To the Editor:

If there is one government agency that every single American should support, it is the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Surely we all want access to clean air, land and water for ourselves and our families.

The mission of the US EPA is to protect human health and the environment.

They do this by ensuring Americans have clean air, land and water;

Reducing environmental risks based on the best available scientific information; Administering/enforcing federal laws fairly and effectively as Congress intended.

Overseeing clean up of contaminated lands and toxic sites by those responsible.

Reviewing chemicals in the marketplace for safety.

In order to accomplish this mission, the EPA must be properly resourced / funded. Resourced to prevent environmental disasters as much as they can, as well as act quickly, efficiently and effectively when they do. Why? Because once the event has happened, it is hugely more expensive and resource intensive to clean it all up. Just think Flint, Michigan Water Crisis.

If you are unfamiliar with such matters as toxic contamination, an example is the DuPont PFOA scandal and its impact on the Parkersburg WV community. Watch the 2019 Netflix movie Dark Waters. It is well made and disturbing.

Closer to home, we have our beautiful Housatonic River and the wonderful fishing opportunities it provides. Unfortunately, many years of prolonged contamination of the river took place up until the mid 20th Century (PCB discharges from the GE plant at Pittsfield, Mass. as well as mercury from the hat / felting industry in Danbury). Despite heavy EPA involvement and some remediation efforts, water, sediments and, of course, fish continue to contain different levels of these toxic materials…

Not only is it important to have sufficient resources, it is also important to have the right kind of resources: seasoned, well-qualified scientific and technical experts, able to properly understand a wide variety of environmental circumstances and provide high quality responses to (potential) issues. Relevant scientific expertise and experience cannot be created overnight.

Moreover, we want our best and brightest individuals to be motivated to work at the EPA — not the opposite. Job insecurity and toxic work environments will only push these people away and into the better-paying private sector.

Workplace culture is, of course, set by Senior Leadership. In our view, the last thing the EPA needs is a repeat of the Scott Pruitt years, which ended in his resignation under scrutiny from assorted ethics and management scandals. The question now, is whether newly-confirmed Administrator Lee Zeldin has the courage to maintain EPA Independence, stand up the Big Oil juggernaut and do what is right to preserve and improve the environment for ALL Americans, prioritizing public interest over the interests of regulated industries ?

Time will tell … but we can and should hold him accountable.

Frank B. Gardner

Neil P. Randle

Sandy Hook