Lawmaker Asks, Is EPA Trying To Cover Up ‘Criminal Activity’?

Alabama Republican Rep. Gary Palmer suggested the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology look into the possible “criminal activity” being perpetrated by Environmental Protection Agency officials, citing recent agency “cover-ups.” “Mr. Chairman, it may be in our best interest to hold a hearing to see if there might even be criminal activity here because it seems to me that there’s a fraud being perpetrated on the American people,” Palmer said during the hearing Wednesday on EPA’s rules for regional haze. Environmentalists have been using consent decrees to force EPA to impose stricter haze rules while locking out opposition. The result is costly regulations imposed to imperceptibly improve visibility at some national parks. Republicans argue this shows the cozy relationship between EPA and environmentalists, which Palmer wants to further investigate. “We know that the EPA was holding seminars to teach their employees how to avoid national archives and records requests using websites set up by outside groups and maintained by outside groups, so there is collusion here,” Palmer, who is a member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, said...more