For those who think that they are better off because the economy is looking good, I offer some thoughts to consider. We have relied on agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, which is tasked with protecting people and the environment from health risks. It also develops and enforces environmental regulations.

The Trump administration has prided itself on disemboweling or weakening the very acts and regulations, and the EPA itself, upon which we depend.

One recent change has been a proposal to eliminate the Clean Water Act Protections which address the chemical, physical and biological integrity of our waters. It will end federal protections for millions of miles of streams, arroyos, and wetlands that feed into rivers, including areas that are only seasonally wet and that support habitat upon which animals and wildlife depend. The act regulated the dumping and/or leaching of pesticides, fertilizers and chemicals into all of these waters.

The proposed change was backed by developers, real estate groups, corporations and large corporate farming that would all benefit from its removal. The change will cause great harm to Maine’s environment and will lead to the loss of habitat and contribute to contamination of all of our waters.

Add to the above the four completed and 10 potential water-related rollbacks, plus 16 regulation rollbacks of protections concerned with air pollution, and it is obvious that the public’s interests are not at the center of the current administration’s interests.

Nancy Gilbert, Durham