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GUEST OPINION

The Environmental Protection Agency’s existence is on the line, and it’s time to send your Representative and Senators a message to defend the EPA.

By Melinda Pierce – Sierra Club

The signs are clear: On Friday, Congress introduced a bill to to “terminate” the EPA, Trump has signed an executive order requiring that for every one new Federal regulation, two must be revoked, and he banned EPA employees from “providing updates on social media or to reporters.”

People with close ties to Big Oil and Dirty Coal are being put into high level positions at every turn — the vote for big polluters’ favorite lawyer, Scott Pruitt, as EPA Administrator is on the horizon this week or next. And leaked Trump Administration documents show their plans to destroy the EPA.

This bill is just the next step to fulfill Trump’s campaign promise to “eliminate” the EPA.

Call to action

Send Congress a message that you oppose any attempt to eliminate the EPA or hurt their ability to protect our environment.

If the EPA were to be eliminated, polluters would be unchecked, and even programs that are popular in red states, like Superfund cleanups, would go away.

Our air and water would be largely unprotected, and more disasters like the Flint water crisis would undoubtedly follow. Polluters would have a field day, and climate change would continue unabated.

The good news is, we’re fighting back. People have already hit the streets against this radical agenda– like earlier today in Chicago when hundreds of EPA employees and Sierra Club members and supporters showed their resistance to any attempt to curb EPA’s authority or ability to protect us.

Join them by sending a message to your Representative and Senators to oppose this and any other attempt to eliminate the EPA.

Let us protect the EPA and our environment!

> Melinda Pierce is the legislative director of the Sierra Club.