The following letter to the editor was published in The Poughkeepsie Journal on December 21, 2018 and was written by Caroline Fenner, member of Mothers Out Front.

Demand Washington politicians fund the EPA

Before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970, we lived in a very different world where skies were perpetually smoggy and chemical byproducts were routinely dumped into waterways from which people obtained their drinking water. In 1970, the EPA was established under the Nixon administration to enforce environmental protection standards. Shortly after, federal laws were passed to protect us from unregulated emissions to keep our water and air safe for our children and for generations to come.

Now, the EPA is under attack by the Trump administration and their intention seems to be to dismantle the EPA for the sake of corporate profiteers. Laws like the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Rule were designed to keep us healthy. The Endangered Species Act protects wildlife and our country’s great wild places. Proposed rollbacks on many of the protections that the EPA was designed to preserve – nearly 50 years ago – are critical to all of us.

Without exaggeration, our communities are at risk and our children’s future is at stake. That’s why we must all stand together and tell the politicians in Washington to save the EPA. Tell your federal representatives to fully fund the EPA in 2019 and keep our children and our ecosystems safe!

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