Elizabeth "Betsy" Southerland ended her 30-year run at the agency with a scathing exit letter in which she claimed that ”the environmental field is suffering from the temporary triumph of myth over truth." She last worked as the director of science and technology in the Office of Water.
”The truth is there is NO war on coal, there is NO economic crisis caused by environmental protection, and climate change IS caused by man's activities," Southerland wrote, directly rejecting many of Trump's claims.
She took aim in particular at Trump's demand that two federal regulations be struck from the books for every new one added.
”Should EPA repeal two existing rules protecting infants from neurotoxins in order to promulgate a new rule protecting adults from a newly discovered liver toxin?" she wrote. ”Faced with such painful choices, the best possible outcome for the American people would be regulatory paralysis where no new rules are released so that existing protections remain in place."
She added that in the past the EPA had been a ”guiding light to make the ‘right thing' happen for the greater good," but that the Trump administration has hurt the agency's ability to protect the planet.
”It may take a few years and even an environmental disaster, but I am confident that Congress and the courts will eventually restore all the environmental protections repealed by this administration because the majority of the American people recognize that this protection of public health and safety is right and it is just," Southerland wrote.
