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[...]
Apparently the EPA was so desperate to move public opinion in favor of
its controversial regulation that it hid its identity in order to make
it look like these communications were not organized from the top down,
but were rather an organic grass roots uprising.
The opinion states further, “EPA constructed a message to be shared by
others that refers to the EPA in the third person and advocates support
of the Agency’s activities.” These messages apparently reached 1.8
million users.
The EPA certainly knew what it was doing, after all, it was the
communications director for the Office of Water that engaged in many of
these activities. The EPA’s activities encouraged the public to engage
in lobbying activities. As noted by the opinion, “When EPA hyperlinked
to the NRDC and Surfrider Foundation webpages using an official
communication channel belonging to the EPA and visually encouraged its
readers to visit these external websites, EPA associated itself with
the messages conveyed by these self-described action groups.”
In general, an attempt by a federal agency to convince the public to
engage in lobbying is an activity that is prohibited by law. Thus, the
conclusion from the GAO stating, “We conclude that EPA violated the
anti-lobbying provisions contained in appropriations acts for FY2015
when it obligated and expended funds in connection with establishing
the hyperlinks to the webpages of environmental action groups.” [...]
During
the 1991 Keating
Five
Senate Ethics Committee hearings, a staff member testified for
Sen
Alan Cranston, who was excused because he was dying of cancer
The
New York Times
first reported that in 2014 environmentalists Dan Lashof, David Doniger
and David Hawkins—all with roots at the Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC)—drafted a “blueprint” that “influenced” the greenhouse
gas rules.
That wasn’t the half of it.
The emails, obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, show
that this trio and other environmentalists essentially wrote the rule.
(he died 9 years later). There came a
moment when she
attempted to take the blame for some Cranston legislation, saying that it was she who had inserted "that language" during reconciliation process. Bob Bennet, the Ethics Committee prosecutor, bemused, asked if it was her
practice to write Cranston's legislative language. She answered, yes, I do it all the time.
There was an audible gasp. I'm not sure whether it was because
the
panel were unaware that staff members actually write law;" or because
the secret was now public.
Here's my point. If Congressional staffers can change the language in
laws during the reconciliation process (where House and Senate versions
are blended), consider how easy it is for members of regulatory
agencies, like the EPA, to make their own law. People
can,
and do, go to prison for violating the whim of some clerk's fanciful
scribble. My solution? Do away with all regulatory
agencies. All of
them. Replace them with legislation that specifically
enumerates
every single provision. Then, let the D.O.J. handle violations of
WRITTEN LAW.
"But Rodge, that
would add millions of rules and provisions to legislation!"
Do you mean like Obamacare?
Yes it would, but it would also stop some GS-5 clerk from making
a pet
peeve law that can cost you every thing you own. It's bad enough
that
congressional clerks do it, but at least what they do is soldered into
place. The EPA
must die.
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