Heritage Thermal Services is a hazardous waste facility located in East Liverpool, Ohio and on July 2013 an eruption occurred which spewed toxic waste and chemicals around the neighborhood.   Three years later, Donald Trump, someone who is notoriously known for refuting climate change claims, won by a landslide in industrial East Liverpool.  Today, East Liverpool is drafting a protest letter to the EPA which has made no progress in punishing the owner whose plant erupted in East Liverpool in 2013.

Ever since Trump took office the EPA has had major cut-downs which are unprecedented for any previous president, both republican and democrat. When Trumps appointee, Scot Pruitt, took office the amount of investigations on hazardous sites has decreased by less than one-third of the investigations under the Obama administration and one-fourth of the Bush Administration.    In addition, EPA officers no longer have the right to order air and water pollution tests without receiving permission from Washington.  This has slowed down and inhibited the efficacy of EPA enforcement officers and consequently any projects that were in effect to reduce pollution and toxic emissions.  The 31 percent EPA budget cut that Trump put in place led to the loss of about 700 employees at the EPA (Davidson).  After three years, East Liverpool still contains toxic levels of dust with metal additives such as manganese which are harmful to human health.  Other sites that have been stalled because of cuts to the EPA such as TimkenSteel Corporation in Canton, Ohio and Globe Metallurgical in Waterford, Ohio continue to release life threatening chemicals that can cause, “pulmonary edema, respiratory failure and death.” (Lipton and Ivory).

EPA cuts are detrimental to society and Earth.  These toxic wastes are silent killers that not only cause extreme changes in climate but also directly impact human health.  With cut-downs on the EPA these plants remain unpunished free to illegally emit chemicals into the atmosphere.   In an attempt to alleviate the drop in efficiency of the EPA due to cuts, the EPA decided to put more power into the state judiciary in deciding how to deal with the main causes of pollution in their individual states.

Works Cited

Lipton, Eric, and Danielle Ivory. “Under Trump, E.P.A. Has Slowed Actions Against Polluters, and Put Limits on Enforcement Officers.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Dec. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/12/10/us/politics/pollution-epa-regulations.html.

Columnist, Joe Davidson |. “Perspective | EPA won’t be able to do the ‘right thing’ under Trump, says latest protesting official.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 1 Aug. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/08/01/epa-doing-the-right-thing-is-not-possible-under-trump-says-resigning-official/.