Release date: 5/10/2019
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today called on the U.S. Congress to reject “deep and punishing” cuts that the Trump administration has proposed for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In its Fiscal Year 2020 budget proposal to Congress, the administration has proposed cutting EPA’s budget by $2.8 billion – 31 percent – from current levels. The new budget includes cuts of $364 million to improving air quality, $1.7 billion to providing for clean and safe water, $278 million for revitalizing land and preventing contamination, and $15 million for ensuring the safety of chemicals in the marketplace.
“We in North Carolina have seen firsthand how important it is to have federal and state partnership in protecting our environment,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “A strong EPA ensures that the air we breathe and the water we drink are clean.”
In a letter sent today to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, the coalition writes that the Trump administration’s proposed budget would “cripple, if not break” the successful partnership that has existed between EPA and state and local governments for almost a half century. Further, the coalition charges that cuts of the magnitude proposed would take “our nation back to a time when air and water pollution was widespread, contaminated sites routinely imperiled the health of communities, and unregulated toxic chemicals in food, water, and the environment were a relentless danger to the safety of Americans.”
North Carolina relies on partnership with the EPA for rulemaking and enforcement to resolve important public health issues like water quality after Duke Energy’s coal ash spill and air and water quality after Chemours’ GenX emissions.
Attorney General Stein is joined in writing this letter by the Attorneys General of New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
A copy of the letter can be found here.
Contact:
Laura Brewer (919) 716-6484
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