Another EPA Power Grab in the Offing
by Capitol ConfidentialSources in Washington say Sen. Frank Lautenberg is drafting a new version of his Kids Safe Chemicals Act, which stalled out in 2008 after environmentalists complained the bill was toothless and didn’t grant the EPA enough power to regulate chemicals used to make products. Lautenberg’s new version of the bill is likely to increase the EPA’s authority to limit – or even ban – the use of common chemicals.
As the EPA’s carbon “endangerment finding” in December has demonstrated, it might not be such a good idea to vest virtually unlimited power in a single government agency, especially one that has become as politicized as the EPA.
And like the global warming hysteria the “endangerment finding” was supposed to address, the argument in favor of this aggressive power grab is thin, based on emotional, not scientific appeals, and fairly obviously designed to encroach on the free market. One organization advocating for the EPA power grab, “Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families,” is actually sponsoring a virtual Million Baby Crawl on Washington. Expect the stunts to get more ridiculous after Lautenberg’s bill drops.
There’s actually one really good reason to not grant the EPA the unilateral authority to ban any and all chemicals used in the products we buy: Chemicals are used to make nearly all products we buy. Consider the computer you are using right now. Dozens of chemicals were used during its manufacturing to keep it from overheating, blowing up, or melting down. Many of these chemicals are hazardous but all are safe for their intended use. If Lautenberg overreaches with his bill and the EPA changes the standard for what it considers safe for intended use, American manufacturers who rely on these chemicals could be out of the game while foreign competitors gain yet another leg up. Remember: The EPA would have the authority to ban chemicals used in American-made products, not those made in China or any other country that already flouts laws and commonsense.
The Toxic Substances Control Act, the law Lautenberg is looking to reform or replace, hasn’t been modernized since 1976. It might very well make sense to take another look at the law. But handing over more power to a politicized government agency would be a disaster.
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48 Comments
Great!! Another reason for company's to off-shore jobs to mexico, china, india, and canada!! What else can this administration do to kill jobs in this country?
Why not just ban the EPA for being hazardous to the health of America? It has run amok.
Obama, again said in his SOTU speech that the "science is clear" on Global Warming!
What about oxygen? It's a crucial element in combustion, which kills thousands every year. Ban it!
Off topic! From this point on along with every other method of disrespect available. I as of Jan 26 2010 have become a full throttle birther. The state of fl, in all their infinite wisdom decided I after 49 years of posessing a valid fl drivers license am likely to be a terrorist or illegal alien. I had to spend 149 unecessary dollars to get a birth certificate on the double rush to comply by the end of the 29th.
By god if I must accept this form of treatment by my government. The I demand the very same from Odumblo. It is the least he can do, but I don't believe he is capable of doing the least. I don't anylonger believe he has a valid certificate of birth in Hawaii or any other place in our solar system.
This is and was the straw that broke this camels back. we must rid ourselves of this plague better known as Odumblo.
Abolish the EPA!
Wow, you cite a Wall Street Journal opinion piece as evidence that increased regulation of BPA is based not on science but emotion? Then you say the EPA should not ban any chemicals because chemicals are used to make nearly all products we buy?
You've got to be kidding. That's one of the worst attempts at reasoning I've seen.
At this point, I think if someone running for federal office told me they wanted to shut down everything in the government with the exception of the military and intelligence agencies, I would probably vote for him/her. I think we are so screwed, it would make more sense to start over than trying to fix things.
These people do not seem to understand "WHY" we don't make anything in this country anymore. It does not require rocket scientist training to understand that capital and ideas do not give a whit about government and policy, especially when the government rapes and pillages their world routinely… They do give a whit about making good product profitably. The Chemicals industry in this country is one of the last we have and thats only because, with billions of dollar of manufacturing units on the ground, it's pretty hard to move out…
The EPA has gotten out of control. They answer to no one! The time has come for this agency to become answerable. The EPA needs to be required to perform an ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS before any action can be taken. Right now they have unilateral authority to destroy any project or business without so much as a 'beg your pardon'. Obama's BS in the SOTU and the joke of an 'outreach' to moderates and conservatives regarding his willingness to talk about nuclear energy and off shore drilling is nothing but 'lip service' He knows that he has the EPA to make sure that nothing ever happens or that no project can even get started. People gripe about business being 'outsourced' to foreign countries,,,,the EPA is the reason. (UNIONS play a big role in this outsourcing as well). This is not to say that there is no or can be no place for the EPA in our government but in the view of 'checks and balances' they can no longer be allowed to act without approval of congress. Defund the EPA.
Sources in Washington say Sen. Frank Lautenberg is drafting a new version of his Kids Safe Chemicals Act
The leftwing nazi have learned to cloak their anti-American policies in a "it's for the children" packaging. These bottom feeders are under the impression the public as dumb as the president or speaker of the house.
The EPA should be abolished.
I have to say, Americans are the most tolerant people on the globe. A sane citizenry would have killed their tyrannical overlords by now.
He's just one of the vermin we all can see. They've infested every facet of society and in order get rid of them, we may just have to press the reset button.
Did you notice when he said that there was huge laughter in the audience? What a looser he is.
Frank Lautenberg did more damage to our innovation in software than any single person by creating section 1706 of tax reform in 1986. He essentially scared all our clients away by in effect banning single professional contractors through the tax law. Yet Lawyers and Accountants have no such restriction. Who benefitted from it? Frank Lautenberg, founder of ADP, who is the largest payroll processor. Unintended consequence: the offshore software industry globally that are now killing jobs.
Now his latest lunacy. He's just another Moocher and Looter.
My response: I gave up on New Jersey and went Galt to Texas, where its easier to practice my art.
Time for every State to Nullify Federal EPA law, lest it destroy them.
They're stealing America as we speak.
Chemicals that we need for Plastics, Coatings, Textiles, Drugs, etc that is the stuff our life is made of today. The EPA chokes the life out of our economy. How do these idiots think we're going to double our exports? I guess they are just too dumb to realize how many union or non-union jobs they destroy.
this Zombie is big part of the plan to cannibalize America
Once again, thank "Law Enforcement". They are the great enabler.
Just looking at the picture of this guy tells me he's outlived his usefulness, we need new people in offices, ones that can understand what we need to move forward in this country. Fresh ideas, new concepts. We need to start over, repeal old useless laws, and people that make them!!
Agreed!
Don't forget about natural gas, that stuff is dangerous, it blows up you know.
May as well ban water while we are at it — do you know how many people drown in it each year?
But seriously — we better stop giving liberals so many ideas.
I agree with you BUT — you let them off the hook when you call them "dumb." They aren't dumb, they are fulfilling their agenda which is the destruction of our nation. Democrats are socialist and their goal is to bring this country to its knees. The EPA has served them well in this regard.
It's about time. The first thing the EPA needs to do is ban the most dangerous chemical, to children, there is…… Dihydrogen Monoxide!!!!!
The problem with politicians is they have a habit of looking for more solutions than there are problems.
The EPA is a rogue organization. It needs eliminated.
Forget abolishing the EPA, just starve them. Cut their funding drastically, then cut it every year thereafter, to sharpen their (sometimes) useful focus.____Meanwhile, don't fight battles unarmed. ToSCA is Toxic Substances, stuff you have to eat, to harm you. Hazardous substances are a whole different animal and can harm you from a distance (and they are already strictly regulated). Stop using toxic and hazardous, as if they are interchangeable. Confusing the two allows scum like Lautenberg to have a greater impact. If he had to admit that all you had to do to achieve the aims of his policy is to keep your own baby from eating the dang toxic substance, well that wouldn't be scary enough to create new law now, would it?
By not undersanding the difference between toxic and hazardous, you are missing the difference between a gun in your own hand and a gun in an assailant's hand. Lautenberg wants to make it illegal for there to be anything you could foolishly eat (like the barrel of a gun in your own hand). And he will do this by scaring you into believing you are being force-fed something that will kill you.____Tell Lautenberg you know the difference between toxic and hazardous and tell him to bite your shorts.
Let's not forget that the government and trial attorneys deemed silicon as hazardous which led to millions wasted in breast implant litigation throughout the early to mid 1990s. Years later, the medical evidence comes in and finds that silicon was not dangerous, and you can even get new silicon boobs again. Millions and millions wasted because of science created by the plaintiff's bar that tapped into everyone's emotions by fivilous new coverage of the same. As I've previously mentioned, when the EPA takes action, attorneys and environmental consultants make money, and much too little is done to remedy polluted sites.
How about we start by banning cheap Chinese crap, especially kids toys made from arsenic and lead?
Yes, yes, water is a very dangerous substance and should be banned.
libertyshrugged – February 2nd, 2010 at 8:45 pm
"Frank Lautenberg did more damage to our innovation in software than any single person by creating section 1706 of tax reform in 1986. He essentially scared all our clients away by in effect banning single professional contractors through the tax law. Yet Lawyers and Accountants have no such restriction. Who benefitted from it? Frank Lautenberg, founder of ADP, who is the largest payroll processor. Unintended consequence: the offshore software industry globally that are now killing jobs."
That's disgusting liberty. It seems we suceed as a country despite our government.
Lautenberg better not ban all chemicals. Otherwise he won't be able to his daily dose of embalming fluid.
They're not interested in ruining China's economy, we
are their target…..
In order to ensure that we really fix this problem we must include modern science language, which necessarily utilizes non-animal methods, in this bill; otherwise we'll have another outdated bill on our hands.
Currently, many toxicity tests are based on experiments in animals and use methods that were developed as long ago as the 1930’s; they and are slow, inaccurate, open to uncertainty and manipulation, and do not adequately protect human health. These tests take anywhere from months to years, and tens of thousands to millions of dollars to perform. More importantly, the current testing paradigm has a poor record in predicting effects in humans and an even poorer record in leading to actual regulation of dangerous chemicals. This is the status quo and this needs to change.
Alternatives to animal testing exist in a powerful way and many scientists advocate them. Chemical reform should not only modernize policy, but modernize the science that supports that policy. Let's ensure chemical reform uses all the necessary tools to truly make humans, our environment, and animals safe.
Sounds like a plan, Liberty — I've been seriously thinking of heading there myself. I know many people who have fled The Soprano State to less socialist/corrupt pastures, mainly North Carolina (I now call Charlotte "New New Jersey"). The problem is that the left, once they've wrecked an area (though they support high taxes and boondoggle social programs, don't want to pay them themselves) move to a freer area but vote for the same nonsense that wrecked where they used to live in the first place. Witness the transformation of formerly conservative New Hampshire ("Live Free or Die") to electing Jeanne Shaheen and going for Obama because of all the Massachusetts and Vermont imports.
This entire agency should be abolished. Dismantled bureaucrat by power mad bureaucrat. The EPA is nothing more than a freedom eating monster.
I share the same concern. However, I do think its different this time. Folks are so appalled by the advancing socialism. Now that they've woken up and educated themselves, they are being more selective about who they elect. A perfect example is Brown taking Kennedy's seat in the peoples state of Mass! Assuming nothing really crazy happens that the November elections are either cancelled or postponed, the Dims will be fired en masse. Talking politics across this nation is no longer taboo. In all my travels over the last year, I have discovered almost nothing but opposition to our national direction.
Agreed – they are not being dumb versus their intention. However, having personally witnessed how socialism collapses on itself, it ends with their own supporters turning against them in the end. They are downright stupid in ignoring the lessons of history and thus are doomed to repeat history at the cost of a generation of progress.
It is just that: "a rogue organization"!
Did you know that water causes drowning in laboratory animals if you fully submerge them? Water is also implicated as a contributing factor in thousands of bathroom falls each year. In winter, the solid form is easily one of the most hazardous things on the road. I understand that it is also a greenhouse gas causing global warming as well as being a primary Hazard in hurricanes and tsunamis. Just a little research only proves your point. The EPA must put aside all other work until they ban and eliminate this deadly, deadly chemical.
The chemical industry has gone "multinational", they will be closing their US production facilities at
some point in the future, when EPA regs become prohibitive, hide & watch.
Welcome to the Lone Star state libertyshrugged, all we ask from our new neighbors is, don't expect
to turn our state into your old home state. We like Txs the way she is, a little rough around the edges.
It can be a little inconvenient & disconcerting for those of you who are accustomed to more "services".
Purchase your weapon of choice, & begin to study Texana. It will be a journey, learning to be a Texan,
but well worth the effort. Growing your Texas attitude requires 7 to 10 years, & considerable study.
Read some basic Tx history, the place to begin, then move on to the Texas born philosophers, esp-
ecially those tomes written in the 40's & 50's. Some from the 60's are OK' if you stay away from the
LBJ crowd, actually not easy since he WAS Tx in the 60's. Txs politics should be your 3rd area of study,
& may be optional as it is a moving target & almost impossible keep up & study up on background in
unison. I told you it would require considerable effort, however when completed, you may begin to re-
fer to yourself as a true Texan, Welcome, once again.
Hell Ya! I'm escaping as far as possible from the Blue states as I can. I like the "little rough around the edges" and I don't need the "services" that end up committing economic suicide. I've been "a red state cowboy" out east which needless to say, didn't win me many friends (GWB had my support throughout). I've even been accused of being a "right wing extremist" on occasion even though its no different from Texan common sense. I should be pretty proficient in Texan history in a year or 2. I'm already coming up to speed on Texas politics (shocked at the blue leanings in Houston though). My biggest concern by far is the damage that the EPA can do to Texas. We need to focus on opening the eyes of the Chronicle to the threat this means to Houston in particular. I hope the state legislature takes a shot at nullifying the EPA, perhaps subtly as Texas did with the mortgage business, that has spared Texas the pain of the sub-prime crisis. Simply put, States must just say no.
Thank you for your warm Texan Welcome!
STARVE THE EPA BEFORE IT STARVES YOU
If Chinese made toys are loaded with arsenic & lead content wait till it shows up in your food. Remember
the baby formula? You believe that was accidental? Yes? You are an idiot. Quit worrying about EPA as
related to plastics, software,& computer components, it's problematic but not life-threatening. Focus
people, focus, get back to basics. It's about FOOD, FOOD, FOOD. When EPA bans chemicals that aid
the agricultural sector in producing food, a chunk of plastic ie. computer will not substitute. Get it? As
US farmers, we are not able to produce the quantity of food to feed all 300M without chemicals. It's a mat-
ter of measured risk vs mass starvation. Our numbers are not sufficient to have an impact politically, with-
out your support. Exampple: Californias' Central Valley, where the water was cut off. Effect, veg & fruits
will become more & more scarce, therefore more expensive, or they will be imported from China, where
we have no idea or control over chemicals used for production. We'll be able to test for toxic substances
after the produce has entered our food system. I promise you, it will NOT be organic. Think of an entire
winter without a fresh vegetable or fruit. How will this effect our overall health as a nation. It can't be good.
The progressive utopian ideal is, everything being produced locally & organically. Romantic notion but not
possible to feed 300M. Whom in your family will you choose to sacrifice, to be able to feed the children.
During the Great Depression, my mothers family took in teenage male cousins, whose parents could not
feed them. Her family being ranchers (beef) & farmers (vegs) took these young men in, although they did
not need their man-power, they had 6 sons of their own. Upon arriving at my Grandmothers' table they
gained 20 to 30 pounds each, therefor I must surmise they were already starving.
THIS CAN & WILL HAPPEN AGAIN, the difference is, in the 30's, everyone still had a direct link to the farm
or ranch. Not so now. How many starving young unemployed strangers will I be able to take in? What
will these young people do when no-one has a place for them? The government will be waiting with a
hand-out, to feed them, clothe them, train them to be the domestic force Obmao spoke of on the campaign
trail. They will be the progressives' army, put in place in every community to insure compliance & order.
How were Ukrainians prevented from pilfering enough of their own grain production to feed their children?
Very close supervision & impossibly unrealistic government imposed quotas, punishable by execution.
Do you understand what is happening? Please support the American farmer & rancher. Failure to do so
could be hazardous to your health & well being.
Frank Lautenberg is an embarrassment. He has no respect for the constitution and has been known to take revenge on his critics (Bob Grant at WABC). Lautenberg is way past his expiration date.
What an absolutely irresponsible blog post. You actually are advocating the political destruction of a current law that all parties – Republicans, Democrats, Industry, NGOs, and the public alike – all agree needs to be modernized to incorporate advancements in science and understanding.
Your argument that EPA has too much power is transparently specious and pathologically irresponsible. Your mindless pantomiming of the free market talking points (all while encouraging non-free market incentives, subsidies, tax breaks, etc. from the very government you abhor) is actually holding back American innovation, sending American jobs overseas, endangering American national security, and frankly, anti-American overall.
thanks for the very informative article that you tok your time to write