ACT NOW: Tell Congress Reject this #DirtyBudget

Congress has less than one week to fund the government. Republican politicians have put forth a proposal that would put families and children at risk just to give handouts to corporations, millionaires, and billionaires. We can’t let this happen!

They are proposing a dirty budget that would gut clean air and water protections, and toxic pollution clean-up programs that keep our kids from getting sick. This shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It’s basic human rights. Congress needs to hear from people like you who believe that protecting people’s health is more important than helping the rich get richer.

Can we count on you to speak up? Tell your representatives that clean air and water, a safe environment, and our kids’ health is NON-negotiable. Vote NO on the dirty budget. Call 202-335-1787 Now!

Time is running out for your voice to be heard. On Friday, December 22nd, the House is scheduled to vote on on a budget that would take funding away from critical agencies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Since day one, the Trump Administration has tried to rollback or overturn more than 50 environmental programs. Cutting funding for the U.S. EPA is by far, the fastest way to stop many of these programs in their tracks.

Please call your member of Congress today and let them know how important it is to fund the U.S. EPA. We need to hold the agency accountable to doing its job, not give Trump-appointee Scott Pruitt an easy excuse.

It’s time Congress work together to pass a budget that protects the air our kids breathe, the water they drink, and the future we’ve promised for generations to come. It’s not too much to ask.

Call 202-335-1787 now to tell your representatives to vote NO on the dirty budget.

- Kerene Tayloe, Green for All

Days Left to Save the EPA

Contact your members of Congress now! 

We're at the home stretch. Congress is fast-approaching Friday’s funding deadline, and they have a choice to make: Pass legislation that decimates the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget; or compromise (and avoid a government shutdown) by extending current funding levels until a better budget is proposed.

We can’t let the budget pass as it stands right now—because it’s a clear attempt by the Trump Administration to hobble the EPA, leaving only (as the President himself put it) “little tidbits” of the agency whose sole purpose is to protect Americans’ health and safety.

We deserve strong protections from the pollution that puts us at risk. Use our easy tool (link below) to call your Senators today, and demand that they protect the EPA—and oppose the bad budget bill.

This is a fight we can win. Because when the President proposed his budget, cuts to the EPA were so outrageous that even members of his own party spoke out against them.

Here’s what President Trump is pushing to cut:

*Clean water: The budget would eliminate funding to mitigate runoff pollution from roads, parking lots, and farm fields. Grants that protect water and soil from tanks that leak chemicals would disappear. And water pollution control grants and state public water system supervision would be slashed by nearly a third.

*Clean air: EPA grants for local air quality monitoring would also be cut by a third—putting Americans’ health directly at risk. These are the grants that allow your local officials to keep track of whether or not the air you and your loved ones are breathing is safe—and to warn children and the elderly to stay inside when it’s too dangerous to breathe outside.

*Climate action: President Trump’s budget would eliminate basically all funding for EPA’s work on climate—including the Clean Power Plan, international climate programs, and eviscerating all climate research.

- Heather Shelby, Action Network Manager

Use this link to be connected with your members of Congress.

The link above forwarded me to Sen. McCain's office - where they encouraged me to leave a message on his website (see link below.) I left a message in both places.

https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form

Here is my personalized message for inspiration...

Dear Senator McCain,

Please, don't let the budget pass as it stands right now—because it’s a clear attempt by the Trump Administration to hobble the EPA - an agency whose sole purpose is to protect Americans’ health and safety.

Here in Tucson we have annual flood damage from monsoon storms. We rely on funds from the EPA to fix our roads and underpasses.The budget would eliminate funding to mitigate runoff pollution from roads, parking lots, and farm fields.

Without the EPA, we would not have found out about the dioxin that leaked into Tucson's aquifer. The EPA forced the guilty parties to clean up our water. We still need our wells to be tested for poison toxins. But the Grants that protect water and soil from tanks that leak chemicals would also disappear under the President's budget.

As you know, sewage is leaking into Arizona from the border town of Naco. We need the EPA to clean up that mess.

Please, don't put our lives at risk by passing a budget that cuts funds from the EPA. Your constituents are counting on you to protect them. Please, vote no to any budget that cuts much needed funds for the EPA.

Thank you,
Jana Segal

Tell Senate Democrats not to bargain away EPA funding

Foam on the polluted Androscoggin River seen from North Bridge at Lewiston Textile Center, Maine 1973.

Trump, EPA Administrator Pruitt and Republicans in Congress don’t just want to ignore global warming—they are bound and determined to accelerate it.

The funding for our entire government is set to expire by December 8, the end of next week. Trump and the GOP see this as an opportunity to cut the Environmental Protection Agency by as much as 30 percent.

But they can’t slash the EPA budget unless Senate Democrats help them. 

Tell Senate Democrats: Stop Trump from gutting our environmental protections!

Before the EPA

If Trump and Pruitt get their way, the carbon profiteers will be free to keep destroying our climate while the rest of us pay the price. And then they’ll pump those profits back into distorting and destroying our democracy—just this week, it was announced that the Time media empire is being sold to a group of investors backed by the Koch brothers.

If every Democrat votes the right way, the Senate can stop Trump and Pruitt from gutting our environmental protections. We need to send the message that our planet isn’t a bargaining chip. If every Senate Democrat stands together, they can still stop this attack on our environment and public health. But unless they know the public cares about this issue, our protections could be bargained away as part of a larger deal.

Add your name to this critical joint petition to protect our climate.

Tell Senate Democrats: “Publicly announce that you will filibuster any legislation that cuts the Environmental Protection Agency below its current funding level.”

- Brad from Climate Hawks

References

Senate bill would cut EPA funding by $150M, The Hill
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/361250-senate-bill-would-cut-epa-funding-by-150m

House bill would cut EPA funding by $528M, The Hill
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/341507-house-bill-would-cut-epa-funding-by-528m

Trump's fiscal 2018 budget would slash EPA spending by 30%, CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/19/politics/congress-epa-final-budget-cuts/index.html

Stop the Dirty Water Attacks in Congress

President Trump and many members of Congress are engaged in an all-out assault on commonsense protections for clean water and public health. The Clean Water Rule, Clean Power Plan, and action to fight climate change are all at risk. We need to make sure our elected officials know that we expect them to represent us, not the polluters who power power their campaigns.

Take action now: Write to your Members of Congress to stand up to attacks on our health & environment.

- Clean Water Action

To send the following message to your members of Congress click here.

Subject:

I need you to support protections for public health and clean water

Message:

I urge you to support clean water, clean air and healthy communities. Please reject any attempts to weaken or dismantle our most important protections, and to oppose budget cuts to EPA and other agencies, that would threaten our water, air and climate.

Please oppose attacks on:

• The Clean Water Rule, which protects drinking water sources for more than 117 million Americans

• The Clean Power Plan, which is vital in our fight against climate pollution

• EPA’s budget for putting laws into action to protect health and natural resources and responding to crises, such as lead contamination

I urge you to stand with people, not polluters. Please oppose efforts to undermine protections for our nation’s air, land, water or wildlife.

You can also call or fax our Arizona Senators at their offices:

Rep. Martha McSally

District: AZ02

Phone:(202) 225-2542

Fax:(202) 225-0378

Sen. John McCain

District: AZS01

Phone:(202) 224-2235

Fax:(202) 228-2862

Sen. Jeff Flake

District: AZS02

Phone:(202) 224-4521

Fax:(202) 228-0515

Not your members of congress? Use your zip code to find your members of Congress here.

Any doubts on Rep. McSally's views on our environmental protections?

Rep. Martha McSally is in the pocket of big business. She will not protect our air or water. As you can see here, she actually led the way in repealing the Clean Air Act, the Clean Power Plan, the Waters of the United States and dismantling the EPA.

After voting to DRASTICALLY cut the EPA budget, Rep. McSally asks the EPA why they aren't doing their jobs

Naco, AZ resident Gerald Everwein shows Rep. McSally sewage from Mexico on his property

While visiting the border town of Naco, AZ,  Representative Martha McSally witnessed first hand the raw sewage flowing through the current border wall. After voting to approve funding for Trump's wall (that waives important environmental regulations designed to protect our water) and then voting to approve a 500 million dollar budget cut for the EPA, Rep. McSally (along with Senators McCain and Flake) had the gall to send the following letter to the EPA Acting Regional Administrator:

Dear Acting Regional Administrator Strauss,

We write to address reports that the cities of Naco, Arizona and Bisbee, Arizona have been subject to years of unmitigated raw sewage flowing from Naco, Sonora, Mexico, an issue that is yet to be resolved. This flow of sewage poses a health, safety, and economic risk to Arizona’s vulnerable border towns, and we are greatly concerned about the lack of response of the federal agencies tasked with the oversight of this issue.

We believe that this uncontrolled effluent is positioned to contaminate the agriculture, livestock, and drinking water supply of these communities. We seek more information about the situation in question and what the EPA has done to address the environmental impact of this spill. Please answer the following questions:

What responsibility does the EPA have in the monitoring and mitigation of such spills?

How long has the EPA been aware of the effluent spill in Naco, Arizona and Bisbee, Arizona?

What steps have been taken by the EPA to resolve this issue in the many years that the spill has breached Arizona’s borders?

What steps has the EPA been taken to assist the community in their rehabilitation of the impacted areas?

Has the EPA worked with other relevant agencies or conducted internal investigations to study the public health, safety, and economic implications of this spill?

Arizona’s border communities are uniquely situated to rely on organizations, like yours, to coordinate even their most essential functions, such as sanitation or flood mitigation. The economic impact of slow-moving bureaucracy can not only be damaging, but devastating, to our constituents. Between the flooded farms of Naco, Arizona and the broken pipeline in Nogales, Arizona, it is clear to us that coordination and communication between federal organizations and the communities they serve must be improved. We look forward to reviewing your answers and working towards a solution for all parties involved.

Sincerely,

John McCain
United States Senator

Jeff Flake
United States Senator

Martha McSally
United States Representative

I'm left speechless. No, I'm not. We need to send Rep. McSally, Sen. McCain and Sen. Flake a few letters of our own.