Newt Gingrich is at it again. In an attempt to "one up" his fellow Tea-Party political climbers, "Contract on America" (COA) Newt has declared that Congress should abolish the EPA. Actually, maybe I am not being fair. He wants to disband the agency, ripping out the "protection" part of the EPA's mission, and replace it with a shiny new teeny-tiny organization that is going to work closely with corporate polluters. COA Newt wants the new entity to focus on science (that he doesn't seem to believe in) and technology (that he wants to cut spending for). What hypocrisy! He goes on to point out his belief that "the EPA is basically opposing things." You mean, things like dirty air, COA Newt? I am pretty happy that their goal is still protection. I just wish we had an agency that could protect us from these kinds of ridiculous ideas.
The Environmental PROTECTION Agency PROTECTS my family. The fundamental laws it enforces keep our water drinkable, swimmable, and fishable. EPA has reduced the number of asthma visits to emergency rooms by our kids (and still has a ways to go). EPA provides small communities low-interest loans to update their sewers and water infrastructure. EPA cleans up toxic waste dumps when the corporate polluters (you know, the ones COA New wants to partner with) abandon them -- leaving communities -- often the poorest -- in crisis. COA Newt might want to paint EPA scientists as a bunch of bureaucratic tree huggers but make no mistake -- this agency is all about the health of your family.
In the past, I would have just ignored this blather as another wild idea from New, like when he proposed essentially eliminating the State Department. But, the truth is we can't ignore this because these ridiculous ideas have been treated seriously lately as they are repeated to the Tea-Party radio listeners and echoed on Fox Network as somehow valid.
We need to talk about how radical, dangerous and out-of-the-mainstream this idea is at every opportunity. We must tell the other parents at daycare pickup. We must mock this idea on Facebook, Twitter, under our email signatures. You get the idea. One can no longer assume that outlandish suggestions by disgraced politicians will just die of their own weight. We need to explain why they're counter to the public interest -- to your families. Making our case is easy to do, but we have to do it.
We need to put out this wildfire before it starts.
The blog was first posted in NRDC's Action Fund blog, The Mark Up.
Follow Heather Taylor-Miesle on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NRDC_AF
I drive through Texas City and Pasadena a couple times a month. I'd rather the EPA have a say in all the chemicals being pumped into the air than just allowing the companies to monitor themselves. Rick Perry would let them get away with far more emissions in the name of business, but at the expense of the health of the local residents.
For the past six years, the Alaska Railroad has been planning an extension from Eielson Air
Force Base to Delta Junction. This would be the first leg of a rail connection to the Canadian
Rail system. Much needed, in my opinion. Rail is a very efficient form of transport. The first
step in this extension would be to build a bridge over the Tanana River at Salcha, Alaska.
So the Environmental Impact Statements, etc. etc. were all finalized last fall, with the EPA
part of the entire process. Other potential river crossings were discussed and dismissed.
Everyone was in agreement on the proposed plan and contracts were put up for bid.
Construction seasons are short up here and contractors need to know what to plan on.
And then, in November of 2011, the Alaska Railroad received a letter from the EPA stating
that, in its opinion, the Tanana River was an ARNI (Aquatic Resource of National Importance)
and that construction of the bridge would disturb willows and sedges, among other things, and the project could not go forward. And to date it isn't. See northernrailextension.com for more info.
Alaska lacks much of the infrastructure most areas of the country have. Guess we'll never
get our rail link, because making that omelette would involve breaking a few eggs.
We have a drinking water delivery business,
we are very aware of all the regulations in place
to prevent the sort of abuses that happened in the past.
The situation I am describing is not of that order.
The EPA was party to all of the meetings and signed
off on the Environmental Impact Statement. Then, at
the 11th hour, it suddenly decided the Tanana River should
not be bridged, just because they, the EPA, said so.
This is blatant obstructionism.
How much infrastructure do you take for granted, that you
travel on daily ? How much of it could be constructed in today's
regulatory environment ? There is such a thing as over-regulation.
The biggest war we face in the next 30 years is not with terrorists but rather with vested interests of the extraction industries. Everything they produce can be replaced by a better cleaner products, yet they will do anything to stop progress and keep their profits rolling in.
They make a fortune removing timber and fossil fuels from public lands for which they pay ridiculously low royalties. Then they receive billions in tax write offs to subsidize them for the royalties- in other words you and I reimburse them for the fee they paid us. Legalized theft.
Everyone should be very concerned that these horrible industries are also moving to privatize water. Those who have spoken out are concerned about the cost to us all. What is not discussed is the fact that if water resources are all in the hands of polluters there will be no way to defend our water supply. The polluters are certainly not going to sue themselves.
If someone dumps a jar of LSD into a water supply, they get charged with attempted murder at the very least, but pump toxic fracking fluid and you get an invitation to the state house. Local and state police could arrest people and companies dumping and hope the prosecutor will actually do what they should do as well. Again it is part of our criminal justice system that has been neglected.
China is now one of the MOST POLLUTED NATIONS ON EARTH with much of it's ground water so poisoned by factory and agribusiness chemicals etc. that the water is undrinkable and not even fit for farm irrigation. Many Chinese must now filter their drinking water to prevent being poisoned.
A large portion of China's rivers are so polluted that they are virtually lifeless and after factories dump their toxic load into these rivers the poisoned waters flow out to coastal waters, poisoning and killing marine life.
There is now a nearly continous line of coal trucks which have created semi-permanent traffic jams from China's northern coal fields to manufacturing centers to the south. The heavy reliance on this coal to power Chinese and multi-national manufacturing has made China's air some of the most polluted in the world. Many urban Chinese and Chinese who live near manufacturing centers must wear face masks to protect their lungs/respiratory tracts from damage.
Many of the multi-nationals who now manufacture in China left their home countries to escape/avoid:
-pollution laws,
-labor laws
-paying taxes in their home countries,
Now we're seeing the results of this kind of unregulated manufacturing.
Chinese workers are heavily exploited, underpaid, powerless.
Additionally, China is very inefficient and uses more energy per unit of output than the US. They're a big issue and nobody wants to take them on seriously. Probably because they hold a lot of US debt and we can't afford for them to quit buying our bonds. The fact they devalue the Juan just adds to the problem. We need to get our budget balanced so we not beholden to the Chinese or oil rich middle-east countries.
God Bless Captain Eddie.