New EPA head meets with Sen. Mark Kelly to help improve Arizona’s air quality
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — U.S. Senator Mark Kelly met with new Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin in Phoenix as part of a roundtable discussion Wednesday on the environment and ways to improve air quality in Arizona
Zeldin said the EPA aims to protect the public but believes it can be done more efficiently.
“What I want to do is work with Congress to ensure that when a dollar is spent to deal with an issue where a community has been left behind, that we spend that dollar directly on remediating that environmental issue,” said Zeldin.
The EPA has been on the front line for years, protecting the public and holding companies accountable when they pollute soil and water resources.
However, there are growing concerns that recent cuts to the federal government could impact how the public is protected.
“Even though all of us would like to not deal with regulations and the hassle that goes along with it, all it takes is a few bad actors to ruin it for everybody,” said Scott Myers with Don’t Waste Arizona.
The Trump administration recently announced plans to roll back 31 pollution regulations and cut more than 1,000 EPA employees, which is raising some red flags with environmental groups.
Senator Kelly wants the EPA to continue to focus on keeping the public safe.
“What we want here in Maricopa County and across the state is clean air, lower ozone, but at the same time have a growing economy,” said Kelly.
Arizona’s Family has reported extensively on a Motorola SuperFund site in Phoenix that the EPA has been working to clean up for years.
The contamination was caused by microchip factories and other businesses dumping chemicals near 52nd Street and Van Buren, polluting the groundwater. There are similar superfund sites around the state.
Arizona’s Family asked Zeldin if the EPA would continue to fund these clean-up projects.
“We actually want to put more resources into SuperFund work,” said Zeldin. “It is important that we are fulfilling our statutory obligations exponentially.”
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