EPA - Out Of Control & Lawless

I wrote below on how Obama is wholly bastardizing our Constitutional form of government by governing through the regulatory agencies. The worst of these is the EPA, an organization being used to legislate a radical green war on coal and oil, as well as to further the interests of entrenched green interests. Most recently: the EPA is tasked to base its decisions on science, but it has ignored that to issue new regulations requiring gasoline to be mixed with 15% ethanol; and the EPA is fraudulently using the courts and friendly plaintiffs to gain powers it is not authorized by its own regulations.

Ethanol mandates are a result of Bush era laws that require ever increasing amounts of ethanol from a variety of sources to be blended with gasoline through 2022. It is an insane boondoggle that benefits no one other than select agricultural special interests, and its impact on food prices and land use has been both substantial and extremely negative. The current EPA mandate for gas to contain 10% ethanol is no longer sufficient to meet legal mandates, so the EPA is now requiring refineries to increase ethanol to 15%. The problem - ethanol burns much hotter than octane while providing significantly less energy. There is real concern as testing shows that an E15 gasoline mix can ruin engines of all types, not merely autos. And yet:

In 2010 and 2011, EPA gave the green light to use E15 - the 15 percent ethanol gasoline blend - in model-year-2001-and-later cars and some other vehicles. EPA's action was irresponsible. EPA knew E15 vehicle testing was ongoing but decided not to wait for the results.

This was a political decision by the EPA, one taken irrespective of current reality.

But far more troubling is the EPA's fraudulent use of our court system as an end around the limits of the EPA's regulatory authority. It is referred to as "sue and settle." A friendly radical green plaintiff brings a law suit, the EPA doesn't contest the suit, but rather agrees to take certain actions that go beyond its authority, either by extending its authority or creating de facto new regulations without going through the procedures required by law to create such regulations. The most recent case, discussed in detail here, involves imposing new draconian federal regulations on coal usage in states, justified on the basis of a "sue and settle" court order, irrespective of the fact that the law provides for state primacy in that particular area.

I have been saying for years now that the laws that allow for greens to have standing to bring law suits based on environmental and endangered species laws - and equally, that provide for payment of plaintiff's attorneys fees - are massively corrupt and need to be changed. The cost to our economy from abusive law suits are massive. But the corruption involved in "sue and settle" suits is criminal. Government officials should be put in jail over this.

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