"Overflowing trash cans are the least of the problems."
"The Environmental Protection Agency employs about 13,000 people to protect Americans from pollution. Last week, fewer than 900 were working, the rest having been furloughed due to the government shutdown. Among those who reported for duty was Andrew Wheeler, the agency’s acting administrator and President Trump’s nominee to succeed ousted chief Scott Pruitt. “We are still on the job,” he insisted during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
Wheeler said the EPA is still responding to environmental emergencies—like wildfires in California, which have become a year-round event—and still meeting court-ordered deadlines to make progress on regulations. But there’s so much more the EPA does on a daily basis that is no longer happening, said former EPA regional administrator Judith Enck, who led Region 2 through two shutdowns under President Barack Obama. “Scheduled [safety] inspections are not happening. Groundwater data is not being processed. Drinking water sampling is not happening,” she said. “This is going to be a problem if the shutdown keeps up.”
It’s already a problem. From the halt in monitoring of uranium on the Colorado River and toxic algae in Florida, to the trash overflows and vandalism at national parks across the country, the shutdown is already causing environmental damage."
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