CPR Member Scholar Joel Mintz has an op-ed in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel taking a look at the House's continuing resolution for the FY 2011 budget and what it would do to the EPA. Writes Mintz:
House leaders would have us believe they're cutting fat from the budget. In fact, they're taking dead aim at nerves, muscles, and vital organs. EPA's existing regulations — and their enforcement — provide vital protections against emissions of toxic air and water pollutants, contamination of public water supplies, the abuse of dangerous pesticides, exposure of school children to asbestos, releases of poisonous chemicals from abandoned hazardous waste dumps, and the destruction of fish, shellfish, and other aquatic life.
If the House-proposed EPA budget cuts — or anything anywhere close to them — are enacted into law, EPA's ability to implement all of those protections (along with other important facets of its work) would be very severely restricted. The EPA might well be forced to reduce the size of its already overburdened work force, making it all the more difficult to enforce environmental laws. EPA's crucial contributions to protect vast natural resources and ecosystems — including those in the Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, San Francisco Bay, Puget Sound, and Long Island Sound will also be dramatically reduced.
The full op-ed is here.
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Ben Somberg | March 23, 2011
CPR Member Scholar Joel Mintz has an op-ed in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel taking a look at the House’s continuing resolution for the FY 2011 budget and what it would do to the EPA. Writes Mintz: House leaders would have us believe they’re cutting fat from the budget. In fact, they’re taking dead aim at […]
| March 22, 2011
Friday, the first traces of the plume of radioactive gas from the damaged Japanese reactors were reported to reach California. The cornerstone of international environmental law is often said to be the “prevention principle,” which says that states have “the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the […]
Rebecca Bratspies | March 21, 2011
The twin natural disasters that struck Japan this month, earthquake and tsunami, left a trail of devastation in their path. Entire villages were lost. The death toll currently stands at more than 8,000 but is expected to rise much higher (more than 13,000 are missing). Even as survivors struggle for shelter, warmth and food, the natural […]
Robert Adler | March 18, 2011
A decision issued on March 15 by a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated portions of EPA’s Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations, issued most recently in 2008, governing water pollution from concentrated animal feeding operations, or “CAFOs”. In National Pork Producers Council, et al. v. United States Environmental Protection […]
Rena Steinzor | March 17, 2011
Who’s the most powerful person in the Executive Branch these days, other than the President, the Vice President, their chiefs of staff, and—on any given day—the Secretaries of Defense or State? If odd Senate bedfellows Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) have their way, the new, genuinely imperial regulatory czar will be one Dr. […]
Rena Steinzor | March 16, 2011
My bet is that EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will do a little victory dance in her office before going home this evening. She’s earned it. After 20 years of false starts, EPA is issuing today the first proposed rule to control poisonous mercury emissions from power plants. They’re doing it despite a concerted blast of […]
Rena Steinzor | March 16, 2011
This morning a House Agriculture subcommittee will hold a hearing to “review the Chesapeake Bay TMDL, agricultural conservation practices, and their implications on national watersheds.” Observers should be prepared for a trip to an alternate world. The Chesapeake Bay has suffered for decades now because of nitrogen, phosphorous, and sediment pollution. Once-abundant fish, blue crab, […]
Frank Ackerman | March 15, 2011
Cross-posted from Real Climate Economics. True or false: Risks of a climate catastrophe can be ignored, even as temperatures rise? The economic impact of climate change is no greater than the increased cost of air conditioning in a warmer future? The ideal temperature for agriculture could be 17 degrees C above historical levels? All true, […]
Rena Steinzor | March 11, 2011
Not to be outdone by the Small Business Administration’s aptly named Office of Advocacy, the Chamber of Commerce has issued its own breathless report on how many jobs we could save if we did away with environmental, land use, and utility regulations. Crunching a bunch of dubious numbers, the SBA Office of Advocacy’s consultants, Nicole […]