Trump’s gutting environmental rules puts Washington at risk | Opinion

Don’t rescind the emissions finding

I urge the EPA not to rescind the greenhouse gas endangerment finding. It is crucial to protect our communities and future generations. The greenhouse gas emissions from transportation that the government is trying to write off have a direct influence on our warming, dangerous world.

Citizens’ health, safety, homes, families and livelihoods are put on the line every day from climate-induced chaos. Not to mention the billions of dollars worth of infrastructure destroyed each year from climate-related disasters. And this does not even begin to touch on the trillions of dollars worth of natural ecosystem services that continue to be diminished. Clean air should be a right, not a privilege; it impacts every creature alive.

It is incredibly disheartening that our powerhouse of a country would fly in the face of science and the health of its constituents in this way. Climate change should never have been politicized. Clean air, water and land are essential for the continuation of our species — and good luck maintaining a strong economy in an unlivable world.

Once again, I strongly oppose this proposal to rescind the endangerment finding. Please fulfill your mission of protecting human health and the environment we all call home.

Hannah Nienaber, West Richland

ICE masks may keep faces warm

I don’t think ICE agents wear face masks while rounding up “the worst of the worst” (translation: anyone who looks like they might be Hispanic) to hide their identity or to look like goons for a tin-horn dictator.

I think the masks are really to protect them from the bitter cold of a Los Angeles summer. Los Angeles in August is so cold, like no one has ever seen before. Of course, it’s also possible the masks are actually a fashion statement, like pre-worn-out jeans.

Brett Menaker, Kennewick

Medicaid recipients mostly deserve it

Ask the question on line and AI will say that most adult Medicaid beneficiaries are working, caring for dependents or disabled. Is that AI hallucinating or is it about right, based on voters’ own observations?

It’s impossible to get rich being a Medicaid recipient since it only pays to cover medical expenses. Nobody enrolls so they can buy a car. The CBO estimates one trillion will be cut from Medicaid by the OBBB which is now law. Rep. Dan Newhouse has become very comfortable mouthing the GOP line that the new law actually shores up Medicaid by making all those young guys playing video games in their mom’s basement get a job.

Arkansas tried that, by the way, and had to abandon it a year later because too many eligible people were getting kicked out due to the impossibility of meeting the reporting requirements. Think about the low-paying, irregular hours jobs available to these folks and how they would obtain regular reports of their hours.

People that age don’t think they need medical insurance, so why even bother? Newhouse and his cronies are lying to voters about this, and it will become obvious over time, but they hope not until after the midterms.

Greg Carl, Richland

100-mile cable under the Columbia?

Tonight I read a short piece about a transmission company with plans to put a 100-mile cable under the waters of the Columbia River. I checked out the company because I have to date not read nor heard about this massive, environmentally impactful project under and along the southern edge Washington on the Columbia River.

What are the other projects linked to the The Cascade Project? Why are we just hearing about it? These are a few of the concerns, and open many questions about the project, and where the energy will originate and who the project will benefit in Portland. This project must be a well known by both Washington and Oregon, if Trump openly offered to fast track the project under the waters of the Columbia and overlook an EPA review.

I briefly checked into PowerBridge LLC. They list this project as a major upcoming endeavor. The Cascade Project transmission cable buried entirely underground and underwater mostly beneath the Columbia River from The Dalles to the Portland area. The project can transfer approximately 1,100 MW of utility-scale wind, solar and other renewables.

Kathleen Kersey, West Richland

Be transparent about supporters

It feels unfair to the voters that the “Keep Richland One” campaign against voting districts in Richland disparages past candidates for Richland City Council who lost their seats, and yes — are supporters of “A Better Richland,” while never mentioning that the treasurer on file for the PAC supporting this campaign is a new candidate for council this election.

If they can spend the energy to speak ill of past candidates, they can surely be transparent about who is supporting this effort against voting districts.

Chris Lindhartsen, Richland

Support the need for public health

Rep. Dan Newhouse:

I am concerned about the current leadership of our nation’s public health system. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired thousands of federal health workers and severely weakened programs designed to protect Americans from many diseases, lead poisoning, injury and violence. In the largest measles outbreak our country has seen in two generations, he downplayed vaccines. He canceled funding for medical research for future health emergencies and replaced experts on federal health committees with unqualified individuals.

He has ended U.S. support for global vaccination programs protecting people around the world and Americans. He advocated federal legislation that will cause millions of people with health insurance through Medicaid to lose their coverage. His firings and resulting resignations of top C.D.C. officials add to this problem.

During the first Trump administration, Operation Warp Speed produced highly effective and safe vaccines that saved millions of lives during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was an example of what H.H.S. can accomplish.

To you and other members of Congress, this is a time for you to exercise your oversight authority over H.H.S. America deserves an H.H.S. secretary who stands up for health, supports science and scientists.

Barbara Puigh, Richland

Trump truisms to live by for 2025

1. Fire people and fire them often. Seven IRS Commissioners since January. There is indiscriminate firing across the board, driving talent away. Cost-cutting is needed, not chaos.

2. Conflicts of Interest for thee, not for me. A $400 million jet from Qatar, ribbon-cutting his golf course and a $Trump crypto coin.

3. Chaos is great, if I create it. Tariffs flip on and off like a toddler’s light switch. They are historic failures.

4. I lie … a lot. End the Ukraine war with a phone call. A “giant faucet” on the Columbia. No cuts to Medicare or Medicaid.

5. I’m a smart businessman… ignore the bankruptcies. Debt has risen from $21 trillion to $37 trillion after he promised to “pay it off like water” after the 2017 tax cuts.

6. Free markets are what I say they are. Friends get subsidies, rivals get tariffs, others get strong-armed or bulldozed.

7. Starve them abroad, boast at home. Defunding USAID to the world’s most impoverished is inhumane.

8. Sharpie doodles supersede the Constitution. Executive orders guide enforcement and do not make new laws.

These aren’t leadership qualities. They’re warning signs.

Robert Marple, Richland