Power grab: EPA wants to garnish wages of polluters

The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly floated a rule claiming authority to bypass the courts and unilaterally garnish paychecks of those accused of violating its rules, a power currently used by agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service. The EPA has been flexing its regulatory muscle under President Obama, collecting more fines each year and threatening individuals with costly penalties for violating environmental rules. In one case, the agency has threatened fines of up to $75,000 per day on Wyoming homeowner Andy Johnson for building a pond on his rural property. “The EPA has a history of overreaching its authority. It seems like once again the EPA is trying to take power it doesn’t have away from American citizens,” Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, said when he learned of the EPA’s wage garnishment scheme. Others questioned why the EPA decided to strengthen its collection muscle at this time. Critics said the threat of garnishing wages would be a powerful incentive for people to agree to expensive settlements rather than fight EPA charges.  The amount of fines raked in by the agency has jumped from $96 million in 2009 to $252 million in 2012, a more than 160 percent increase, according to EPA annual reports. Putting the collection powers on a fast track, the agency announced it in the Federal Register as a “direct final rule” that would take effect automatically Sept. 2, unless the EPA receives adverse public comments by Aug. 1. The EPA said it deemed the action as not a “significant regulatory action” and therefore not subject to review...more

Senator Barrassco is correct about EPA's "history of overreaching its authority", but it appears he is wrong in this particular instance:


The EPA announced the plan last week in a notice in the Federal Register, saying federal law allows it “to garnish non-Federal wages to collect delinquent non-tax debts owed the United States without first obtaining a court order.” The agency cited authority under the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 that centralized federal collection operations under the Treasury Department, which oversees garnishments of wages or tax refund checks.

Pay special attention to this:

Under the law, every federal agency has the authority to conduct administrative wage garnishment, provided the agency adopts approved rules for conducting hearings where debtors can challenge the amount of debt or terms of repayment schedule, a Treasury official said.

Our Congress granted this authority to every federal agency.  Somewhere in our future we will see this policy adopted by the Forest Service, BLM, Park Service, USFWS, etc.  Isn't that a pleasant thought.  Thank you Congress.  

Which political party delegated this authority to every single federal agency?  Remember the 1994 "Republican Revolution"?  In 1996 the R's controlled the Senate and the House, with Bob Dole leading the Senate and Newt Gingrich running the House.  The Republicans did this and yet many are still in the dark on why establishment R's are being challenged in their primaries.

Again, to be fair, let's listen to the EPA experts:

EPA officials did not respond to repeated questions by The Washington Times about why they thought it was necessary to garnish people’s wages.