Representative Morgan Griffith And His War On The EPA

I’m not getting out much these days. It’s dark when I get into work and it’s dark when I leave work. Lately I’ve been feeling disconnected from environmental issues so I wanted to do something to cure that. Over the winter I’m going to be writing about ecological issues that are cropping up in Ohio and on the national level. I’m also going to be linking any interesting books or articles I come across that are related to this topic.

One of the first websites I look at in the morning to get my dose of news is www.thinkprogress.com this website is absolutely insightful. Under the website’s “Climate” link there are a dozen or more stories to read.  However the headline that grabbed me today is the news that Representative Morgan Griffith  of Virginia wants to cut the EPA’s budget by 15%.

Congress has been unkind to the EPA this year. They  passed a total of 317 anti-environmental bills in their session and now Griffith is proposing that they cut their work force. His logic is that since  95% of the EPA's staff was deemed "non-essential"  during the government shutdown that they can  just be let go of. When the government shut down almost all of the EPA’s projects came to a sudden halt and they are still working to clean up from the fall out.

Congressman Griffith is a advocate of the coal industry. He has spoken at their rallies and has used his time in Congress to push for the deregulation of the dirty energy source. The coal industry is a mass polluter and planet destroyer. Every single aspect of the coal industry pollutes the environment leaving behind nothing but dirty rivers and stripped mountains. Griffith is a backer of an aging giant, a industry that is (hopefully) on it’s last leg as organizations like the EPA work to clean up our world and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

Industries come and industries go. Coal needs to go the way of the horse and buggy. Coal is the dirtiest of all the fossil fuels. Mining and burning coal creates acid rain, polluted water sources, and produces emissions that have been proven to be a cause of climate change. Reducing regulations on the coal industry is not the way to get the dirty energy industries to turn toward clean options. The coal industry is still making money and without pressure from the government they will continue business as usual. We cannot progress to green energy when people like Griffith are strong arming bills though Congress that would remove the teeth from environmental oversight organizations.

Contact Representative Morgan Griffith though his website.