EPA

One of the saddest things to occur in the last few years as a scientist is how the current US Administration has in many ways decimated what was arguably one of the most valuable scientific, governmental institutions around... the Environmental Protection Agency.  For those of you who may not be particularly familiar with this agency, I have copied below some boilerplate history of the agency:

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"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government for environmental protection. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970  and it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. The agency is led by its Administrator, who is appointed by the President and approved by Congress. The current Administrator is former Deputy Administrator Andrew R. Wheeler, who had been acting administrator since July 2018. The EPA is not a Cabinet department, but the Administrator is normally given cabinet rank.

The EPA has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., regional offices for each of the agency's ten regions, and 27 laboratories. The agency conducts environmental assessment, research, and education. It has the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with state, tribal, and local governments. It delegates some permitting, monitoring, and enforcement responsibility to U.S. states and the federally recognized tribes. EPA enforcement powers include fines, sanctions, and other measures. The agency also works with industries and all levels of government in a wide variety of voluntary pollution prevention programs and energy conservation efforts."

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Since its inception, it has been IMO the closest thing to a governmental agency that was not political that we have ever had in the US.  It was very science focused and really was primarily focused on the common good.  I always felt it represented how we *could* as a people, do something pretty correctly. 

Unfortunately, the EPA is now a former shell of itself.  It has very unfortunately been reduced to a political tool.... and is only a ghost of its former scientific self. 

If you would like to be saddened, look at this article about some of the environmental changes that have occurred in the last two and a half years:

Article Showing Some Environmental Changes

It is very disheartening from a scientific perspective.

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