Knoxville TN Newspaper Notices That Gutting EPA Would Be A Bad Thing, Would Not Enhance Freedumb
EDIT
After years of striving, Knoxville and the surrounding area are finally in compliance with federal standards for ground-level ozone and a decision on compliance with fine particulate matter standards is pending. Federal limits on air pollution forced the Tennessee Valley Authority to install pollution control systems at its coal-fired power plants, and tailpipe emissions limits on vehicles have combined to clean the air. This is of enormous benefit to East Tennesseans who suffer with breathing problems such as asthma.
The regulations have neither crippled the local economy nor driven energy prices to astronomical levels.
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokesman Eric Ward recently told the USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee that federal dollars are “critical for the funding of our technical program staffing.” Water and wastewater infrastructure improvements, such as a $6 million water intake project in Oak Ridge, would be put at risk. Funds for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program accounted for 75 percent of the $48 million TDEC got from the EPA in 2016, Ward said.
Environmental cleanup efforts could suffer as well. EPA funding goes toward remediating brownfields and superfund sites, which pose health, safety and environmental risks to Tennesseans. Reuters has reported the draft budget would slash the brownfield cleanup program by 42 percent.
EDIT
http://www.knoxnews.com/story/opinion/editorials/2017/03/15/editorial-gutting-epa-would-harmful-et/99173596/