House Republicans Aim To Slash EPA Budget — And That's Just The Beginning

Mother Jones:

Can the 112th Congress officially claim the mantle of "most anti-science" ever? So says Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), a 36-year veteran of congressional wrangling over environmental matters. Even the contentious fights over issues like the 1990 Clean Air Act amendments pale in comparison to the environmental battles of the current Congress, the 71-year-old lawmaker noted earlier this week: "I've never been in a Congress where there was such an overwhelming disconnect between science and public policy."

Read the whole story: Mother Jones

Comments

[Texas Technoman]

09:49 AM on 03/15/2011

The GOP will not be happy until we become the next Ecuador!

Texaco released 18.5bn gallons of produced water – the hot salty byproduct of drilling – into waterways instead of reinjecting it deep into the earth; that it used unlined earthen pits for permanent rather than temporary storage of waste; and that it chose not to report many spills. They allege widespread contamination of waterways and high levels of associated sickness, including cancer." (From Financial Times)

[pene]

09:40 AM on 03/14/2011

When Japan, the most prepared and efficiently coordinated country in the entire world couldn't keep it's nuclear power plants from degrading to a dangerous degree, don't we all feel reassured that the EPA will be dismantled and we'll be fending for ourselves if anything happens on just a fraction of the scale of the tsunami in Japan?
Sleep tight GOPTBs! You may not be smart and your hindsight is 0/0 but you've got rid of everything meaningful that stands in the way of the koch brothers. good for you.

[LALC]

02:40 AM on 03/14/2011

100% corporate driven policy. Look inside the pockets of our legislators.

[Acert]

12:02 AM on 03/14/2011

What is surprising about the GOP's telling its followers to disregard a mountain of scientific evidence? They did it with evolution. They did it to convince people that a blastocyst is a thinking, feeling, sentient person.

[imusintheevening]

11:31 AM on 03/14/2011

Well, in their defense compared to them the blastocyst is equivalent at thinking.

[nkurland]

11:09 PM on 03/13/2011

Even Noam Chomsky, by no means a fan of the two party system, has stated that the anti-science attitudes of the new members of the 112th Congress drastically increase the threat to survival posed by climate change.

Beyond that, consider the effects unrelated to climate change. Right now, the EPA is bolstering the existing regulations Utility MACT, which regards emissions, and the Transport rule that deals with pollution across state borders. The PERI Institute has found that these improvements would result in $196 billion capital investments over the next 5 years, creating a total of 1.5 million jobs.

In just one bill, through a combination of cuts to antipoverty programs and cuts to regulatory agency staffing, the House GOP has put 2.2. million jobs at risk. Nobody wins here.

[kcin]

06:35 PM on 03/13/2011

This is why the Republicans, since early in Bush's first term, have been pitting faith vs. science.

Once you get people to choose faith over science you can discount any science that might get in the way of a profit.

There is no common or shared goal to protect the planet. One group wants to keep the environment as healthy as possible, the other wants to make as much money as possible no matter the cost to the environment.

[jujub]

06:06 PM on 03/13/2011

Cough cough Koch cough cough Koch...the Republican Strategy.

[farmilyman]

05:49 PM on 03/13/2011

It's not enough for the gop to destroy the wealth of the working class, they need to destroy their health too.

[onehenry]

03:55 PM on 03/13/2011

There is nothing surprising here with the republicans. They are looking to have the same policies of China as far as pollution. Dirty air, dirty rivers, and the cheapest wages available.

[ariveria]

04:07 PM on 03/13/2011

actually china has gone along way to cleaning up its air and rivers.

but there is a kernel of truth in your post. the republican/conservative/teabaggers wont be happy till america is a third world oligarchy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

“When the Holy One Blessed be He created Adam, He took him and caused him to pass before all the trees of the Garden of Eden. He said to him, ‘See how beautiful and praiseworthy are my works; and all that I have created, I have created for your sake. Take heed that you do not damage and destroy my world.’” (Koheleth Rabbah 7:28)

[AnthropologistAmongApes]

03:47 PM on 03/13/2011

Has anyone here ever met an environmentally literate conservative? Its stunning to me that such people think their might makes them right while being so utterly vacant. Perhaps that lack of depth always defaults to money-grubbing, and thus anything threatening their greed is always the enemy. I cite the posts on these blogs as evidence of how little content is ever expressed by the conservative mind; and how that fact is indicative of such vacancy. The exceptions are so few that they are irrelevant. I'm still waiting for just one right wing mind to prove me wrong in discourse.

[triplettam]

12:38 AM on 03/14/2011

Well, actually the EPA was started by Nixon. Which does not disprove your overriding point. It's just good to remember for when the Republicans mount their assault on the EPA.

[Scotishpinkocommie]

03:05 PM on 03/13/2011

Stupid EPA not wanting coal power plants putting mercury, arsenic sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, Carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and radon in to the air. No one is forcing you to breath or drink water.

[reasonshouldrule]

03:28 PM on 03/13/2011

Zing! Fanned.

[chazandru]

02:15 PM on 03/13/2011

As a nine issue voter, & one who saw people & animals devastated by the use of ddt in the 60's, the environment- clean water, clean air, & safe food sources are at the top of my list. If we're being poisoned, no other issue matters. The Citizens United Ruling is going to make this attack on the EPA even more deadly as judges & house legislators, elected with money from corporate donors, will be inclined to rule and vote in favor of their benefactors instead of the people. I lack objectivity on this so I will just provide the lyrics of a song George Carlin sang on the Flip Wilson song back in the early 70's. Couldn't find the link, but i never forgot the words...you sing it to the tune of America the Beautiful, something the majority of the elected Republicans praise but fail to protect, even though being good stewards of the earth was one of the first laws God gave mankind.

"Oh Beautiful, For Blackened Skies, Insecticided Grain/ For Strp Mined Mountains Majesty/
Above an asphalt plain/ America, America, Man sheds his waste on thee/ And billboard signs hide great green pines/ from sea to oily sea."

If you love your children, if you have hope for your grandchildren & want leave this world better than you found it, find candidates, including judges, of any party who will promise to fund the EPA and to raise fines on those who abuse our country and our earth.

[1differentdrummer]

02:47 PM on 03/13/2011

George was the man.

[dayzee10]

01:00 PM on 03/13/2011

who needs the EPA? We retealibanbaggericans put our trust in BPand all the other oil companies, Haliburton, Dow Chemical and all the other polluting corps. We trust all the nuclear corps and coal produced energy corps to do the right thing. The end is near, MAYANS 2012!!!!!!!!

[iskra]

12:54 PM on 03/13/2011

Let's face it, long term thinking is dead in America. 

We compete against other nations who are able to think years ahead and develop programs that have long term benefit. China as an example with it's investments in high-speed rail that won't be complete till 2020. 

Here in America we have a hard time focusing on anything past the next quarterly results. 

It's all about short term profit, often pushing the long term costs down the road and pretending that is success.

[reasonshouldrule]

03:30 PM on 03/13/2011

You have said it true. That is the major problem with our type of capitalism, the short-term thinking that leads to short-terms incentives and long-term devastation.

I'm already a fan, but I've got to fave you, and I'd do it a hundred times if I could.

[alistairpolitic]

07:44 AM on 03/14/2011

The truth sets you free and you're bringing it!

[exhale09]

08:36 AM on 03/13/2011

Republicans support equal opportunity polluters...so the EPA must go.