A cold anniversary: Polluted EPA at 40

Pilgrim River, Houghton, Michigan

Last week was the 40th anniversary of Environmental Protection Agency. Prior to its founding, chemical waste was indiscreetly poured into lakes and rivers. In 1969, Cleveland's Cuyahoga River started on fire. And that wasn't even the first time it happened. That year, in our first family vacation trip to the east, we drove over many rivers, including the Cuyahoga, and my brother asked my father every time we crossed one, "Is this river polluted?"

"Yes," was his reply every time.

Air, lakes, and rivers are a lot cleaner now. The Cuyahoga River never ignited again. But like any bureuacracy, the EPA can't sit still, as Big Government points out:

What started as a way to help the government respond to environmental disasters and spread conservation awareness, however, has metastasized into a bloated, over-reaching disaster of it's own, championing extensive governmental intervention, curbing freedoms and, most recently, costing hard-working Americans their jobs, all in the name of preserving the environment.

To combat man-made global warming, which may or may not exist, the Washington Examiner warns that the EPA is planning a war on prosperity:

Achieving that level of reduction in greenhouse gases won't be easy or cheap. This immense new burden on the private sector comes at precisely the wrong time for an economy still struggling to create new jobs and reduce near double-digit unemployment…The cost estimates are indeed staggering, according to an econometric study by the Manufacturers Alliance that projects more than 7.3 million lost jobs by 2020. The hardest-hit states include Texas, which would lose 1.7 million jobs, and Louisiana, with 938,000 positions lost. Others include California (846,000), Illinois (396,000) and Pennsylvania (351,000). Total losses would reduce the nation's gross domestic product by $1.7 trillion, according to the Manufacturers Alliance.

The EPA is celeberatory mood as it marks EPA at 40. That's cold comfort for me in snowy Illinois.

"Is the EPA polluted by idiocy?"

"Yes."

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