Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas, does not speak for me or for the interests of Washington residents when she advocates delaying EPA regulations that will protect our health and save billions in health care costs, (Oct. 7 story “Herrera Beutler seeks delay of federal rule”).
It is dangerously disingenuous for Herrera Beutler to justify co-sponsorship of the EPA Regulatory Relief Act by saying blue-collar families “would pay the price for this if we do not act now to protect the environment where jobs can grow.” This legislation protects no environment, and those same blue-collar families cannot afford to sacrifice their health and the health of their children for short-sighted job growth.
Continuing to poison the air we breathe will not create more jobs. The ever-increasing burden of health and welfare costs will not lead to sustained economic growth. It is time to see this so-called “jobs agenda” for what it really is: a polluter-led attack on public health whose costs far outweigh any short-term benefit for local communities.
We cannot afford to gut the most basic protections of the Clean Air Act. Let Herrera Beutler know she is dead wrong when it comes to sponsoring this legislation.
