State Senator Lea Webb (D-52nd District) said a 25% budget cut along with thousands of layoffs will have impacts throughout the Southern Tier and New York state.
"When you talk about a 25% cut to an agency that provides many resources for us here in New York, this isn't just simply a statistic," Webb said. "We're talking about real lives and real jobs that are going to be lost for generations."
Iris Packman with the Ithaca sustainability and climate justice coalition fears these cuts could limit the EPA's ability to address legacy toxins, prevent contamination and pollution of air and water, and fight the threats of climate change.
"I think we often take for granted that the creek is safe to swim in, that the soil is safe to plant a garden in, that our trails are safe to walk on," Packman said. "The proposed cuts to the EPA could jeopardize all that."
Claire Walsh Winsler, with Environmental Advocates, New York, has a family history of dealing with these issues in Ulster County. For her, potential failure to maintain clean air and water is personal.
"We lost my grandpa in 2008 and my dad in 2021. Both, to leukemia, a cancer highly linked to VOC contamination," Walsh Winsler said. "While they were both killed by the same cancer, and both drank polluted water for decades, they themselves were not related by blood, making their cancer diagnoses even more suspect."
Ithaca city mayor Robert Cantelmo is calling on the New York congressional delegation of both parties to oppose these cuts and continue investing into the agency.
"To fight for a bipartisan budget that invests in clean air, clean water, and healthy communities," Cantelmo said. "To put public health ahead of political gamesmanship."