ATLANTA, GA—EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt was in Georgia today with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue for a “Back to Basics Tour,” in the wake of Pruitt’s decision to get rid of the federal Clean Water Rule—a bedrock protection against dangerous pollution contaminating America’s waterways and drinking water supplies.
This short-sighted, horrible decision once again puts polluters’ profits above Georgia’s public health.
Because of the Clean Water Rule, the EPA has been able to hold polluters accountable when they dump toxic chemicals into Georgia waterways. And there have been far too many examples: in 2016, the Apollo Technologies chemical spill in Smyrna sent 2,300 gallons of carburetor cleaner into a creek; the Colonial Pipeline had to pay a $34 million fine for diesel, gasoline and kerosene spills in several states, including Georgia; and recently, Hercules, Inc. has poured toxic, carcinogenic pesticides into Brunswick properties and waterways, and residents are demanding it be cleaned up instead of covered up.
But, thanks to Pruitt, protection for our waters is on the way out—and it’s just the latest in a record-setting string of rollbacks to environmental protections pushed by him and the Trump Administration.
Since his appointment in February, Pruitt has set out to gut or remove more than 30 environmental protections. He’s shredding climate change regulations, delaying rules requiring fossil fuel companies to rein methane leaks and greenhouse gases, and reversed a ban on the use of a pesticide the EPA had deemed dangerous to children's health.
Meanwhile, the Trump Administration is proposing an overall 31 percent cut to the EPA’s already cash-strapped budget. Georgia’s total environmental agency budget is about $250 million, and 19 percent of that comes from federal funds.
In response to today’s visit, Ted Terry, director of the Sierra Club’s Georgia chapter, released the following statement:
“I hope Adminstrator Pruitt got a good look at our beautiful Georgia landscape today so he can see what will be destroyed as he trashes our air and water protections to make corporate polluters even richer at the expense of American families and children.
“We should always be able to count on clean water to drink, fish and swim in without worrying about being poisoned by arsenic and mercury, thanks to his heinous rollbacks.
“But despite everything he does, we’ll continue to mobilize and fight his breach of duty to protect our public health and environment, every step of the way.”