Dear editor:

In a recent Washington Post op-ed, two Republicans, William Ruckelshaus and Christine Todd Whitman, each a former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, strongly criticize the anti-environment bill introduced by Rep. Fred Upton and recently passed by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

They note that this bill would, for the first time ever, “disapprove” of a scientifically-based finding, in this case that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, and that the EPA established this finding in response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that greenhouse gases fit within the Clean Air Act definition of air pollutants.

These writers also criticize the House-passed budget-reconciliation bill that would cut the EPA’s budget by nearly a third and impede its ability to protect our air and water.

The Republican “siege against the EPA and environmental progress” is truly reprehensible. When even committed Republicans like Ruckelshaus and Whitman speak out so passionately, the rest of us cannot remain silent.

Please urge Fred Upton to abandon his destructive campaign against clean air and clean water.

Sandy Feldman

Lakeside