Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is gone. Paying him homage recently was Oklahoma's Sen. James Inhofe, who said Pruitt has been "single minded at restoring the EPA to its proper statutory authority and ending burdensome regulations that have stifled economic growth across the country."

It would take a book (and probably has) to cover how vital regulations have been in the enforcement of our environmental laws. A regulation is designed to put teeth into law enforcement. Regulations protect speed limits, control unruly crowds, overcrowding on vehicles, etc. Without regulations laws become useless. Some regulations can and should be modified, maybe even dropped given today's reality, like those pertaining to horse and buggy times. But most are essential. Trump treats the word "regulation" as a profanity, and people buy it—roaring with approval when he says it.

The EPA was tasked almost 50 years ago with enforcement of newly enacted laws to protect our air, water, land, drinking water, other species. Its mission was vast but vital. Until this administration it protected our drinking water. It guarded against dangerous pesticides, untested chemicals, mining and drilling hazards, industrial contamination. (For a comprehensive list of acts the EPA has enforced, google environmental laws and
go to to the website List of United States Federal Statutes.)

Andrew Wheeler is now acting EPA administrator. For 12 years he was James Inhofe's chief of staff and has long worked for Massey Industries as a coal lobbyist. He has no science background. But the president assures us that he will carry on Pruitt's mission until a new, equally horrifying successor is named. Bruce Poliquin will no doubt vote for that successor. And the EPA, which was created to protect some of our most
basic survival needs, could be all but destroyed.

Beverly Roxby
Belfast