Let’s make a stand for our health

Say this for Scott Pruitt: He’s a model apparatchik in President Donald Trump’s alt-facts administration. Pruitt, the director of the Environmental Protection Agency, would have Americans believe that taking a meat ax to his agency’s budget and rolling back environmental regulations will actually protect their health. In a number of interviews, he’s contended that President Barack Obama needlessly bloated the EPA’s budget in a misdirected attempt to address global warming when Obama should have focused on core missions like cleaning up Superfund sites and protecting drinking water quality.

So in the white-hat self-image that Pruitt is presenting to Americans, he’s bravely steering the EPA back to what it’s supposed to be doing.

But true to much of what comes out of the Trump team, much of what Pruitt is saying is misleading at best and blatantly untrue at worst. Granted, Obama may not be the economic savior that some of his admirers have made him out to be, but Pruitt’s attacks on him over Superfund cleanup, to use one instance, are grossly unfair given that Congress didn’t give Obama enough funding to deal with the toxic sites.

Meanwhile, Pruitt and Trump have rolled back numerous environmental protections not just related to climate change but clean water, offshore drilling, coal exploration and more, all of which could have detrimental consequences on public health. They’ve removed scientists from EPA processes of analysis and grant-making, and have brought on political appointees with no science background.

They’re also proposing to slash the EPA budget by 31 percent and reduce its workforce by 25 percent. Some protectors. Pruitt’s message is propaganda, aimed at hiding an agenda of making it easier for the fossil fuel industry and other polluters to foul waters, destroy habitats and dirty the air in search of profits.

If it looks like an oil-soaked duck and wheezes like one, it’s an oilsoaked duck.

So with Congress now back in session and budget discussions on the horizon, the Sun today presents guest columns from a number of Nevada environmental advocates who are working to prevent Pruitt and the Trump team from damaging the state and eroding protections for the health of Nevadans.

We would also urge readers to call their congressional delegates and encourage them to oppose the EPA cuts. Contact information is as follows:

• Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., 702388-6605, https://www.heller. senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form

• Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., 702-388-5020, https:// www.cortezmasto.senate.gov/content/contact-senator

• Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., 702220-9823, https://titus.house.gov/ contact/email-me

• Rep. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., 702963-9500, https://rosen.house.gov/ contact/email

• Rep. Ruben Kihuen, D-Nev., 702-963-9360, https://kihuen. house.gov/contact/