Sixteen years ago, I took a stand and quit working for the EPA. Why? Because when I was there, the EPA was prevented from doing its real job – protecting our food, our water and our environment – because the government sided with corporate interests over people.

After I left the EPA, I helped to create the Food & Water Justice program at Food & Water Watch. Now, I’m doing the job I wanted to do at the EPA: I use the legal system to protect people and the environment. And since the Food & Water Justice program accepts no corporate or government money, I don’t have to worry about pressure to put profits over the people I want to help protect.

Now, the EPA faces a threat like it’s never seen in the Trump administration. Problems the EPA was created to prevent, like rivers catching on fire and thick smog making people sick, could become common occurrences again. The legal system is the best chance we have to stop Trump from rolling back the basic environmental laws we’ve come to depend on. That’s why our mission is more important than ever—and we rely on your support to make sure we can take the legal action necessary to protect safe food, clean water and a livable environment.

This past week, the Trump administration fired at least five scientists from one of the EPA’s science advisory boards. Already, they’re signaling that they want to fill those empty seats with friends of big business and oil and gas companies. And we can be sure that this is only the beginning of Trump and Scott Pruitt’s war on the EPA.

In the end, it’s going to take all of us standing up together to make sure our environment is protected from people who’d rather make a profit than protect our health. Environmental laws allow us to file citizen suits, lawsuits that allow people to sue corporations for violating the law—and government agencies that aren’t enforcing them. And we can win these fights, too. Even though we’re going up against opponents with huge budgets, luckily, in environmental law, facts can outweigh finances.

We’ll still need your help to keep up the fight. But together, we’ll take on the Trump administration and any of his big business friends who think they can skirt the law to make a quick buck. And we’ll defend our environment with the best possible legal defense.  

Donate to Food & Water Watch to stop Trump’s war on the EPA!