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You realize the EPA has its own fully supplied SWAT teams and everything? The EPA has gone waaaaay past just the drinking water thing. Also they ensured crapp

You realize the EPA has its own fully supplied SWAT teams and everything? The EPA has gone waaaaay past just the drinking water thing. Also they ensured crappy drinking water by mass dumping a bunch of waste and ruining one of the rivers in southwest CO. Government agencies in the US need very serious trimming. Too many friggin bureaucratic power mad lifers running around who don't give a rat's ass about all those "little people" stuck with their obamacare.

deleted 9y ago
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girzel 9y ago
So: EPA BAD
haksis 9y ago
I agree that there's way too much regulation in the US, too much rent seeking and regulatory capture. Deregulation is one area I have extremely mixed feelings about Trump about: in some ways I don't think he's going far enough, and in other ways I feel like he's going too far. However, this EPA cutting is one of those cases where context is everything. If Trump were trimming the EPA but maintaining its core mission and not letting the foxes guard the henhouse, I might feel differently. And lauding Trump for cutting the EPA SWAT teams even while he lets municipal police--who have ample daily opportunities for abuse--stockpile military supplies seems disingenuous.
raisedbyninjas 9y ago
"The EPA has gone waaaaay past just the drinking water thing. Also they ensured crappy drinking water by mass dumping a bunch of waste and ruining one of the rivers in southwest CO." I assume you're referring to the accidental leak of contaminated mine water into the Animas river. The private sector is free to clean up after itself instead of abandoning mines in a hazardous state. Unfortunately they don't always do that. The EPA is charged with managing hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines of which tens of thousands threaten to contaminate groundwater. Sabotaging and underfunding the organization with this responsibility can't end well.
- FussyZeus 9y ago
  As a staunch conservative, this attitude mystifies the shit out of me. "$organization does a shit job at what it's supposed to do, so let's cut their funding so they have fewer employees and resources!" How on Earth are they supposed to fix anything if you keep reducing them to a skeleton crew?
tw04 9y ago
>You realize the EPA has its own fully supplied SWAT teams and everything? ...And? When they find a massive crisis like Flint and need to swoop in and gather evidence you want them to what... send a form letter? Of all the agencies of government that SHOULD have a SWAT team, they're at the top of the list. If they're doing their job properly they're investigating both private business and other government agencies. NOT having a "SWAT" team means their potential targets have more than enough time to destroy evidence. If my options are giving the DEA 200 SWAT teams or the EPA 1, I'll vote for the EPA every time.
- nindalf 9y ago
  When something like Flint happens, they'll blame EPA for letting it happen on their watch and exploit the situation to call for _further_ cuts to EPA. If this sounds disingenuous, its because it is.
- dingaling 9y ago
  > you want them to what... send a form letter? Obtain a warrant empowering the police to enter and secure the premises, before the agency staff enter to obtain evidence. That's how we do it in Europe at least, where environmental protection agencies don't run around with M4s and tear-gas.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

girzel 9y ago

So: EPA BAD

haksis 9y ago

I agree that there's way too much regulation in the US, too much rent seeking and regulatory capture. Deregulation is one area I have extremely mixed feelings about Trump about: in some ways I don't think he's going far enough, and in other ways I feel like he's going too far. However, this EPA cutting is one of those cases where context is everything. If Trump were trimming the EPA but maintaining its core mission and not letting the foxes guard the henhouse, I might feel differently. And lauding Trump for cutting the EPA SWAT teams even while he lets municipal police--who have ample daily opportunities for abuse--stockpile military supplies seems disingenuous.

raisedbyninjas 9y ago

"The EPA has gone waaaaay past just the drinking water thing. Also they ensured crappy drinking water by mass dumping a bunch of waste and ruining one of the rivers in southwest CO." I assume you're referring to the accidental leak of contaminated mine water into the Animas river. The private sector is free to clean up after itself instead of abandoning mines in a hazardous state. Unfortunately they don't always do that. The EPA is charged with managing hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines of which tens of thousands threaten to contaminate groundwater. Sabotaging and underfunding the organization with this responsibility can't end well.

FussyZeus 9y ago
As a staunch conservative, this attitude mystifies the shit out of me. "$organization does a shit job at what it's supposed to do, so let's cut their funding so they have fewer employees and resources!" How on Earth are they supposed to fix anything if you keep reducing them to a skeleton crew?

tw04 9y ago

>You realize the EPA has its own fully supplied SWAT teams and everything? ...And? When they find a massive crisis like Flint and need to swoop in and gather evidence you want them to what... send a form letter? Of all the agencies of government that SHOULD have a SWAT team, they're at the top of the list. If they're doing their job properly they're investigating both private business and other government agencies. NOT having a "SWAT" team means their potential targets have more than enough time to destroy evidence. If my options are giving the DEA 200 SWAT teams or the EPA 1, I'll vote for the EPA every time.

nindalf 9y ago
When something like Flint happens, they'll blame EPA for letting it happen on their watch and exploit the situation to call for _further_ cuts to EPA. If this sounds disingenuous, its because it is.
dingaling 9y ago
> you want them to what... send a form letter? Obtain a warrant empowering the police to enter and secure the premises, before the agency staff enter to obtain evidence. That's how we do it in Europe at least, where environmental protection agencies don't run around with M4s and tear-gas.