Healthier, safer summers – brought to you by the EPA
Summer is finally here.
We’ve longed to hear the waves crash, to see the kids play in the backyard sprinkler, to pack up the car for the annual camping trip.
Few of us ever think about the fact that one government agency is working hard to keep our beaches, national parks and outdoor air healthier and safer during these wonderful summer months.
Here are three ways the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency improves summers for all Americans – and what’s at stake this particular season.
1. Gives us safer, cleaner beaches
Americans made nearly 360 million trips to the beach in 2016. We love our ocean and lake days in the summer, and certainly don’t expect to get sick from taking a dip.
Most of us won’t because the EPA works in partnership with states and local governments to protect our nation’s beaches.
The agency enforces laws and administers programs that regulate sources of water pollution at beaches, conducts leading scientific research on pathogens and sets national water quality standards. It also funds grants to states and local governments to help protect our beaches, and provides water quality information to the public.
Even so, beaches are sometimes shut down by pollution – for example, from raw sewage – that can expose swimmers to harmful microorganisms.
Of 3,485 coastal U.S. beaches analyzed a few years ago, 10 percent were above the EPA’s benchmark for swimmer safety, one analysis showed.
We clearly need to work harder, not less, to keep beaches open for visitors. Unfortunately, President Trump’s proposed budget for the EPA would eliminate the beach monitoring grants program, a move that could directly affect the health of our beloved shores.
Photo: Duane Romanell
2. Cleans up the air in national parks
There were 331 million visitors to our national parks in 2016 who spent $18.4 billion in surrounding communities. Such tourism supported 318,000 jobs and contributed $35 billion to economic output nationally.
The EPA and other agencies monitor visibility at 155 national parks and wilderness areas across the country. An EPA program to reduce haze and other pollution that affects our parks has led to measurable improvements in recent years.
Today, visitors to the south rim of the Grand Canyon are more likely to get a clear view of the natural wonder than they would have in the mid-1990s when gray haze sometimes made it impossible see the other side of the canyon.
Still today, three of our four most iconic national parks struggle [PDF] with unhealthy air, and visitors miss on average 50 miles of scenery because of haze.
Making things worse, the EPA’s work to reduce the pollution affecting our parks is currently under threat by Administrator Scott Pruitt, who sued the EPA over a plan to reduce haze when he was attorney general of Oklahoma.
Photo: James Marvin Phelps
3. Reduces deadly smog
This is the time of year when, instead of spending time outside, some children with asthma and seniors with heart conditions are told to stay indoors because of smog alerts.
A number of “code orange” days have already been issued this year in states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Alabama.
Such problems are not nearly as prevalent as a few decades back because the EPA has worked steadily to reduce smog. More progress is needed, however, which is why new smog standards the agency issued in 2015 are so important.
Once in effect, these standards are expected to prevent 230,000 asthma attacks among children annually – and finally give parents a little less to worry about when their kids bike around the neighborhood, or run through that sprinkler with their friends.
Photo: Matt Molinari
Or so we hope: The new smog standards recently came under attack in Congress, which is moving several bills to delay and fundamentally alter how these and other air pollution protections are set. And just last week, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that he will delay implementation of the protections against smog.
In addition, Trump’s proposed budget for 2018 slashes funding for the air monitoring that warns families about “code red” and “code orange” days – when air quality reaches unhealthy levels – by almost one third.
Will it be safe for our kids to play outside in the summer going forward? Or to swim in the ocean or hike in the Shenandoah National Park?
It will if we make the right choice as a country and keep moving forward, rather than backward, to protect and expand critical health protections. It will if we defend the agency that has been working hard since the 1970s to make your summers so much better.
