In Kansas, Rallying to Support EPA

by Ben Proffer · 2010-03-24 12:12:00 UTC
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Kansas City is as close to America's conservative heart as Glenn Beck is to the nut factory, but her citizens came together on National Clean Air Day to request that the EPA enforce stricter air quality standards. How could this have happened in a state that should be environmentally deadlocked? With a little help from the universal center: Children.

At a rally last week outside the regional EPA office in support of stiffer clean air regulations, Dr. Nicholas Comninellis, president of the Institute for International Medicine and one of the speakers at the event in North Kansas City, called on every citizen to protect our children from ozone pollution "so harmful to lung tissue it can rightly be compared to causing a deep 'sunburn' on the inside."

In addition to Comninellis's powerfully illustrative argument, there was an appeal to the wallet — in support of cleaner air. Chad Manspeaker (seriously), the Public Affairs Director for Laborers' Local Union 1290, promised that Kansas City's workers who are no longer building houses are waiting to pickup the green ball and roll with it. "These jobs include construction of new wind farms, building smarter transportation infrastructure, and improving energy efficiency of public buildings," he said.

Kansas City's air quality is hurt primarily from automotive pollution, coal-fired power plants, and the annual spring burns in the Flint Hills. As Dr. Comninellis said, "healthy environment is synonymous with a healthy community."

Photo credit: Library of Congress

Ben Proffer is an environment writer and has written for Sherman’s Travel and New York magazines.
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