The EPA

Environmentalism's decline continues apace. Not only can we not find legislative majorities to do anything about climate change, but it's quite possible that the Senate will have a filibuster-proof majority to pass a bill undermining the Environmental Protection Agency's ability to do the first thing about it. That's incredibly depressing, especially knowing that many Democrats are on board. The bad Democrats are a combination of the usual rightist suspects, swing state senators up for reelection in 2012, and energy state senators like Carl Levin.

Not all that long ago, environmentalism was the most popular cause in America. While politicians truly beholden to industry fought against environmental regulations, a large number of Republicans joined Democrats to take care of our nation's environmental problems.

Those days have passed. And today, the United States continues the world's headlong plunge toward massive climate change.

The Bush Environmental Legacy

The Times explorers the nightmarish Bush environmental legacy, compiling an excellent report on the massive EPA violations the administration allowed. To be specific, the Bush administration both hamstrung the EPA and got the word out to the states that violations would be pretty much ignored. Because of this, water is polluted throughout the country. Water quality has reached lows not seen since before the Clean Water Act was passed; in some places, particularly in the Appalachian coal country, it is far worse. The picture here from the Times article is the effects of this water tattooed upon a young boy's body.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, it was concerns like this that fueled the environmental movement. That could happen again today. But polluters are smarter today. Rather than dump coal slurry directly into the rivers, the coal companies are pumping it back into deserted mines. No one sees it, but it is still disposed straight into the water supply.

Clearly this needs to be a top priority for the Obama Administration. Activists interviewed in the article express some hope. But with climate change the top priority for Obama, they also wonder to what extent his appointees will pay enough attention to water to make a difference. What the EPA needs is a massive influx of funding to enforce laws against polluters. Perhaps funding the EPA through violations would be a good idea--there are dangers with agencies getting funding from those they punish (see the police and drug seizures), but this is a case where it could make a real positive difference.

The EPA Finally Does Something Right

The EPA is finally (probably) going to declare that greenhouse gases are "pollutants" under the Clean Air Act.  This could possibly lead to much-needed regulations on car emissions and other industries that emit large amounts of greenhouse gases.  

I've never been the biggest fan of the EPA because I think it just loves big business too much to make any of the "radical" changes that are needed, but maybe this will be its chance to make me change my mind...

Meet an Asshat

The EPA (whose administrators seems to think the acronym stands for “the Environment is Perfectly A-okay) is back in the news, along with its asshat appointees. A few days ago, four senators called for the resignation of Stephen L. Johnson, sycophantic asshat and the current EPA muckety-muck. Johnson is no stranger to controversy; his confirmation in 2005 was something of a battle because of his views on human subjects and various kinds of chemical tests (especially the CHEERS program, which involved studying developmental problems in children 0 – 3 by paying families that lived in suspected pesticide-laced areas to allow researchers to see how fucked up their kids got because of the pesticides… you know, instead of relocating them or cleaning up the chemical mess). Johnson finally suspended the program as a bargaining chip to get confirmed.

Johnson used to work for a company called Hazelton Laboratories (prior to his stint at the EPA, he worked in the biotech industry), which had many high profile problems with their alleged poor treatment of animal subjects in their labs. On a fun note, he did his undergraduate degree at Taylor University (not too far from where I grew up), which is a batshit crazy Christian evangelical private college.

One of the larger controversies has come in the wake of his sabotaging of state efforts to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. The EPA fought Massachusetts’s right to regulate emissions all the way to the Supreme Court; the EPA lost. Nature has a great article chronicling the whole debacle, including entreaties from his staff to sign the waiver to allow states like California to regulate. My favorite line from the article:
"It is also worth noting that his refusal documentation, made official on 29 February, extensively quotes an industry trade association, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers."

It has gotten so bad at the EPA that most of the agency’s professional staff, aided by their unions, sent an open letter to Johnson detailing the egregious lapses in judgment he has shown in his unwavering deference to the Bush Administration. Among the most serious charge is his alleged repeated ignoring of the EPA’s Principles of Scientific Integrity.

This brings us back to the here and now; EPA staff have reportedly been told they are not allowed to cooperate with any Congressional investigation, talk to reporters, or even cooperate with the agency’s own internal office of investigation. Johnson has even refused to appear before a Senate committee. It appears they are trying to stonewall the investigations until at least after the election. Apparently enough is enough; the four democratic senators that have called for his resignation include one my senators, Barbara Boxer, who is something of Johnson’s arch-nemesis in the Senate. I’m not particularly hopeful he will actually resign—it looks like we’re stuck until January. This ridiculous situation with one of the country’s most important agencies really hits home the disaster that would be a McCain administration—more asshat industry shills in high places (Erik dealt with this eloquently in his post from a few days ago regarding Nixon, the EPA, and political control of environmental regulation).

Smog Standards

The Bush Administration continues its war against the environment. Despite unanimous advice from scientists to create tough new smog standards, the Environmental Protection Agency decided to enact only moderate changes that essentially do nothing. To make it worse, EPA head Stephen Johnson wants Congress to change the law so that the EPA can take into account the costs of smog control. While this is the kind of thing that sounds good, what it means is that any environmental law would be thrown out the window in the face of an administration who doesn't want it. This is despite the fact that almost every study shows that increased environmental stringency ends up saving money in the long run, sometimes through a healthier population, but often through forcing companies to be more efficient, thus increasing profits.

I've heard and read in several places that the rank and file employees at the EPA have been extremely depressed since Bush took over. This is the kind of decision that must feel like a knife in the heart for these good people.