Scott Pruitt’s legacy in the EPA will live on

On Thursday, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt “resigned” under great pressure from nearly every side. The real question is not that he is gone, but what took so long? He was the subject of more than 12 separate investigations for ethics violations, yet President Donald Trump hung on for a very long time, unwilling to cut the cord. Why? Well, it seems that Trump is very much like his core supporters who pledge unwavering loyalty to him.

Trump totally liked the job Pruitt was doing at the EPA. And despite Pruitt’s ethical transgressions, Trump was hesitant to let him go.

It is fair to ask whether history will judge this period in the U.S. presidency as one more example of a time where people tolerated abhorrent words and deeds by their leader, as long as his policies were consistent with their own desires. The rest of us know that even if we like some of Trump’s agenda, the tradeoff is simply not worth it.

Ken Derow

Swarthmore, Pa.

It would defy reason to suggest that replacing EPA administrator Scott Pruitt with the climate change denying, coalapologist Andrew Wheeler will do anything but increase the amounts of dangerous pesticides in our foods and the levels of harmful air pollutants.

The only way to reverse this administration’s appalling march toward a more unhealthy, polluted and less-productive America, is for the majority of Americans — Republicans and Democrats, alike — to stand up against the president’s reckless war on the regulations that for decades have protected the long-term health of our environment and economy.

We know how to do that.

For generations, responsible presidents and congressional leaders have supported science-based measures that properly put public health before corporate profits, steadily improving the quality of the air and water we all depend on. Without that, there will be no balance at all.

Lori Ann Burd

Center for Biological Diversity Portland, Ore.

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