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Something to think about —

One of my latest papers written for Public Administration

Linda J. Nelson

Franklin Pierce University

Author Note

This paper was prepared for Public Administration 348, CGPS Online, taught by Professor Patrick Tighe.

Abstract

Pending policy H.R. 861 is to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency and give the regulations to the states. The federal EPA rules are set to remain in place but give up the central control of the agency allowing to reduce wasteful government spending and over-reaching authoritative powers.

Keywords: Environmental Protective Agency, pollution regulations, pending bill, H.R. 861, EPA

Possible Pending Pollution Problems Not the Expected Result

Dismantlement of the EPA

A bill to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency if passed is expected to be in effect on December 31, 2018. The bill introduced by Mr. Gaetz, Mr. Massie, Mr. Palazzo, and Mr. Loudermilk and referred to the Energy and Commerce Committee along with the Committees of Agriculture, Transportation, and Infrastructure, and Science, Space and Technology and introduced on February 3, 2017, as bill H.R. 861. (Civic 2018)

Policy Issue

The Environmental Protection Agency has grown not only in size but also in power since Richard Nixon first established the EPA department, and is considered too big by many making the organization ineffective and a waste of taxpayer money. The proposed policy is to cut spending and give control back to the states. Federal EPA laws that are in place will remain, but if only the agency dissolved.

Implementation of this bill will save taxpayers 8.1 billion dollars. (Civic 2018)

When the EPA was first established, states did not have the technology nor the expertise for protecting the environment. But the EPA is what stands in the way of corporate greed such as the coal mines and environmental depredation. (Should we do away with the Environmental Protection Agency 2018)

Importance of the Policy

The importance of the bill is to give environmental control back to the states and out of federal authority. Gaetz reportedly stated that the EPA had exceeded their mission and he believes that the country needs to start fresh by eliminating the department of EPA. (DiChristopher 2017) In another interview, Gaetz states that he did not believe that the Federal government is any good at conservation because he has seen the EPA get in the way of conservation projects instead of leading the cause. (Wisner 2017)

President Trump implemented a funding and grant freeze for the Environmental Protection Agency in January 2017. (Garcia 2017) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is not to be impacted by the policy change. (Should we do away with the Environmental Protection Agency 2018)

History of the EPA

Due to increasing public concern over the environmental problems Senator Henry Jackson introduced S. 1075 that later became The National Environmental Policy Act that was signed into law on January 1970 by President Richard Nixon. The policy that began with good intentions soon hurt property rights management. Those who are homeowners, farmers or ranchers that have small streams on their property now had to deal with unelected officials if they unknowingly found themselves violating some obscure EPA water regulation. Such problems with property rights management began in 2015 when the EPA rules expanded to not only include navigable waters but also to include every type of water body including farm ponds and ditches to small streams. (Gomez 2017)

An Analysis

When the policy first was announced only one side of the proposal was heard, and that was of those who were against the dismantlement of the department of the EPA by attempting to make the public fear that they would soon see the pollution problems of the 1970’s to reappear. No one would like to see their rivers filled with the dyes of the textile mills that made the rivers unfishable or the rivers that would catch on fire from the toxic chemicals that were being dumped by industries. The most significant fear comes from the destruction of the watersheds and streams by the strip mining practices of the coal mines. (Palmer 2017)

Gaetz has been criticized over this bill proposal by both Democrats and Republicans. They fear that a message will come across that no one cares about human health nor pollution. Some fear that this move is anti-government and that this move is a means of protecting the rich. (Baucum 2017) The truth is that the EPA policy is written to include the private property of the public by regulating even the smallest pond also if that pond is man-made. The impacts are that of regulating what fertilizer can be used on a farm and in a small home garden. The Environmental Policy Act was initially meant to control that polluting activity of capitalistic enterprises and not the general public.

What is proposed is to give the environmental protection back to the states and let them make their determination of the regulations promoting clean air and water. By doing so will remove the federal government from the environmental policy. (Gomez 2017)

References

Baucum, Joseph. 2017. Environmentalists condemn Gaetz over EPA bill. February 16. https://www.pnj.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/16/environmentalists-condemn-gaetz-over-epa-bill/97948208/.

Civic, Impulse. 2018. H.R. 861 – 115th Congress: To terminate the Environmental Protection Agency. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/115/hr861.

Di Christopher, Tom. 2017. Freshman Republican congressman reveals bill to abolish the EPA. February 15. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/15/freshman-republican-congressman-reveals-bill-to-abolish-the-epa.html.

Garcia, Arturo. 2017. Florida Lawmaker’s Bill Would ‘Terminate’ Environmental Protection Agency. February 6. https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/02/06/florida-lawmakers-bill-terminate-environmental-protection-agency/.

Gomez, Christian. 2017. Bill to Eliminate Environmental Protection Agency Introduced in Congress. February 24. https://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/congress/item/25468-bill-to-eliminate-environmental-protection-agency-introduced-in-congress.

Palmer, Brian. 2017. Why We Need the EPA. February 14. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/why-we-need-epa.

Issue Voter. 2018. Should we do away with the Environmental Protection Agency? https://issuevoter.org/bills/1616/hr861-115-to-terminate-the-environmental-protection-agency-h-r-861?

Wisner, Matthew. 2017. Republican Congressman on Push to Abolish the EPA. February 08. https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/republican-congressman-on-push-to-abolish-the-epa.

It’s been a while since I wrote any fiction. I have about five unfinished manuscripts at various stages that I started over the past five years. This month I decided to pull out of the mothballs and commit to working on that one story every night with a minimum of 100 words.

Tonight I was 26 words under 5oo which is more than I had expected to write during that hour.

Finding time to write these days is hard.

No, wait, that is an excuse.

There have been some nights where I just sat at the screen and stared it down doing nothing but surfing Facebook and Twitter.

Some of the textbooks that I have to read for school are so boring that I find myself nodding off within a half hour of sitting down to read. There is still one and a half years left until I have my Bachelor degree and another year after that for my MBA. Going back to school was the most wished for item on my bucket list since graduating high school 35 years ago.

One month left until I will be attending my first college graduation. Five years after graduating high school, I had given up hope of ever returning to school for that degree. Instead, I got married and had two wonderful children. College became the forgotten dream. I had a pretty good paying job back then anyway, or so I thought. Each time I found another job, my income continued to decline instead of rising. I never made the connection until being forced from my job because of the economic conditions. No one would hire me at my age. Phiff!

Hard work has gotten me to where I am today with my education, and I remind myself I only have a couple of years left until I am back to writing three hours a day.

Until then, one hour can either give me a hundred words or five hundred words. If I get lucky, a Nano word count would be nice.