Environment needs to be a priority

Editor, OBSERVER

Getting outdoors and experiencing nature is one of the most highly recommended methods of keeping safe and sane in these times of social isolation.

Just when we need clean fresh air the most, the Trump administration has announced it will be taking a break from enforcing legally mandated public health and environmental protection nationwide. This administration is letting oil refineries, chemical plants and other industrial polluters roll back EPA regulations that are meant to protect citizens.

Never before has the EPA just given up and relinquished its obligations to enforce this country’s landmark environmental laws. Allowing the release of toxic air pollutants that exacerbate asthma, breathing difficulty and cardiovascular problems in the midst of a virus that can cause respiratory failure is immoral. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler must reverse the course the Trump administration has taken and begin working too keep our environment clean.

The XLX Pipeline has been allowed to ramp up its intrusion through Standing Rock Reservation. Its man camps are a direct threat to tribal health.

These measures show the true side of the current administration which is money and power not American health and values.

DIANE CLARK,

Fredonia