Monday, April 28, 2014

The Arrogance of the EPA

Looks like the IRS will have to share the moniker of most oppressive government agency with the EPA. While the IRS says "we'll do as we damn well please and don't have to answer to anybody" the EPA says basically the same thing.

EPA Chief Promises To Go After Republicans Who Question Agency Science
 Environmental Protection Agency administrator Gina McCarthy has issued a warning to Republicans who continue to question the integrity of the agency’s scientific data: we’re coming for you.
McCarthy told an audience at the National Academy of Sciences on Monday morning the agency will go after a “small but vocal group of critics” who are arguing the EPA is using “secret science” to push costly clean air regulations.
“Those critics conjure up claims of EPA secret science — but it’s not really about EPA science or secrets. It’s about challenging the credibility of world renowned scientists and institutions like Harvard University and the American Cancer Society,” McCarthy said, according to Politico.
“It’s about claiming that research is secret if researchers protect confidential personal health data from those who are not qualified to analyze it — and won’t agree to protect it,” she added. “If EPA is being accused of secret science because we rely on real scientists to conduct research, and independent scientists to peer review it, and scientists who’ve spent a lifetime studying the science to reproduce it — then so be it.”
Republicans Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana and Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas have led the charge on pressing the EPA to make publicly available the scientific data behind its clean air regulations. McCarthy promised she would make such data publicly available during her confirmation process last year. Now her refusal to cough up the data has angered Republicans.~snip~
On top of the fact that the EPA's regulations are helping push electric rates ever higher they don't seem to feel the need to justify their onerous regulations by sharing the data they use to continuously oppress the taxpayers with ever larger expenditures of our tax dollars.
This is another government agency that needs to be eliminated by congress.

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