OPINION: Tom MacArthur Cannot Be Trusted Anymore

ABOVE: Public domain from Wikimedia.

Letter to the editor, by Jackie Lynch

Dear Editor,

Mr. MacArthur is making noise against offshore drilling on our coastline, BUT in actuality he votes in line with Trump 93.2% of the time and thus cannot be trusted.

I personally don’t trust Mr. MacArthur on any environmental issue since he’s already voted to allow mining companies to dump their waste sludge, including dangerous heavy metals like selenium, mercury, and arsenic, into America’s streams (H.J. Res. 38). Doesn’t MacArthur know that he represents a Congressional District that values its environment? Whether the streams are in Ocean County or the rest of the country, we are fiercely proud and protective of all of them since clean water is essential to all life forms.

Plus, Tom MacArthur and his buddies just let something very important expire (besides CHIP). It was the tax on oil companies that was used to clean up oil spills. The tax lapsed at the end of 2017. It was a measly 9 cents a barrel but was tremendously important in funding cleanups as it constituted the main source of revenue for the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. This is a huge tax break for the oil industry. Environmentalists call the tax lapse another industry victory under President Trump at the expense of people and wildlife located near sites susceptible to spills.

Interestingly, one of Mr. MacArthur’s industry donors is Energy Capital Partners, a private equity firm that “invests in North America’s energy infrastructure”!

I could go on and on how, at nearly every turn, he puts following the party-line or his donors ahead of you and me. For example, did you know he also voted for a bill to delay the compliance date for ground level ozone standards? This bill and its provisions to change the EPA’s ozone review cycle would roll back the Clean Air Act. Guess who wanted this bill? The American Petroleum Institute, and at least 146 other industry groups.

We do not need someone representing us in Congress who thinks it’s OK to fill our streams with an industry’s sludge or allows tax breaks to oil companies when it means canceling funds designated to clean up spills – basically not trusting him to actually protect us from any number of other environmental issues.

Repeal and replace him in November!

Editor’s note: The opinions in this letter are the author’s only.

Citizens’ Media TV encourages all viewpoints. Please submit your letters to the editor to citizensmediatv@gmail.com