Ellison: Silence the man with the Sharpie

Tuesday, April 22 is the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, which inspired bipartisan legislation for planetary health. Trump, ham-fistedly wielding his black Sharpie, is eliminating those regulations in support of big business interests for whom profits are key.

I grew up near Buffalo, New York when Lake Erie was a toxic waste dump for the steel and chemical industries. Love Canal was the site of illegal dumping of chemical waste. Lakes in the Adirondacks were devoid of life due to rain laden with acid deposition. Earth Day offered a glimmer of hope that we could, if we wanted, right some of these wrongs using the power of the federal government to create legislation holding polluters accountable placing environmental quality ahead of profits.

In a series of bipartisan actions in 1970 and 1972 Congress created the US Environmental Protection Agency and passed the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water Act. This legislation is a cornerstone of environmental protection; we have all reaped the benefits. By passing these laws and creating these agencies Congress confirmed that the job of the Federal Government included protecting us and our planet from the rapacious greed of corporations intent on making profits at the expense of healthy ecosystems.

Trump has been systematically hollowing out the agencies that were created by Congress to protect our environment. He has rescinded parts of the Clean Air and Water Acts. The EPA is in his crosshairs. NOAA’s climate change research programs have been defunded. These actions will leave a legacy of environmental destruction that will haunt future generations.

It is time for Congress and all Americans to stand up and fight for what is right. On this Earth Day call your representatives and remind them that they should be speaking out on behalf of the planet. Congress works for us. Environmental quality is a bipartisan issue that affects every living creature on the planet. Don’t let one man with a Sharpie set environmental protection back 55 years!

Susy Ellison

Carbondale