The Environmental Protection Agency’s triggering of massive water pollution in four western states is further proof that the federal government has lost sight of its environmental responsibilities and has no business burdening Americans with costly rules on emissions, water or ozone.
That’s the conclusion of Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Chris Horner in the wake of more than three million gallons of contaminated water escaping from an abandoned Colorado gold mine. The Animas River turned orange as gallon after gallon of water containing arsenic, lead and other dangerous metals escaped the Gold King Mine as a result of work done by EPA contractors trying to shore up the mine.
“They were trying to clean up areas near a very old mine that had been considered a problem waiting to happen or a slow-moving train wreck and they came in and made it disastrously worse,” said Horner.
In the days following the disaster, the EPA has offered very limited comment and been criticized for its sluggishness in updating the extent of the problem. Horner says the EPA would never let a private firm get away with this kind of response.
“It’s the kind of spill that if it occurred as the result of the private sector would lead to the EPA demanding, shrieking to the heavens that they be granted all sorts of further authority over the private sector so that this thing doesn’t happen,” he said, noting that accountability is not a two-way street at the EPA.
“Everybody makes mistakes. EPA’s reason for existence and constant expansion is that they don’t make mistakes like others. The problem is government is not like you and I. They’re not accountable,” said Horner.
Horner says the EPA’s clumsy handling of the Gold King Mine contamination means it should never be permitted to enforce sweeping new regulations on citizens and businesses.
“It comes amid their biggest demand for authority over the private sector, wrapped in this veil of saintliness and goodness and perfection and competence. This reminds us the agency clearly does not possess it,” said Horner.
Because of the EPA’s pursuit of lower carbon emission standards and new rules on water and ozone, Horner says the agency can’t keep its eyes on the job it’s supposed to be doing.
As a result, he says Congress ought to take an aggressive stand against the EPA overreach.
“You know what Congress ought to say? ‘This is a big red flag. You are not accountable. That is clear. And you want to redesign the electricity system. What happens when you take that out of the hands of the people that delivered a miracle, the modern electricity system, and give it to an unaccountable bureaucracy that has no expertise in this,'” said Horner.
“This is an agency running around, pretending to control the weather with rules they acknowledge will have no impact on the weather. But it’s a good excuse to do something they’ve always wanted to do,” he added.
Among the carbon, water and ozone rules, Horner finds the recent power plant emissions rule the most troubling.
“You’re threatening the country with a blackout. There are terrific, tremendous, immediate human health and environment consequences, life and death consequences from that,” said Horner.
“[The rule] was driven, expressly according to the president, to finally make renewable energy profitable. That’s not a legitimate purpose of government. And to bankrupt companies he didn’t like. You need to hit the brakes on that immediately because you’re going to kill people. This agenda is killing people in Europe right now, which may be one of the reasons the president stopped telling us to look to Europe to see how it’s going to turn out,” added Horner.
