From PA Pundits – International
By Ron Harvey ~
Background:
In our recent article from Diane Katz at The Daily Signal on this subject, we had a comment in response from Ron Harvey, and this comment was so good, we have posted it as an article on its own. Ron is new to ‘blogging’ and we welcome him aboard, and it’s how most of us get started…..PA Pundits International.
This is a really important article on a very important shift in “rule making” by the federal government.
I have a front-line position in observing the effects of regulations. Having been in the hazardous waste business for 34 years, I have seen the good and the bad of EPA, DOT and OSHA regulations. The efforts of the EPA have resulted in cleaner air, cleaner water, and better management of hazardous and municipal wastes. This was accomplished 15 to 20 years ago.
Now, the EPA has become a python released by the eco-imperialists and wrapped around the neck of industry with the full intent of de-industrializing America.
The EPA’s presumption of potential harm is preposterous. They stack a study on an assumption upon a model upon an opinion upon a committee, add a 200% margin of safety and call it science. Their attack on industry is based upon the impossible premise of preventing all possible harm to the environment and human health.
It is well known that reducing pollution is good, but emissions cannot be reduced indefinitely. Every time an analytical method can reach a new low, the environmentalists demand that emissions be reduced to that same level. The cost of reducing an emission increases exponentially every time you drop the rate of emission from milligrams to micrograms to picograms. Then the EPA says that the business should pay for polluting, when in fact the business itself NEVER pays for pollution. Every penny of that cost is passed on to the consumers.
The public has the “right to know” what chemicals a business uses, and then they claim environmental injustice and public endangerment, demanding the business move to protect the population. Historically, industries are initially sited in relatively remote locations, but the towns move in and are built around the facility. Something bad happens and the people cry “how could this dangerous business have been allowed to operate so close to town?”. The 2013 ammonium nitrate explosion at West, in Texas is a perfect example of that.
Businesses and industries also have the “right to know” how the EPA can justify ever-increasing restrictions on their ability to operate.
Ron Harvey has worked in the Hazardous Waste Industry for 34 years.
