Protect environment?

First there was the embarrassment of North Carolina’s sea-level rise law, which called for ignoring scientific studies when considering coastal development. Now we learn that John Skvarla, newly appointed head of the state’s environment protection agency, is apparently a climate-change denier (“Skvarla hints at views on global warming” Feb. 10).

Obviously one of the goals of this Republican-controlled General Assembly is to gut any environmental regulations deemed “unfriendly” to business, so why not stop insulting our intelligence and just disband the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources altogether? Or at least rename it to something that doesn’t imply its mission is to actually protect the environment.

Paul Bassett

Pittsboro