Happy birthday

This year marks the 50th birthday of the Environmental Protection Agency. With rising sea levels and climate change, the EPA is more important than ever before. Its task is to ensure that public health and the environment are protected.

The effects of rising sea levels and storm severity are vast. In Hampton Roads alone we are seeing flooding and damage like we have never seen before. Beaches must constantly be replenished with sand. As storm severity increases, lives and property are destroyed. Any offshore drilling rigs would only be in the path of battering storms, subject to oil spills that would ruin our local economy, marine life, and beautiful coastline.

The way to slow the destruction is change. This includes supporting a shift from toxic fossil fuels that destroy the air we breathe to environmentally friendly forms of energy. Dominion Energy is doing its part in converting to solar and wind power for cleaner air and water here. The automobile industry is mass producing vehicles with stricter emission controls. All industries must be held accountable and adhere to regulations that help protect our water and air, and that is the task of EPA.

President-elect Joe Biden included the environment as a major platform in his campaign speeches, committing to spend $2 trillion toward clean energy infrastructure over the next four years, in addition to rejoining the global effort to clean up the environment. It is the responsibility of our EPA to enforce industrial regulations to improve the changing world.

Sandra Wilson, Portsmouth