Originally Posted by Guest

While I understand the impetus behind most of the points made in the original post, I cannot agree with the complete elimination of the EPA. Yes, the EPA has gotten too powerful in some instances, but we are nearing a critical tipping point with regard to the environment. Even if we accept the premise that climate change is a natural occurrence, humans as rational, thinking beings, should take it upon ourselves to be responsible stewards of the environment. Dismantling air and water quality regulations is not only profoundly irresponsible, it is downright dangerous. A common tactic of those who disagree with environmental protection has been to simply deny the science behind the issue, but the fact is that the climate is changing, the air and water in the US at least are cleaner and healthier than they were when the EPA was established. Closing down the EPA and similar agencies and disavowing the scientific community will not change these facts. Further, it has been shown numerous times that strict environmental protection regulations have not detroyed the economy and cost jobs as the Trump deniers would have us believe, but have in fact resulted in improvements in the economies in states where the regs are the most restrictive (i.e., California). I spent more than 30 years as an environmental compliance specialist for local governments and not once in all that time did I hear of an industry closing down because of environmental requirements. In fact, may of the industries I worked with discovered that maintaining compliance with regulations resulted in their winning contracts with companies to which such compliance was an important factor.
Reversing almost fifty years of progress in environmental protection because a select group desires an unfettered climate in which to do business is a huge mistake and may not be undoable in the future. We need to think this through.

Originally Posted by Guest

Unfortunately they attract more of their ilk to TV, just like flies to a pile of dog poop.