Florence worsened by climate change

The EPA rollback mentioned in The Baltimore Sun editorial on Hurricane Florence is horrifying (“Hurricane Florence may reshape the climate change debate,” Sept. 11). Last year, the media exploded after thousands of people dealt with the impacts of hurricanes Irma and Harvey. Unprecedented numbers of people called for getting off fossil fuels in the name of thwarting worse and more drastic climate catastrophes. Yet, here we are, almost exactly one year later on the dot, and we’re struggling with the same crises accompanied by even worse energy policy.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to roll back regulations on methane leaks is foreboding at its best and detrimental to our nation’s and world’s environmental health at worst. I think The Sun is hitting the nail on the head by charging President Donald Trump and his industry cronies with exacerbating climate change and worsening storms like Florence. In fact, I think we should take it a step farther and take a meaningful look at how much our state and local elected officials have done and are doing to mitigate climate change.

In its next session, the Maryland General Assembly can vote to move to 100 percent renewable energy, just as California’s legislature did this summer. This sort of forward-thinking, uncompromising climate legislation is what our state and our country need right now. As our federal government continues to disappoint us and wreak havoc on our environment, it’s up to our state officials to take on climate change to protect public health, low-income communities that are being hit the hardest by climate disasters and our environment.