IBD:
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Texas was not amused and is the only state to refuse to implement the rules, filing suit against the EPA.
In Texas' suit, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the documented IPCC and CRU fraud, on which EPA findings are based, made any policy decisions based on that work flawed and unjustified.
Abbott cited several examples in which he said climate scientists engaged in an "ongoing, orchestrated effort to violate freedom of information laws, exclude scientific research and manipulate temperature data."
"With billions of dollars at stake, EPA outsourced the scientific basis for its greenhouse gas regulation to a scandal-plagued international organization (the IPCC) that cannot be considered objective or trustworthy," Abbott argued.
Perry , a champion of the 10th Amendment, says, "This legal action is being taken to protect the Texas economy and the jobs that go with it, as well as defend Texas' freedom to continue our successful environmental strategies free from federal overreach."
Two days after the midterm elections, President Obama served notice that the failure of the outgoing Congress to pass cap-and-trade and the unlikelihood of a GOP House pursuing the matter would not be an impediment.
"Cap-and-trade was just one way of skinning the cat; it was not the only way," he said. "I'm going to be looking for other means to address this problem."
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TCEQ is the world's second-largest environmental regulatory agency, after the EPA. Cesinger notes that the state's flexible air-quality permitting system, one that considers economic impact, has led to a 22% reduction in ozone and a 53% decrease in nitrous oxide since 2000.
This is not about the environment, but about power. It's about whether we will remain a constitutional republic in which the states retain the powers not given to the feds by the Constitution, or whether the feds can arbitrarily control our lives and usurp our freedoms based on flawed science and political ideology.
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The EPA needs to be defunded by the new Congress. It is this kind of anti energy policy that is making this country vulnerable to foreign production. It is also the kind of top down nonsense to which all states should object.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
The EPA and other agencies have become little fiefdoms, and you are right that defunding is one way to slow them down.
ReplyDeleteTexas, and other states, need to begin to divest ourselves of federal funding for any programs. In most cases, the only power of enforcement the Feds have is the withholding of funds, and the people who stand in our place in Austin need to know we will support them when they refuse to be bought. Perry and Abbott have set a good example on this and on the Unemployment funding issue. They need to go farther. We need to Just Say No and end our addiction to external money.
To the same end, our local governments also need to divest ourselves of state money, and thus restore our capacity to make the best decisions for our local needs without budgetary coercion.