Communication Group Messaging | Norwin Area Democrat

WEEKLY MESSAGES TO OUR REPRESENTATIVES

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Messages To Members of Congress and Government Officials
April 8-14

The EPA

Background:

Air and water pollution from manufacturing and the build out of the natural gas fracking industry is widespread in Westmoreland County. How are we impacted?

• Methane and other air pollutants are released by active and abandoned gas wells

• Local landfills accept fracking waste with heavy metals and radioactive materials that leach into waterways that supply drinking water to many communities

• The Tenaska Power plant in South Huntington has been operating without an air permit since it opened

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) mission is to safe guard human health and the environment from exposure to harmful pollutants and protect the nation and the world from the effects of climate change. Congress passes laws to protect citizens and the environment and the EPA develops and enforces the regulations that are written into law by Congress. Lee Zelden, the new EPA administrator, wants to rollback regulations that would reverse decades of environmental progress and make significant cuts to research. Congress has the power to stop this.

What impact will this have?

Zelden and the Trump administration want to:

• Reduce the EPA budget by 65% or more which will shrink the workforce and cause enforcement of regulations to be reduced

• Roll back environmental regulations that would reverse decades of environmental progress

• Cut more than 1,100 scientists working on research that ensures decisions are based on science when making regulatory decisions. We can’t trust corporations or industry to set their own pollution limits and monitoring.

• Terminate or freeze grants worth $13 million to monitor air pollution, plant trees and protect communities from extreme heat

• Dismantle the Office of Environmental Justice that protects poor and disadvantaged communities from excessive pollution

• Defund the budget to cleanup polluted superfund sites

• Roll back regulations on the oil and gas industry including regulations on fracking wastewater and methane air pollution that will directly impact Westmoreland County

• Diminish the efforts to mitigate greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the major cause of climate change

Message TO Your Senators and Representative:

Urge your Senator and Representative to block Zelden from defunding the EPA and their vital work to protect our health and the environment. If you can, make it personal. Have you or your family been impacted by pollution from the fracking industry or other pollution causing industries? What health effects have your experienced? Has your fresh water source been polluted?

Thanks for doing this important work.

Senate

John Fetterman

(412) 803-3501

(202) 224-4254

Contact - U.S. Senator John Fetterman

Dave McCormick

(412) 803-7370

(202) 224-6324

CONTACT - Senator Dave McCormick

House of Representatives

Summer Lee