With all of the storms that have reached the shores of the United States over the last couple of years, one cannot help but wonder why any federal funding to emergency and safety agencies would be on the chopping block in the FY2018 budget. Each agency has their own importance during various parts of threatening storms. Emergency agencies are critical during the first few days to weeks of a growing storm. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) did the best job within the funding frameworks to provide initial response and working to help residents get back to work after the storm. That short term work is critical.
Whereas, the safety agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency is critical in assessing the damage in the aftermath of a storm and making changes to protect the citizens of the nation. An example would be the chemicals which were released into the air by the Arken chemical plant fire -- which resulted due to power outages and flooding at the plant. Now that the storms (Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma) have past, the time has come to discuss the federal support which is needed with growing storms (in frequency and severity) that threaten our nation.
Recently, the EPA has announced that their will be major cuts to the agency. I am astonished in light of the recent storms that Congress has not stepped up and called to block any cuts. We should be expanding not shrinking. Environmental groups had to sit through the announcement this morning. A reporter from ABC News interviewed three top employees of three prominent environmental clubs in the video below (worth watching - around 7 minutes in duration):
ABC Breaking News | Latest News Videos
After watching the video, I cannot help but think what the members of the Trump administration are thinking? I will write more about the recent storms and the EPA in the coming days. I do not want to write a massive blog post and overwhelm you with too much content. Let's start with the video above to think about the issue at hand in light of the disastrous storms which brought an unknown amount of damage to our nation and a terrible amount of loss of life.
A closing fact: just yesterday in Florida a nursing home was operating without Air Conditioning. The reports thus far show that the owners might be subject to scrutiny due to not operating according to state code. Six residents were killed in the incident. Why? What agency is in charge of enforcing the rules? Whose oversight resulted in the death of six elderly people? These are questions which remain to be answered along with others.
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