For anyone who cares about the environment of the Great Lakes and the Midwest, now is the time to speak up.
In 2017, the decidedly eco-unfriendly Trump administration hired Cathy Stepp as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5, which covers Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. In the job, Stepp should have taken the lead in making sure our air and water are safe, but she proved to be no more than an active co-conspirator in Trump’s war on the environment.
Now Stepp has resigned, effective Jan. 17. The White House and EPA Administrator Andrew R. Wheeler, left to their own devices, probably would be happy to replace Stepp with someone who shares their see-no-pollution mindset. They need to hear from as many people as possible, especially members of Congress, that Region 5 needs a real steward of the environment.
Under Trump, the staffing level at Region 5 has dropped to the lowest level since 1985, according to the union that represents workers at the agency. Fewer penalties are being imposed for environmental violations and fewer facilities are being forced to comply with federal law. The number of inspections has plummeted from 3,599 in 2015 to 799 last year.
Instead, Stepp has said, the agency is relying more on self-reporting from industry.
The risk of that approach was highlighted just this week when Indiana officials said ArcelorMittal’s steel plant in Burns Harbor, site of a toxic spill that killed 3,000 fish last summer, has been manipulating test results in its self-disclosure reports.
Clean water, clean air and environmental protection are nonpartisan priorities for people across the Great Lakes region. Yet the EPA’s Region 5 office has become less vigilant even as its mission has grown more pressing. Many state environmental agencies in the Midwest have lost funding.
We rely on Region 5 to send trained experts into the field to identify new sources of environmental risks and put a stop to them. The Chicago-based agency also runs the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which is vital to protecting the lakes from pollution, invasive species and other threats.
With Stepp’s resignation, the Trump administration has been presented with an opportunity to finally take environmental protections seriously in the Great Lakes region.
Every senator, congressman, governor and mayor — whether a Democrat or Republican — should get on the phone and make that happen.
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