Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called Tuesday for the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency, which he wants to replace with a new organization that would work more closely with businesses and be more aggressive in using science and technology.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Gingrich said the EPA was rarely innovative and focused only on issuing regulations and litigation.
“What you have is a very expensive bureaucracy that across the board makes it harder to solve problems, slows down the development of new innovations,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich, who has acknowledged that he’s mulling a run for the Republican presidential nomination, was in Iowa to talk to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. He also met privately with Republican legislators, often a sign in Iowa that people are laying the groundwork for a campaign. The state has the nation’s first presidential caucuses.
Gingrich, who has made several visits to Iowa recently, said the EPA was founded on sound ideas but has become a traditional Washington bureaucracy. Gingrich had previously mentioned his desire to change the EPA, but Tuesday’s explanation was the first time he made a specific proposal for replacing the agency, Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said.
“We need to have an agency that is first of all limited, but cooperates with the 50 states,” Gingrich said. “The EPA is based on bureaucrats centered in Washington issuing regulations and litigation and basically opposing things.”
EPA spokesman Brenden Gilfillan in Washington declined to comment on Gingrich’s statements.
Gingrich denied his proposal would result in environmental damage, saying he would replace the EPA with what he called the Environmental Solution Agency.
“I think you have an agency which would get up every morning, very much like the National Institutes for Health or the National Science Foundation, and try to figure out what do we need to do today to get a better environment that also gets us a better economy,” he said.
Gingrich also said his proposed agency would pursue the development of a clean coal and rewrite regulations governing the development of small nuclear plants.
“There’s a whole new emerging technology that allows you to build smaller nuclear plants, but all of our rules were designed for very complex, very expensive systems,” he said.
Gingrich’s anti-Washington, pro-business theme was designed to appeal to the conservatives who dominate Republican precinct caucuses, which traditionally launch the presidential nominating process. Iowa’s next presidential caucus is Feb. 6, 2012.
“The level of control that Washington bureaucrats want to extend over topics they don’t understand and communities they don’t live in is wrong,” he said. “Having an attitude of getting up every morning and trying to stop the economy is just a very destructive attitude.”
Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press
12 thoughts on “Newt wants EPA sent off into thin air”
While Newt is eliminating the EPA, he ought to add a few more federal agencies and voila, our tremendous out-of-control spending will begin to look manageable!
Dump the department of energy, the department of education, HHS, DHS, FCC, department of commerce, and any others that are as worthless as these!!!
Go against all convention when you think the poor can’t hear,
whilst in private declare,
my lawyers said it ‘s poison,
alternate with all manner at hand,
feeble fobble fie
EPA, OSHA, FERC, NERC, NRC and a whole lot of these government agencies are subverting the legislative process through the back door. These are career beureacrats and not elected officials and should not be making policies.
Just look at the ethanol joke. EPA now says 15%. This crap is why a carburetor does not last a season on your lawnmower or chainsaw any more. Last year they tried to ban lead ammunition. Thankfully they got caught and derailed.
“EPA, OSHA, FERC, NERC, NRC and a whole lot of these government agencies are subverting the legislative process through the back door. These are career beureacrats and not elected officials and should not be making policies.” …extract from post
Good point Jim0001.
It’s interesting you should bring up career bureaucrats making policy. I’ve tried to explain to many folks that Obamacare will end up the same way. The law itself is I believe 2700 pages or so. Imagine after this nightmare is in place about five years down the road and the tens of thousands of pages of rules and regulations that will be created by these same faceless bureaucrats that will turn O-care into ‘hell on earth’ for people needing medical care. There will always be some section of the law, paragraph and sub-paragraph along with unlegislated bureaucratically interpreted enhancements that will prevent care reaching the people that need such. I guarantee…!
Carl Nemo **==
Legislators make laws… bureaucrats make policies.
That’s the way it is.
Yep and a scary tango it is Almandine… : |
Carl Nemo **==
Limited cooperation,
rhymes with corporation,
and that spells pool.
Whoa, what a music man !
Hey this is none other than “Mr. contract with America”…no?
Based on his rethug brethren’s love affair with deregulation along with the encouragement of “blue sky pirate capitalism” I’d say what he meant was “Contract on America”.
Gingrich has zero credibility. I would suggest never turning your back on this guy. He’s also full of himself. / : |
Carl Nemo **==
A little support for my assertions above. My hometown, third page, top third of the page the two photos. I remember when it was worse.
http://www.phila.gov/health/pdfs/air/History.pdf
Reminds me of my first visit as a child walking down a long flight to the underground workings, as apposed to my first day as a sand shoveler in the Deere foundry.
As a child the floor was not visible three stories up, but upon returning fifteen years later vauge shapes were dicernible fifty feet down thanks to OSHA and politicians who gave two squirts of duck crap about the common man.
Whaaaaa happened ?
A move almost as bad as deregulation.
We have air we can see through and breath,and water we can swim in, fish in and drink today because of the Clean Air Act and The Clean Water Act and the EPA.
Yes they can use more science, to help business grow and still improve our air and water. Remember if we kill our enviroment, we kill ourselves.
Right On!
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