Sunday, June 12, 2011

A Guest Article...

The following a is guest article from Ryan Halston...


The Costs of EPA Regulation
Coming along with the recent federal budget compromise of 2011, a multitude of national deficit problems face the United States and has become a pretty hotly contested topic for debate. Now that the budget proposals have been put through, there still remains a large amount of contention over EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) post accordance budgeting. The decision to cut into the EPA’s budget (16 percent down from 2010) continuously is a point of indignation for many Republican representatives who see the EPA as an organization stifling both job growth and revenue generation for large businesses due to expensive, excessive regulations.
Regulations placed upon power divisions are the primary issue being faced for debate. Restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, and the Clean Air Act have previously come under fire from the GOP, and have been commonly viewed as a source of stagnation of both revenue and employment growth.
Fundamentally, the EPA has begun to restrict too many things in such a short period of time, and the GOP feels that the agency has overstepped its boundaries and beset its power. The questioning of recent EPA regulations on energy can be understood, but the agency has also made many arguable decisions since the end of 2010, spanning throughout year 2011. It would seem the EPA would have lost sight of many of its own major initiatives and acutely narrowed their focus to one or two regulations that seem to have little to no effect on public health.
The EPA has begun to suffer from poor delegation of their resources. Their focus on keeping cap and trade taxes on regulations has diverted their attention away from many of their programs directly relating to the health of the populace. Programs like the fight against water contamination and working to reduce chances of asbestos exposure seem to have hit the chopping block in favor of regulations costing companies massive amounts of money, and stifling our economy in the process.
The EPA seems to be set in their ways on a continuous approach to expensive regulation. The most unfortunate thing about this dispute is that the EPA is in turn causing major damage to itself in the process. As the agency continues to defend costly regulations that result in little to no effect on health, GOP officials as well as business leaders will continue efforts to restrict EPA power. This could include further budget cuts in an attempt to push back at the environmental agency and right the ship.




The previous article is the view of the author and not necessarily the view of the GCYR Membership