Environmental Protection Agency

Lisa Jackson, Rachel Maddow, and Richard Nixon discuss the environment

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.10773524&w=425&h=350&fv=launch%3D45395747%26amp%3Bwidth%3D400%26amp%3Bheight%3D320] EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson was on Rachel Maddow's show last night, talking about how clean air and water should not be partisan issues. In what is perhaps a show first, Maddow opened the segment with a non-ironic quoting of Richard Nixon, who established the EPA back before Republicans made it into some […]

Lobbyists scoff at the idea of children’s health

The New York Times has a big article about the fight for ozone regulation, which apparently was pretty much EPA chief Lisa P. Jackson versus the world. It's an interesting meditation on the power of buzzwords — namedropping "the economy" and "jobs" helped neutralize support for the regulations, even though analyses showed that they wouldn't […]

Republicans are taking real vote on imaginary dust regulations

A House subcommittee is voting today on a bill that would bar the EPA from regulating farm dust. Of course, the EPA isn't trying to regulate farm dust, but voting on legislation that has anything to do with reality is so pre-midterms. Republicans like John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Herman Cain have been citing the […]

Rep. Markey blasts GOP for making real laws to solve fake problems

This is the honest-to-god title of the video above as posted to Rep. Ed Markey’s official YouTube account, and also the news release on his website: “Oct. 25, 2011: GOP Farm Dust Bill A Waste of Time Cooked Up in Fantasy-Land.” Guys, he is awesome. Is it weird if he reminds me of Alan Alda? […]

Perry's energy plan is a Big Oil wet dream

This is not a surprise or anything, but Rick Perry unveiled what we'll charitably call an "energy plan," and it's printed on oil-soaked paper with oil-based ink.

What do banana peels and coal ash have in common?

Americans want strong protections against toxic coal ash — that’s why they submitted more than 450,000 public comments during the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) process to put long-overdue protections in place. Unfortunately, Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) recently introduced the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act of 2011 (H.R. 2273), which would handcuff EPA’s ability to […]

No, the EPA is NOT expanding 1,350 percent

Apparently the right-wing blogosphere, not to mention some "news" organizations, will believe just about anything about the EPA. The most recent ridiculous rumor is that the agency, which currently employs 17,000 people, is on track to hire "230,000 new bureaucrats" -- at taxpayer expense, natch -- while bumping its $8.7 billion budget up to $21 billion.

How did this happen? Basically, the world's dumbest game of telephone.

Oh, now we're not regulating greenhouse gases either

The EPA, as expected, has decided to postpone making rules about carbon dioxide and other harmful gas emissions from power plants. I mean, greenhouse gas regulations? How is that REMOTELY the job of the Environmental Protection Agency, amirite?

Obama blows smog in everyone's face

President Obama has yanked back the EPA's proposed new restrictions on ground-level ozone (i.e. smog). That's a huge win for Big Business, which had claimed it couldn't weather an economic downturn AND keep from suffocating people at the same time. But it's an equally huge loss for everyone else -- especially since the reason the EPA was revising the smog standards in the first place was because the allowable limit was well above safe levels, according to the agency's science advisors.