The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will once again
roll over and play dead in the face of a federal ruling “that the EPA
overstepped its bounds in trying to regulate stormwater in a Northern Virginia
watershed…”[1]
Planet Earth’s old antagonist, Virginia Attorney General Ken
Cuccinelli, argued for the Virginia Department of Transportation[2]
and later joined by the Fairfax County[3]
Board of Supervisors (an unlikely bedfellow!) in the stormwater case against
the EPA.
Cuccinelli argued that the EPA stormwater regulations would
have cost Virginia and Fairfax County up to $300 million.[4]
As usual, Cuccinelli did not take into account the economic benefits of
stormwater regulations.
According to Cuccinelli, “This EPA mandate would have been
expensive, cumbersome and incredibly difficult to implement. “[5]
Taken out of context, one could imagine Cuccinelli was talking about his
security detail.
The EPA was attempting to restrict the flow of stormwater
into Accotink Creek in Fairfax County, arguing that the amount of runoff was
having a negative environmental impact and was subject to regulation.
And thus marks another chapter in the far-right conservative
battle with the environmental do-good agencies inside the federal government.
In case anyone has missed this point, the EPA has become a
whipping post for many far-right conservatives who see this environmental agency
as emblematic of federal government overreach, costly and needless regulations,
and of course, an evil plot to strip every American of their individual rights
and liberties.
For political figures like Cuccinelli, perhaps China is an
example of environmental protection and regulation which the US should emulate.
After all, businesses are allowed to pollute with little regulation or control,
a business paradise![6]
Only when it is too late or when they have long since passed
from this earth will the consequences of their carelessness be revealed. The environment
is not a bottomless repository for incessant pollution. Like individuals, the
environment has limits beyond which it cannot recover. If we haven’t already
passed that limit, we are well on our way thanks to Ken Cuccinelli and his band
of environmental bandits.
[1] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/4/epa-will-not-appeal-virginia-stormwater-ruling/
[2] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.virginiadot.org%2F&ei=X3Q2UZCKJab10gGNr4CYAg&usg=AFQjCNHHOl1A7tfWghnbvpJ35G1H47W_FA&sig2=0bnWAt388iZPsRrKzdF-sw&bvm=bv.43148975,d.dmQ
[3] https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CDMQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fairfaxcounty.gov%2F&ei=M3Q2UcaEMKPY0gGZhoGoAw&usg=AFQjCNFKiEdPmxZizezw5nFI9hW0xw2gOg&sig2=oIczf62xZ81KN_Ov4vmWsg&bvm=bv.43148975,d.dmQ
[4] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/4/epa-will-not-appeal-virginia-stormwater-ruling/
[5] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/4/epa-will-not-appeal-virginia-stormwater-ruling/
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_China
No comments:
Post a Comment