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EPA cuts could leave small rural towns choking in smoke
The Washington Post | MSN ^ | April 3, 2025 | by Josh Partlow, Amudalat Ajasa

Posted on 04/04/2025 6:57:03 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer

When wildfire smoke drifts into the Methow Valley, it tends to stay, settling in the folds of the Cascade foothills like a choking fog. Recent summers have brought weeks-long binges of unhealthy air to one of Washington state’s poorest counties, rivaling some of the most polluted cities in the world.

Countering this intensifying threat are small nonprofit organizations such as the Methow Valley Citizens Council, which has been distributing air purifiers, maintaining a network of air quality monitors, and spreading the message about how to keep safe when the smoke rolls in. Much of that work was funded by a three-year, $440,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, which got cut off last week amid the agency’s push to slash spending.

“We’re basically abandoning people who need it most,” said Jasmine Minbashian, the organization’s executive director.

Residents and local organizations in these communities say the funding cuts undermine what little defense there is against growing climate threats.

“These were dollars that were going to really make a difference to people who are financially without the means to do this work to protect their health,” said Sarah Altemus-Pope, executive director of South Willamette Solutions, a nonprofit that saw its EPA funding to help seal homes against wildfire smoke in Oakridge, Oregon, terminated.

“It is a priority of the EPA to eliminate discrimination in all programs throughout the United States,” according to multiple termination letters reviewed by The Post.

Yet there is some uncertainty about what the administration classifies as DEI and environmental justice.

One EPA official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals, said the cuts to EPA grant funding appeared based solely on grant description language.

“It’s like they just went through and if the word ‘equity’ or ‘environmental justice’ was used, it’s gone,” the official said.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Political Humor/Cartoons; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: amudalatajasa; dei; deialready; environmentaljustice; epa; equity; fakenews; jasmineminbashian; joshpartlow; journalism; media; press; reprisals; tds; trump; washingtoncompost; wereallgonnadie; wereallgonnadiesir
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1 posted on 04/04/2025 6:57:03 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

States have their own environmental laws, by the way.


2 posted on 04/04/2025 6:59:20 AM PDT by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them with a pitchfork!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Why it is called the “Washington Compost”.


3 posted on 04/04/2025 6:59:21 AM PDT by Redleg Duke (“Time to Play Cowboys and Snowflakes!”)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

You mean like California did when they supposedly were actually managing the city with DEI.

Just more yellow journalism.


4 posted on 04/04/2025 7:00:02 AM PDT by Skwor
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Bull Obama.
Purr unadulturated Bull Obama from the prime perp of Bull Obama, the NYT.
Journalism - when you failed your studies major.


5 posted on 04/04/2025 7:01:07 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

There have been wildfires in the western US for ten thousand years.

Cut/thin the dead and dying timber and you reduce the issue.
The PROBLEM is the so called environmental groups that legally challenge EVERY timber sale that is put up on public timber lands. Even on private timber lands they still have to adhere to stringent laws when it comes to cutting timber near any stream.


6 posted on 04/04/2025 7:02:49 AM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: Redleg Duke

If anyone missed it here is the EPA data dump I posted yesterday:

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4308588/posts


7 posted on 04/04/2025 7:03:15 AM PDT by cgbg (It was not us. It was them--all along.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Oh yes, without the magnanimous federal government we would all be doomed, shivering in the dark.


8 posted on 04/04/2025 7:04:30 AM PDT by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Supervisor of Elections and Home Air Quality Improvement, how may I help you?

....

Your sample ballot and air quality pamphlet are enclosed.

....

Attention Walmart shoppers, we are having a special deal on home air filter systems....


9 posted on 04/04/2025 7:06:55 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“Could”

Yeah. They “could” also make things better.


10 posted on 04/04/2025 7:08:07 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Could. But likely won’t.


11 posted on 04/04/2025 7:10:54 AM PDT by IYAS9YAS (There are two kinds of people: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

BS. Clickbait.


12 posted on 04/04/2025 7:11:33 AM PDT by silent majority rising (When it is dark enough, men see the stars. Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Yeah because the right just loves smoky air and the green of EPA money cleans it up. /sarc

Amazing how the previous admin of Biden ignored all kinds of horrible environmental damage like the trainwreck in Ohio, the flooding in NC.

They could only levy rules and regulations and they didn’t give a damn about environmental impact and human suffering.

I am so sick of the leftists and their lying media to keep the grift going.


13 posted on 04/04/2025 7:14:59 AM PDT by dforest
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

So, we spend how much on the air monitors that tell us if smoke is in the valley? Can’t you just look out the window? what’s next big fans to move the smoke? These people are just looney.


14 posted on 04/04/2025 7:15:20 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

We all gonna die. Not dei, die.


15 posted on 04/04/2025 7:26:29 AM PDT by rktman (Destroy America from within? Check! WTH? Enlisted USN 1967 to end up with this💩? 🚫💉! 🇮🇱👍!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Menken’s law - when A injures B on behalf of X, A is a scoundrel.


16 posted on 04/04/2025 7:28:02 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
Whining NGOs looking for a new angle to suck off of Uncle Sugar.
17 posted on 04/04/2025 7:29:19 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

What happens when the smoke originates in Canada, EPA has no authority there.


18 posted on 04/04/2025 7:30:55 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Good grief. My air is radically clean compared to any city.


19 posted on 04/04/2025 7:35:26 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods (The road is a dangerous place man, you can die out here...or worse. -Johnny Paycheck, 1980, Reno, NV)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

This is all they could find to support the EPA? Air purifiers in a small town to help from NATURAL wildfires?

I would have been embarrassed as an editor even allowing this to even go out the door... lol


20 posted on 04/04/2025 7:36:07 AM PDT by Openurmind
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