Opinion
The MIA EPA
First it was the EPA, then it became the EA, no need for the “protection” word, now it’s just “A”, as in “Awww, you’re effin kidding me, right?
In January, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that those streams and wetlands that provide not only the backdrop for all that is America, but also are home to tens of thousands of species and provide the organic infrastructure for our food and water? Well, f*ck them. The EPA announced it would no longer protect them under the Clean Water Act, which has been the nation’s most successful anti-pollution legislation.
Trump’s EPA also could said it could not predict just how many miles of streams and acres of wetlands would lose their protection because they haven’t read the maps. I’m not sh*tting you.
Now six million miles of streams, about half of all streams in the US and 42 million acres of wetlands, again about half will be unprotected by the Clean Water Act.
But here’s the point. The streams and wetlands aren’t the only unprotected resources. Fresh water, already being threatened by rising sea levels, seems destined to be the currency of the future. And with the EPA no longer in the business of protection, the bank could soon be dry.