Activists urge Burr to oppose massive EPA cuts
Activists with Environment North Carolina presented a petition with more than 10,000 signatures to Sen. Richard Burr’s local office last week, asking him to oppose cuts to environmental protection.
Activists with the statewide group said they want Burr to oppose President Donald Trump’s budget proposal that would cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s funding by 31 percent. Kristin Carver, one of the group’s campaign directors, said this could have local impact on things like contaminated water from coal ash spills.
“That just means that we need to work harder now more than ever to make sure we have clean air to breath, clean water to drink and that our public lands are preserved for the future,” said Carver.
Trump ran on eliminating environmental regulation and, last month, withdrew the country from the Paris climate accord, an agreement to reduce greenhouse gases that was ratified by 197 nations. Scott Pruitt, who sued the EPA 14 times as Oklahoma attorney general, currently runs the agency.
Activists with the group, which is part of Environment America, said they addressed the petition to Burr because he’s voted with them in the past on issues like land conservation. The state’s other senator, Thom Tillis, publicly urged Trump to leave the Paris accord.
