This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Donald Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) poses a huge threat to not only the healthy and safety of Utah families, but also to the iconic public lands that make our state so special.
Scott Pruitt is a climate change denier whose record isn't pretty. He got caught working hand in glove with the oil industry, going so far as to send letters to the White House with his signature on Big Oil's stationery. If he leads the EPA, Utah should expect Pruitt to roll back safeguards put into place to protect our depleting water resources, reduce air pollution for children and families and support clean energy jobs across our state.
The Wasatch Front is already suffering from high rates of asthma and cancer. The community can't afford any increase in life-damaging pollution. But with someone who is actively hostile to enforcing clean air protections leading EPA, who will Utahns have to call on when polluters use their backyard as a dumping ground for smog and soot? Who can we count on to protect our air and water? Without cooperation from EPA, Utah won't have the tools we need to keep our families safe.
Just a few weeks ago, I visited Arches National Park and Dead Horse State Park and was shocked to see how dramatic the haze pollution there has become. I brought friends, hoping to show off the best of my state, only to find stunning views hid behind a veil of smog, distorting the beauty that sat before us. The pollution in our national parks has gotten so bad they might as well be in Shanghai.
Utah only recently learned that we, like neighboring states, would be protected from air pollution in our national parks by EPA's regional haze standard. Small business owners, pro skiers, health experts and other Utahns banded together to ask EPA to protect us from this view-ruining, health-damaging air pollution — and we won! But with Scott Pruitt as head of EPA, all our progress will be undone. Pruitt sued EPA to stop these very same clean air protections for national parks in Oklahoma. We can hardly expect him to defend our air if he is appointed EPA administrator.
Pruitt has also challenged common-sense regulations designed to protect basic health and safety, like limits on dangerous levels of mercury and arsenic. Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that poses a particularly high risk for pregnant mothers and young children. Utah's waterways are already notoriously polluted by toxic mercury, with 11 of our counties subject to fish consumption advisories due to high levels of mercury. Pruitt is leading the legal challenge to try and have this rule thrown out by the courts and allow even more mercury into our environment.
Having Pruitt in charge of EPA is like putting an arsonist in charge of fighting fires. If his nomination makes it through Congress, all our recent progress on air quality and water standards will be lost as he dismantles the infrastructure of EPA. We have everything to lose, and nothing to gain. Analysts agree that our coal industry is unlikely to revive regardless of what actions Trump or Pruitt take because of market realities in and outside the United States.
The people of Utah deserve an EPA administrator who will protect our air and water, enforce protections that keep our families and children safe from dangerous pollutants and defend bedrock environmental protections that save lives and ensure healthy communities.
Pruitt — who sued the EPA to undo critical safeguards on toxins and pollutants and accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash from the fossil fuel industry he would be charged with regulating at EPA — is not that person.
Lindsay Beebe is organizing representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign.