At last the greenest budget ever

AT LAST, THE GREENEST BUDGET EVER: House advances a bill that dedicates money to green infrastructure, blocks environmental rollbacks

The environment plays a vital role in sustaining life. All living organisms on the face of the earth need a healthy, clean, and a better environment to boost their adaptability and enhance their chances of survival, human beings included. Having this in mind, it becomes the obligation of every living organism to take care of the environment they live in. Human beings being the ones with the bigger capacity to think, should be at the forefront in conserving the environment.

Unfortunately, humans’ tendency to pollute and over-use resources provided by nature never ceases. Humans, the species trusted with conserving the environment, have instead been playing a role in ruining it. In the 21st century, environmental issues have significantly skyrocketed to new heights.

This calls for immediate action if we want to increase the human kind’s chances of survival.

We often forget that the well-being of the environment affects millions of jobs and the health of people worldwide. The third-largest country in the world, the U.S.A, has many times emerged among the top contributor and as well victims of environmental pollution. Among the top environmental issues felt in the U.S include; soil pollution, air pollution, waste disposal, deforestation, global warming, depletion of natural resources, ocean acidification, and nano pollution.

Despite the threat environmental pollution poses to human societies, solutions are rather being developed at a slower rate, than we would

like them to. One of the most significant steps in fighting environmental pollution is providing funds to implement safety measures. America is doing it, let’s give credit where credit is due.

Recently, the House Appropriations Committee approved funding that was meant for several significant environmental programs on July 10, 2020. These significant environmental programs are part of the FY21 funding bill for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Interior (DOI). Among the key environmental issues covered by the funding bill include:

Emergency funding for many of the infrastructure proposals in the Moving Forward Act (H.R.2). This includes $10.2 billion for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds.

The bill blocks the administration’s efforts to:

Open the Tongass National Forest to logging. Drill oil in the Arctic Refuge. Expand offshore drilling. Weaken protections on toxic mercury and arsenic emissions. Open the Boundary Waters to toxic pollution from sulfide mining.

In a statement, the director of federal government affairs for Environment America, Bart Johnsen-Harris termed the funding bill as the “greenest budget in recent memory,” and applauded the leadership of the House under Chairwoman Nita Lowey and Betty McCollum. The statement added that significant EPA programs and the agency itself have been “chronically underfunded for years.” He added that the budget would make up for the lost time and help in removing the backlogs for clean drinking water and clean water infrastructure. The bill also stretches further to protect the environment by “blocking a number of damaging rollbacks that the administration has been advancing.”

“Environment America will fight for this bill to become law. This is the kind of green budget we have been waiting for,” Johnsen says in the statement. This indicates that America should prepare to experience an improved environment in the coming days.

Works cited

https://environmentamerica.org/news/ame/statementhouse-advances-greenest-budget-recent-memory.