Regarding the EPA’s Power Grab, and MoveOn.org

10Feb/101

Regarding the EPA’s Power Grab, and MoveOn.org

Although a strong case can be made that the endangerment finding is scientifically flawed, that is not what Sen. Murkowski’s resolution is about. Contrary to misrepresentation by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and others, the resolution is not a referendum on climate science. It is a referendum on whether bureaucrats with a vested interest in expanding their power should make climate policy. The resolution would veto the regulatory force and legal effect of the endangerment finding — not its scientific reasoning or conclusions. Indeed, Sen. Murkowski is not a global warming skeptic, nor is she opposed in principle to greenhouse gas regulation. She simply believes that climate policy is too important to be made by a bureaucracy with no accountability to the American people.

The Murkowski resolution would not change one word of the Clean Air Act. It would not alter any program that EPA administers under the Act. It would not reduce funding for any EPA program. It would, however, avert an era of unaccountable regulation. It’s this defense of democracy that Moveon.org vilifies.

Yes, it's all about the Constitution, and government intrusion, generally; and, yes, it's true that Progressives regard all that rigamarole as an impediment to enlightened rule. They would like nothing better than to see governmental powers handed over to a bunch of unaccountable yobs in suits, as is done in the "Euro-Zone."

They don't care whether their arrogated power is based on lies, as long as they have it, and the mechanisms to make it real by force. Fortunately, the Southeastern Legal Foundation is taking them to court.

Todd Stern, a Clintonite who recently did a stint with Podesta's Center for American Progress, has been appointed as Climate Envoy to the UN, where he's attempting to rescue the settledness of climate "science." I have no doubt that he's a skilled jurist and apparatchik.