HONOLULU (Legal Newsline) — Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin announced March 31 that he has joined a coalition of attorneys general in sending a letter to the U. S. House and Senate Appropriations committees. In the letter, the coalition expressed opposition to legislative and budgetary measures that would reduce the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) funding.
President Trump proposed a 31 percent budget cut for the EPA in the 2018 White House budget blueprint. This figure represents the greatest cut for any federal agency.
“Tourism is Hawaii’s main economic driver and the work done by the EPA to enforce critical environmental laws to preserve air and water quality has helped maintain Hawaii’s natural beauty and, therefore, its economic prosperity,” Chin said. “As the letter I have co-signed with my fellow attorneys general notes, these cuts to the EPA would have a chilling effect on the ability to hold polluters accountable.”
Attorneys general involved in the letter were from Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington D.C. Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin spearheaded the effort.