November 10, 2004
REVOLUTION UNDER THE RADAR:
Environment Officials See a Chance to Shape Regulations: With reelection of Bush, EPA plans to promote a pro-industry agenda. Critics fear an overhaul of decades-old protections. (Elizabeth Shogren and Kenneth R. Weiss, November 10, 2004, LA Times)
Emboldened by President Bush's victory, the nation's top environmental officials are claiming a broad mandate to refashion the regulation of air and water pollution and wildlife protection in ways that will promote energy production and economic development."The election was a validation of the philosophy and the agenda," said Mike Leavitt, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Environmental protections, he said, must be done "in a way that maintains the economic competitiveness of the country."
Leavitt pointed out that four more years give administration officials an opportunity to mold the environmental agency's professional staffs to more closely reflect their priorities. Leavitt said 35% of the EPA's staff would become eligible to retire in the next four years, giving him a chance to remake from the inside out the agency that takes the lead in enforcing air and water pollution and the cleanup of toxic dumps.
EPA should also lose its Cabinet status and be folded into Interior. Posted by Orrin Judd at November 10, 2004 10:20 AM
Agree with the cabinet idea. In the past I've called for Commerce to merge into Labor and be renamed Dept of Economy. And for EPA, Interior, and Energy to merge and be called Dept of Domestic Resources. But as we noted in the earlier thread about Evans Bush probably won't spend political capital on shrinking the cabinet departments.
Posted by: AWW at November 10, 2004 10:53 AMThe EPA should be about positive steps like encouraging conservation and the use of alternate sources of energy rather than merely using a stick to beat industry with.
Posted by: Bart at November 10, 2004 11:56 AMPut EPA in the Commerce Dept.
Posted by: luciferous at November 10, 2004 12:09 PM