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A strong EPA protects us

After all that has happened in the state of West Virginia with the water for 300,000 people, you would think our elected officials would want more regulation. As reported in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel, they expressed annoyance that the Supreme Court upheld the EPA ruling that acted within its power to veto a permit on mountaintop mining by the Spruce Mine Co. U.S. Representative Capito is going to introduce legislation to end the EPA power so she can protect jobs. Sen. Joe Manchin said that project would have created about 200 jobs. Is that all? I think that more jobs could be created other ways than coal.

Other bills have been introduced in the House of Representatives to weaken EPA regulation of coal ash, which contains dangerous pollutants such as arsenic, lead, mercury, etc., which can have a huge impact on the health of residents. Why do we have more people with breathing problems and more cancer, strokes and heart disease?

I know change is hard. But if we want to leave a decent earth for the grandkids than we need to stop carbon emissions and permitting companies to dump their residue in the people’s waterways. I think that many jobs could be created if more attention were given to wind and solar power in our state. I read somewhere that a solar company in West Virginia is going to work with Best Buy so that people can lease solar panels for their homes and the company will properly install the panels and the hook up to the grid. Mountain View Solar Company located in Berkeley Springs, does commercial, residential and agricultural. When I checked out their web site, I was fascinated by the fact that they had done one Habitat house. Wouldn’t that be great if solar energy could be installed when all the Habitat houses are built?

Our state is not alone with this problem of contamination of water and pollution of air. We know there are leaks of pipe lines in Michigan, Ohio, Arkansas, North Carolina, etc. Then we have the megafarms that want to raise thousand of animals without any regulations to protect water and air.

We cannot live without safe drinking water and clean air. We need a strong EPA.

Margaret Meeker

Williamstown

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