It doesn’t take rocket science to tell the climate is changing. More severe weather worldwide is an obvious clue. Even in temperate Portland, summers are getting hotter and winters colder. The loss of so much of the polar ice cap is also a dead giveaway. Any sane person would want to prevent these changes from getting worse. Enter the Republican Party with a bill to hamstring the EPA’s efforts to regulate greenhouse gasses.
In a sharp challenge to the Obama administration, House Republicans intend to unveil legislation Wednesday to ban the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act and expect to advance the bill quickly, officials disclosed Tuesday night.
The officials said the bill would nullify all of the steps the EPA has taken to date on the issue, including a threshold finding that greenhouse gases constitute a danger to the public health and welfare.
In addition, it seeks to strip the agency of its authority to use the law in any future attempts to crack down on the emissions from factories, utilities and other stationary sources.
Many scientists say that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollution contribute to global warming, and attempts at regulating them is a major priority for President Barack Obama as well as environmentalists… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Huffington Post>
Allowing energy companies to externalize the cost of their damage to the environment helps the rich get richer. I suppose Republicans think that, if they are rich enough, their children will be able to afford locations that are still habitable.
10 Responses to “Republicans Try to Hamstring EPA”
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As far as I can tell, House Republicans’ assault on the EPA will just be another empty self-contained gesture like their “repeal” of health care reform. They pass these ridiculous laws knowing they won’t even be voted on in the Senate; or if there’s a vote the bill will be defeated.
I guess it’s a way for Republicans to stoke their corporate masters if they can say “well, we’re trying.”
I don’t expect their effort to go far in the Senate, Tom. However, it’s what they truly want, based on what they did when they had the power.
Yeah the rich will be able to afford Gucci breathing masks. The poor will have to settle for a kleenex.
Kleenex, Marva? I don’t think so. We’ll be lucky if it’s generic TP.
Between this bill and the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”, I have a newfound disgust for the current crop of conservative Republicans.
The new crop does the same thing as during the Bush Regime.
“I suppose Republicans think that, if they are rich enough, their children will be able to afford locations that are still habitable.”
That is spot on!
They already have their own private schools, private airports, private firefighters, private roads, etc. They are working feverishly to protect themselves from the consequences of what they do.
Thanks Lib. That’s exactly the point I was trying to make. They isolate themselves from the effects of the damage they cause.
I smeel a pair of Kock brothers at work here…as they have always been. Just like Daddy Kock was a kock so are the sons and grandsons.
Mark, I think you’re right. The Crotch brothers are in this up to their crooked ears.