In regard to Brad Kramer’s response to my column two weeks ago, it’s misleading to say that “government produces nothing.” While our government isn’t directly making cars or other products, it maintains the platform where those products can be more effectively and safely produced and sold. Government provides education, increases public health, enforces laws, stabilizes markets, invests in infrastructure and funds basic science research. These all make our economy massively more productive.

If still not convinced, please visit countries where the government is less transparent, more corrupt and more absent (outside of military presence) to appreciate what good government is capable of achieving for public benefit. Weak public institutions are associated with conflict and poorer quality of life. If one stayed in Haiti, Venezuela, Somalia or Afghanistan, then one could perhaps appreciate better why countries like Denmark, Sweden and Norway with the most “socialistic” democratic governments are also consistently among the most healthy, wealthy and equitable places to live.

As for the EPA, environmental regulations have a useful purpose, though updates are often necessary. Both specific instances that Brad Kramer cites as government overreach actually do protect public health and the environment.

Flour mills are usually located in cities and need to filter their exhaust because the fine particulates trigger asthma attacks and allergies. Use of filters to address this problem in Minneapolis predates the Clean Air Act. Perhaps if a flour mill were located next to farm fields (instead of next to convenient grain sources and shipping options), this would be overkill.

Spoiled sugar beets can be spread on fields up to a certain amount per acre, following guidelines for distances from private and public wells. I confirmed this with Dan Aamodt at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Too high a concentration is like over-fertilizing a field — it produces runoff that adds excessive nitrogen to the watershed, which can adversely affect drinking water quality and cause eutrophication.

While most Trump supporters don’t want toxic sludge dumped into their communities, Scott Pruitt’s goals for the EPA would give companies more leeway to do exactly that — with less public knowledge due to reduced monitoring. In addition, a spending bill released by the Republican-controlled Senate would eliminate the Integrated Risk Information System, which does risk analyses and exposure assessments on thousands of chemicals. Toxic chemicals will trickle down to the rest of us much faster than any economic benefits of the Republican’s tax giveaways to the donor class.

As for local sportsmen’s clubs, many have worked with government to protect wetlands and grasslands. Ducks Unlimited, recognizing the threat of climate change to waterfowl populations and its 70 years of conservation efforts, has proactively worked to reduce atmospheric carbon — in partnership with government, not in spite of it. Government is still one of the most effective ways to address our biggest shared challenges.

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

Albert Lea