Smog is bad in Denver in these dog days of summer — not an unusual situation for the city.
Recently, EPA investigators took a tour of oil and gas facilities northeast of Denver armed with infrared cameras, which can record smog-forming emissions that are invisible to the naked eye.
Aiming the camera at pipelines, valves and hatches atop storage tanks, the EPA regulators found numerous sources of "fugitive emissions" — those leaking from various areas of the facility — during a two-hour drive-by of the region last week.
Nice job, EPA investigators! I mean, right? Seeking out sources of pollution? Enforcing laws? Yippee?
Turns out not everyone approves:
Sen. James Inhofe, a Republican and regular critic of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the agency’s actions reported in a June 20 Rocky Mountain News story "give rise to concern" and threaten the "trust" between regulators and industry.
Yes, if the regulators go, you know, investigating and regulating and whatnot, how will industry ever trust them again?
Good god. Has this guy always been such a self-parody?
