Senate report: Obama's Carbon Mandate: An Account of Collusion, Cutting Corners, and Costing Americans Billions
"WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, released a new EPW Majority Staff Oversight Report today entitled, Obama's Carbon Mandate: An Account of Collusion, Cutting Corners, and Costing Americans Billions. The report is the product of an ongoing investigation by committee republicans on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) development of Obama’s climate rules."
“'The report exposes how the Obama administration's collusion with outside environmental groups through the use of sue-and-settle tactics has cornered out public input in the rule making process,' said Inhofe. 'This oversight report discloses for the first time unredacted communications between EPA and NRDC, putting the final nail in the coffin of President Obama’s broken campaign promise for a new era of government transparency. Between the use of personal e-mail accounts and private meetings in a city park and coffee shops, there were clear attempts to avoid public involvement in crafting the carbon mandates. While EPA failed to even visit West Virginia for a field hearing on the proposed climate rules — less than 100 miles from EPA headquarters — the agency took calls from NRDC on Saturdays and in the evenings, giving them what appears to be unfettered access to EPA officials developing the rules the president announced this week. Just as disturbing, the e-mails show that EPA played politics with deadlines and misled the public on the timing of the rules to avoid election consequences. This report is not the end. The committee will continue to investigate and expose the legally-questionable actions taking place within the Obama administration regarding EPA’s costly rulemaking.'”
Full report (pdf): https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_ca...
But the Republicans refuse to defund Obama's chicanery.
“'The report exposes how the Obama administration's collusion with outside environmental groups through the use of sue-and-settle tactics has cornered out public input in the rule making process,' said Inhofe. 'This oversight report discloses for the first time unredacted communications between EPA and NRDC, putting the final nail in the coffin of President Obama’s broken campaign promise for a new era of government transparency. Between the use of personal e-mail accounts and private meetings in a city park and coffee shops, there were clear attempts to avoid public involvement in crafting the carbon mandates. While EPA failed to even visit West Virginia for a field hearing on the proposed climate rules — less than 100 miles from EPA headquarters — the agency took calls from NRDC on Saturdays and in the evenings, giving them what appears to be unfettered access to EPA officials developing the rules the president announced this week. Just as disturbing, the e-mails show that EPA played politics with deadlines and misled the public on the timing of the rules to avoid election consequences. This report is not the end. The committee will continue to investigate and expose the legally-questionable actions taking place within the Obama administration regarding EPA’s costly rulemaking.'”
Full report (pdf): https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/_ca...
But the Republicans refuse to defund Obama's chicanery.
This should be the rule for all executive branch agencies that have been anointed the ability to legislate.
But the way they "like" to do it, is to shut down an incredibly-obviously failing program and only when the media gets a hold of it, and just move the people to another program, giving the program manager the opportunity to double-down with another failure.
Instead, just close up the agency, fire everyone from the top down. It's the only way to be sure.
That argument has always been bullshit... adding a million people to 250 million doesn't cost the EPA a single penny, but they argue that it does.
It's time to just abolish all the crap that isn't in the Constitution. If the libs are not willing to, at this point, I'm not above supporting the active overthrow.
We need to get back to the basics and make the country competitive again, make the people 'work' again, and take away the food stamp lines. Everyone needs to watch this little video:
https://video-lax1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvi...
However, this practice of temporarily re-assigning FS bureaucrats to these fires to collect "hazard pay" and never go near a fire except with binoculars (very useful item) is a complete scam.
On top of that then there are the policies. I remember when a lightning caused fire got going on the west flank of the Stillwater Range in western Nevada. We were shopping in Raley's in Fallon that afternoon and saw the BLM firefighters loading up on steaks and beer and heading out to the fire. Now we could watch the fire and the fire fighting camp from our house with binoculars (very useful item). The fire was raging up the slope of the range and then we heard on the radio that because it was heading into a wilderness area, that they would not fight it. For three days the BLM sat in their camp just watching the devastation. With steaks and beer.
As a consequence of removing human activity from areas such as wilderness areas and now the public lands in general in the west, fires are on the increase. This then is touted as a major cause of reduction of sage grouse habitat, thereby justifying even more draconian restrictions of productive human behavior.
Grazing reduced the understory fuel load, thinning of forests did the same. I remember the decades long huge build-up of the fuel load in central Arizona in the chaparral country as a result of Forest Service and BLM policies. Some of the most horrendous fires in recent memory have taken place in that country at a cost of firefighters lives and billions of dollars of cost to the economy through the very fire fighting costs, let alone the lost productivity due to the reduced economic activity of grazing, mining and recreation travel that has been shut down.
Where I grew up on 150 acres was backed up to federal land. Lots of great Douglas Firs primarily but also a lot of scrub oak and madrone. At one point the caretakers from BLM asked us to clear it out to at least two hundred feet on the other side of our fence line. In return we gave them a key to the gate which saved about five miles Some years later we were sent a cease and desist notice from a new set of managers. They didn't return the key so we changed the locks. Contract is a contract. There was no thought of government liability naturally. Last I looked visiting the new owners the area was a tangled mess of half dead scrub right to the fence line. they still didn't rate a key but I think they just fenced off the other side. Can't win for losing.
That an not allowing logging companies to clear out blowdowns from storms, etc. Saw the result of that in Maine decades ago...
(Thanks for posting, ewv.)
I realize it's a good thing these "oversights" are still investigated; but the lack of consequences for the corruption they reveal increasingly emboldens these elitist/crony statists. Just think how much more often, in the last few years, you've thought, "they're not even trying to hide it anymore."
To them RINO means Republic In Name Only and to the Democrats Republican means gophers.
"Never let a good crisis go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
Sad, isn't it?