EPA roll backs
The following is a partial list of regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency wants to roll back: power plant emissions standards; toxic emission limits on power plants; wastewater rules for coal and other power plants; petrochemical emergency planning; greenhouse gas reporting requirements; 2009 Endangerment Finding and regulations that rely on it; and national emission standards for air pollutants for American energy and manufacturing.
Greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. Stronger regulations save thousands of lives and prevent hundreds of thousands of cases of asthma and lost workdays annually. The military has classified climate change as a national security risk.
There is no “energy crisis” in this country. There is a climate crisis. My question to this administration and anybody who thinks this is a good idea, what planet are you planning on living on when you destroy this one? Why do you hate the American people?
Jacquie Hamilton, Suffolk
Fiscal responsibility
President Herbert Hoover, a Republican, came to power in 1929 and the stock market was climbing to unprecedented levels. In October 1929, the bubble burst. Billions of dollars were lost and thousands of investors were ruined.
Decades later along comes another Republican president, George W. Bush, whose administration was characterized by significant tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, military spending and a housing bubble followed by the Great Recession in 2007-2008.
We are witnessing the firing of officials who were put in place to watch out for these policies and raise alarms.
We are at the beginning of the same cycle under President Donald Trump. Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and tariffs will be disastrous for the United States and the rest of the world.
Putting those same tax cuts to pay down the debt, fiscal responsibility and balancing the budget, which were the conservative values, have completely gone. Unfortunately, those who benefit the most in such times are the wealthiest amongst us. There needs to be a serious overhaul of how long our congressmen and our senators can serve in politics.
Ray Patel, Chesapeake
Laid-off veterans
If any of those laid-off veterans voted for President Donald Trump and other Republicans, they got just what they asked for: utter uncaring chaos.
Even leaving the vast military aside, Virginia will be hit hard by the federal job cuts. When will conservatives ever learn to stop voting against their self interest because of their rigid ideology?
Rodney Hersberger, Virginia Beach
No cents
Re “Souvenir sellers need a penny” (Business, March 12): When I was stationed with the Navy at Yokosuka, Japan, in the mid-1970s, a time when most purchases were made in cash, the base commander stopped penny circulation. The reason was that the cost of making and shipping pennies to the base was too high. Merchants were directed to round up to a nickel from 3 cents or round down to zero for 2 cents or less. It worked fine.
It is time now to save money by stopping penny production. Souvenir hunters will have to find another means to make designs with penny press machines.
Ace L. Tubbs Jr., Norfolk
Sacred Honor
Americans sometimes debate the intentions of our Founding Fathers, but never their courage. The signers of the Declaration of Independence concluded with these words: “And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
Now is the time Congress must stand up to the tyranny in our executive branch. There is no other way and no room for cowardice. What about your “sacred honor,” representatives?
Sarah W. Corneliussen, Poquoson