Dysfunction and the EPA

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt and the attorneys general of 11 other states sued the Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday, demanding that the agency turn over documents the states allege will show the agency cooperates with environmental groups as part of a “sue and settle” legal strategy to develop regulations.

And

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City, alleges that binding consent decrees between the EPA and environmental groups that have sued the agency over the years have led to new rules and regulations for states without allowing their attorneys general to defend their interests and those of its businesses and consumers.

Pruitt noted,

The EPA is picking winners and losers, exhibiting favoritism, at the expense of due process and transparency.  They are manipulating our legal system to achieve what they cannot through our representative democracy.  The outcomes of their actions affect every one of us by sticking states with the bill and unnecessarily raising utility rates by as much as 20%.

Then there’s this:

[Des Moines Water Works] General Manager Bill Stowe has said if…water goes over the EPA safe limit and Iowa policymakers fail to sign off on a plan to regulate farm runoff, Des Moines Water Works may file a lawsuit asking a federal court to force the EPA to establish standards limiting runoff and enforcement.

The environmental groups also are prepared to sue the EPA for unreasonable delay if the agency doesn’t push the state harder to begin cleaning up livestock operations.

Exactly.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *