Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Supreme Court case involving Idaho lake house ignites conservative cause against EPA

This month, the Supreme Court will review the Sacketts’ four-year-long effort to build on land that the EPA says contains environmentally sensitive wetlands. A decision in the couple’s favor could curtail the EPA’s authority and mean a fundamental change in the way the agency enforces the Clean Water Act. Even before the court takes up the case, the couple have become a favored cause for developers, corporations, utilities, libertarians and conservative members of Congress, who condemn what one ally told the court is the EPA’s “abominable bureaucratic abuse.” It is a familiar spot for the agency, which has come under withering criticism in the political arena. Republican presidential contenders routinely denounce the EPA’s actions and regulations as “job-killers,” while GOP House members have voted to ban the agency from regulating greenhouse gases and tried to cut its enforcement budget. The issue before the justices is narrow: whether the Sacketts can go to court to challenge the EPA’s initial findings that their lot contains wetlands. But their plight of not being able to develop their land while other homes are built hundreds of feet away and the threat of millions of dollars in fines have provided the EPA’s opponents with a compelling story line...more

So who is the victim here?   Reading this Washington Post story you'd think it was the EPA.  Their authority would be "curtailed" if the Sacketts win, the agency has been "condemned" and come under "withering criticism",  there's a "ban" on some of their reg's and their opponents have a "compelling story line."

Yes sir, the EPA is the victim, not the couple in Idaho who want to build a home.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tell your congressman to stop funding the EPA!!

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