‘Dirty budget’ hurts Nevada

By Omar A. Calderon, Las Vegas

Friday, June 9, 2017 | 2 a.m.

President Donald Trump pledged to “promote clean air and clean water” on the campaign trail, but his budget does the exact opposite. It takes aim at Nevada, directly threatening the air our children breathe and the water they drink.

With deep cuts to programs we’ve depended on for generations, Nevada and federal agencies will be powerless to prevent and tackle environmental disasters and public-safety crises.

Trump’s dirty budget has EPA funded at its lowest level in 40 years, gutting common-sense Clean Air and Water Acts safeguards that protect our air and drinking water from mercury, lead, arsenic and other pollution. As a field organizer for the League of Conservation Voters, I am confident in saying that under the Trump budget we can expect catastrophes like the Flint, Mich., water crisis to become tragically routine.

We need our leaders, including Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., to stand up to corporate polluters and their allies in Washington and fight for our families. America deserves a budget that puts our families and communities first, instead of selling out our children’s health to special interests.