A complicated and long-running dispute between the state of Missouri and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over scuzzy green lakes is nearing a conclusion. It will come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the EPA’s lax approach to regulation under administrator Scott Pruitt that the likely result is that most of Missouri’s polluted lakes will stay polluted.
Missouri has 470 lakes, streams and stretches of river that are polluted by E. coli bacteria and heavy metals, particularly mercury. Most of them aren’t at issue in the current negotiations, though they obviously fall far short of the 1972 Clean Water Act’s goals of eliminating the discharge of pollutants and making America’s waterways safe.
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Let us know which John Darkow cartoon you would like as a reprint.
About the opinion page
The Missourian’s Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form.
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