March 26, 2018
By John Kennedy –
For more than 30 years, I was a proud employee of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Pacific Southwest regional office in San Francisco. My job was to help develop systems to protect clean air and mitigate toxic contamination. I’m particularly grateful for the work I did on emergency response measures that set up monitoring and reporting systems to inform the public of the impacts of disasters such as wildfires on air quality.
My greatest reward came from working with the women and men at EPA. Their service, professionalism and dedication to clean up our air, water and land, and to protect the public’s health, were an inspiration that provided motivation throughout my career to do my best as a public servant.
My personal connection to the EPA and appreciation for its mission make it especially disheartening to see the level of vilification and animosity aimed at the agency since the dawn of the Trump administration. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is determined to undermine the EPA’s ability to regulate pollution and conduct scientific research. Instead, he’s focusing on boosting industry profits.
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is “to protect human health and the environment.” Disgraced EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt tried his best to undermine this vital mission by choosing to slash critical health protections and let corporate polluters off the hook. Now that Pruitt’s been booted, we need an EPA administrator dedicated to undoing his toxic agenda and restoring the agency to its core mission. Progress is possible and necessary – but another corporate crony or climate skeptic will not get us there.
Scott Pruitt is gone, but the fight is just beginning. We need an EPA administrator who puts our health and environment first, period. Any alternative is unacceptable.
