk- Georgia [Snopes 2017]. I am opposed to this bill creation because it undermines my core values as wildlife professional. I was taught to protect the environment not destroy it.

 

The bill originated from the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee under the committee’s “Make the EPA Great Again” initiative [Huff 2017, Snopes 2017]. How is the committee supposed to “Make the EPA Great Again” when they want to get rid of it? If you look at who is on the committee, you wouldn’t be surprised. The chairman, Lamar Smith-Texas-R, has been a longtime opponent of the scientific community. Lamar Smith has also proposed bills limiting the EPA including the Secret Science Reform Act. The act would have kept the EPA from releasing its studies and recreating them [Ars 2017]. Other people that contribute to the committee’s action are lobbyists for oil, gas, and chemical companies, including Jeffery Holmstead and Kimberly White. Holmstead was also the assistant EPA administrator with the President George W. Bush administration [Huff 2017]. This evidence shows that the bill will not “Make the EPA Great Again.” The committee just wants to create the bill to benefit the oil, gas, and chemical companies. The bill would allow the companies to pollute the environment more easily.

 

Although most people think the EPA only deals with the environment, they are also involved with human health. Under the EPA, pesticides and asbestos are regulated. The EPA makes sure pesticides, such as chlorpyrifos, are used correctly. Chlorpyrifos have been found to be detrimental to human health, especially in children. We’ve all saw the commercials about asbestos and know how bad it can be for our health. Under the EPA, asbestos regulates where and how asbestos can be used. The EPA outlines how asbestos is not to be used at places where children frequent. This includes schools [EPA 2017].

 

As natural resource professional and sportsman, you should be alarmed because of laws that possible be not enforced, with the termination of the EPA.  Clean air and clean water are important and essential to a healthy environment and they could be in jeopardy with the termination of the EPA. The Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act are enforced under the EPA. The EPA enforces how pollutants can be disposed. Guidelines are created under Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act to decrease the amount pollutants being released into environment. If these two acts were not enforced, the environment could quickly become polluted. They protect the environment from pollutants that many companies create. Without the enforcement of the many of the acts, companies could potentially do whatever they want with their pollutants [EPA 2017].

 

Is it a coincidence that Rep. Matt Gaetz receives a lot of funding from big oil and gas companies? I think not. This conflict of interest gives Rep. Matt Gaetz a bias over oil and gas companies. He does want to lose the payments he receives from them. The North Florida Neighbors, one of Matt Gaetz’s donors, has received thousands of dollars from numerous oil and gas companies. This past year they received about $100,000 from Harness Oil and Gas. Much of that money went to Rep. Matt Gaetz’s campaign. Altogether the North Florida Neighbors spend $300,000 on various advertisement strategies for Rep. Matt Gaetz. It is no wonder he wants to dissolve the EPA.  His donors want free rein over what they do with their pollutants and he wants to keep getting his check sent to him [Politico 2016].

 

As of now, nothing has been written up for the bill, but between the creation of this bill and Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator, the EPA is in for a rough four years. Scott Pruitt was the attorney general of Oklahoma who has a reputation for attacking the EPA. He even has sued the EPA. Scott Pruitt has also been found to have ties to the fossil fuel energy sector. As the Oklahoma attorney general, Scott Pruitt allowed oil and gas companies, such as Devon Energy, to write letters to the EPA about regulations [Wash 2017]. After hearing about this I plan on contacting my local U.S. representative and you should too.

 

Literature Cited:

 

United States Environmental Protection Agency [EPA]. 2017. Laws and Regulations. <

https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations >. Accessed 1 March 2017.

 

Snopes [Snopes]. 2017. Florida Lawmaker’s Bill Would ‘Terminate’ Environmental Protection

            Agency. < http://www.snopes.com/2017/02/06/florida-lawmakers-bill-terminate-

 environmental-protection-agency/ >. Accessed 1 March 2017.

 

The Huffington Post [Huff]. 2017. Congress Asks Lobbyists Who Fought EPA How to Make it

              ‘Great Again’. < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/epa-house-science-

 committee_us_5898a983e4b0c1284f2718d5 >. Accessed 1 March 2017.

 

ArsTechnica [Ars]. 2017. House Science Committee holds hearing on “Making EPA Great

               Again”. < https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/02/house-science-committee-holds-

   hearing-on-making-epa-great-again/ >. Accessed 1 March 2017.

 

The Washington Post [Wash]. 2017. Thousands of emails detail EPA head’s close ties to fossil

              fuel industry. < https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-

 environment/wp/2017/02/22/oklahoma-attorney-generals-office-releases-7500-pages-of-

 emails-between-scott-pruitt-and-fossil-fuel-industry/?utm_term=.dd4c44679661 >.

 Accessed 1 March 2017.

 
Politico [Politico]. 2016. Super PAC backing Gaetz gets $100K boost from Houston oil

 company. < http://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2016/08/super-pac-
          
             backing-gaetz-gets-100-k-boost-from-houston-oil-company-104450 >. Accessed

            1 March 2017.

1 comment:

  1. I agree this bill should not be passed, the only thing it could possibly lead to is environmental problems. The representatives who support this bill all seem to be more interested in their own gain then aiding the environment, which does not bode well for the future of this country. Also, as you mentioned the EPA does not just aid in the protection of the environment, it also helps to protect human health. If the EPA is dissolved what could that mean for human health. Will there be less strict regulations on where and how pesticides can be applied, possibly leading to illness, will pollution levels increase, we don’t know the answers to these and many other questions but I hope that we never have to learn them.

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