Today, the United States House of Representatives began debating the future of the Environmental Protection Agency (2:03 PM & 6:21 PM as reported by the New York Times) as part of the ongoing discussion of our budget and economic woes. The debate over funding for the EPA saddens me. The EPA was created in an era when our government understood that its most important role was to protect the American people from threats both foreign and domestic. With bipartisan support, President Nixon and the both houses of Congress signed into law one of our country's greatest human protection services, the Environmental Protection Agency. Without healthy and productive ecosystems, humanity's health will suffer.
Humans need clean water. Humans need clean air. Humans need clean food. Without healthy ecosystems, we - humans - will need to create systems to replace the natural capital and services that the ecosystems provide to us for free. Not to sound like a crackpot conspiracy theorist, but big business is attempting the largest market share and complete control over our basic abilities to find clean water, air, and food. Just take a look at the power grab for water: The Story of Bottled Water. Nothing would make industrial executives happier than to have use dependent on them water, a fundamental necessity. And if the House wins this budget debate, they will move to defund the one regulatory body set up to not only protect the environment but also humans from polluting industries.
On Friday, Mother Jones reported that the House GOP Moves to Gut the Clean Water Act. If the clean water act is gutted, our water will be at risk. We will not have save drinking water. We will not be able to drink from our own taps and wells. Industry will have freedom to use our rivers and watersheds for toxic waste removal.
Our budget and economic worries are serious. I agree that something must be done to lower United States debt, but to lower that debt by putting the health of every American at risk is shameful and unjust. Please help take action against United States House of Representatives by calling your Representative and telling him or her that if he or she does not act in favor of funding the EPA, she or he will lose his or her job. We can not sell the environment and thus our health to big business and toxic industry.
If you want to know who is leading the fight against the Clean Water act and the EPA, follow the money. Check out Maplight.org 's coverage of the votes: H.R. 2018 - Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011
Please, call now.
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