WASHINGTON D.C. — Dr. Steven F. Hayward, an environmental scholar and board member of the Institute for Energy Research, published an op-ed in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal calling for Congress to establish a bipartisan commission to protect the public against a single, unchecked political appointee wielding unilateral authority over the nation’s environmental regulations:
The EPA Is Politicized — So Make It Official
This federal regulatory agency, like many others, would be better run by a bipartisan commission.
By STEVEN F. HAYWARD
WSJ, A11, Jan. 9, 2013Lisa Jackson, who announced on Dec. 27 that she was stepping down as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, will be leaving under a cloud. It turns out that she had been using an email account, under the alias “Richard Windsor,” to conduct official business, in an apparent attempt to evade federal transparency laws, including the Freedom of Information Act. After the account came to light in the fall, the Justice Department agreed to release thousands of emails later this month.
This disturbing episode is only one of many under Ms. Jackson’s administration. Will her successor be any better? In a way, the question is beside the point. The agency’s regulatory machine—and its advancement of the Obama administration’s green agenda—would proceed on automatic pilot even if the president didn’t bother to appoint a successor.
Here is a suggestion: Reform the EPA by politicizing it. What! Do I mean to say that the agency isn’t political enough already? Actually, in one important sense it isn’t—and that is part of the problem.
Read the entire article here.
Watch Steven F. Hayward speak about North America’s energy potential.
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