Ottawa Citizen

EPA’S DEMISE WOULD BE HORRIBLE FOR AUTO INDUSTRY

This misguided proposal will bring about disastrous consequenc­es

- DAVID BOOTH Driving.ca

You would think the Republican party would have trouble, well, trumping executive order 13679. You know, the “it’s not a ban on Muslims” proclamati­on that just happens to affect only, well, Muslims. In the short two weeks since it was signed into being, Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States has spurred demonstrat­ions in pretty much every American city with an airport and a kebab shop, galvanized pretty much every single tech company in Silicon Valley to sue the government and, in a recasting I find almost too incomprehe­nsible to say out loud, has forced the entire world, even Liberals, to reevaluate George W. Bush. Surely, the GOP couldn’t possibly do anything even more boneheaded. Oh, but it could. With all the hullabaloo regarding the potential for terrorism — and ain’t it funny that Bannon and his Breitbart boys never mention anything about the 39 terrorist attacks perpetrate­d by white supremacis­ts in the U.S. since Timothy McVeigh’s 1995 Oklahoma bombing — it’s easy for smaller stupiditie­s to slip through the cracks.

And, boy, is the GOP putting forward one that has the potential to rip the guts out of the automobile industry.

I’m talking about the Environmen­tal Protection Agency. No, not the-toupee-that-walks-like-a-man’s appointmen­t of Scott Pruitt — an Oklahoma attorneyge­neral who has sued the EPA no fewer than 14 times — to be, well, head of the Environmen­tal Protection Agency.

On the sliding scale that is Trumpian stupidity, that doesn’t even rank as an alternativ­e truth.

No, what I’m talking about is that some know-nothing, firstterm Republican congressma­n from Florida, emboldened by the craziness that has been The Donald’s first three weeks in office, is putting forth a bill to dismantle the EPA. Not curtail its overly green ways or perhaps deregulate a couple of coal mines in eastern Kentucky, but shutting it down completely. As in it will no longer be occupying its Versailles-like edifice on Pennsylvan­ia Avenue.

Now, I’m no friend of the EPA. As far as I am concerned, Obama’s eco-weenies have ruled that roost for far too long.

Its mandates are out of touch with current realities, it promotes technologi­es that work better in laboratori­es than in real life, and ever since West Virginia University proved the EPA wasn’t doing its job by outing Volkswagen’s noxious diesels, it’s been in a snit that would do Mariah Carey proud. Just the fact it mandates ethanol in gasoline is enough to put me in high dudgeon. So yes, the EPA most definitely needs a reboot. But shutting it down completely? Surely, the stupidest thing the Republican­s have done since they nominated The Donald as their presidenti­al candidate.

The bill’s sponsor, Mike Gaetz, said, “we must understand that states and local communitie­s are best positioned to responsibl­y regulate the environmen­tal assets within their jurisdicti­ons” in his call for the EPA to be abolished by Dec. 31, 2018.

For one thing, turning over the EPA’s emissions-monitoring responsibi­lities to individual states is neither going to help clean up the environmen­t nor, as Gaetz so blithely contends, promote the economy. Not only might this legislatio­n mean disparate standards and regulation­s for every state, but also, if by some miracle there is some consensus, I think the Republican­s might be in for a big lesson in unintended consequenc­es.

Right now the dominant force in state environmen­tal legislatio­n, at least as it pertains to automobile regulation, is California.

Indeed, currently more than a dozen states fall in lock step with the Golden State’s emissions standards. In a vacuum left by the demise of the EPA, chances are that even more would follow suit, if for no other reason than at least California has some legislatio­n.

To all the Trump fans out there decrying this screed as just another personal attack on their combed-over demi-god, know this: I want no part of California’s Air Resources Board running the show. Compared with CARB, the EPA is a wilting flower of regulatory compromise and milquetoas­t-y decrees. If California gets behind the driver’s seat of automobile-emissions regulation, Elon Musk and his merry band of enviro-weenies will have gasoline banned quicker than it takes to recharge an 80-kilowatt Model S.

And Mr. Gaetz, I thought you were supposed to be probusines­s? So, how come the one thing all automakers agree on is that jurisdicti­onal difference­s in standards and regulation­s are a major business impediment?

You’re supposed to be helping the common man and the one thing that allowing each state to set its own emissions standard is guaranteed to accomplish is increase the cost of vehicles. Automakers have long been trying to coax government­s to harmonize global standards for both emissions and safety so they can reduce developmen­t costs. In one short, misguided proposal, Gaetz is suggesting that they might now have to meet multiple standards just to sell cars in the one country.

And imagine, just for a moment, the havoc wrought if, in a similar state of pique, Trump decided the National Highway Traffic Safety Administra­tion should also go the way of the dodo bird. Just contemplat­e the chaos if each state in the union decided to adopt completely different standards for crash testing. Or autonomous driving. Or something as simple as which side of the steering column to put the turn signal stalk. (Yes, I can see Alabama moving them to the “right” and California would surely keep them on the left, but where would “we can see them from my house” Alaska put them?)

H.R. 861 — To Terminate the Environmen­tal Protection Agency — is the stupidest idea yet from an administra­tion rapidly proving to be specialist­s in the practice.

The EPA may be a treasure trove of over-reach and comically unrealisti­c regulation, but it sure as hell is better than the anarchy Gaetz proposes.

 ?? SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES ?? The mandates of the EPA are out of touch with current realities and the department is in need of a reboot, but shutting it down would be the stupidest thing the GOP has done since nominating Donald Trump as their presidenti­al candidate, David Booth...
SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES The mandates of the EPA are out of touch with current realities and the department is in need of a reboot, but shutting it down would be the stupidest thing the GOP has done since nominating Donald Trump as their presidenti­al candidate, David Booth...

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