The EPA, Land Grabs and Gina McCarthy

I am sure that Regina, “Gina” McCarthy is a nice person, but she is also everything that goes wrong when you mistake a resume for talent and a bureaucrat for a leader.  A bureaucrat is always a follower, and the party line that McCarthy is following is a land grab of preposterous, dangerous proportions.  What irritates me is that this presumably nice person sees absolutely nothing wrong with proposing legislation that would take your backyard carp pond and put it under governmental ownership. 

            First, there are a few things you need to know about McCarthy.  She is the kind of person that the Obama administration both seeks out and loves at first sight.  This woman has never held a real job in her life!  Her college credentials are in soft sciences—social anthropology, environmental health engineering and public policy.  Geez-oh-man, with degrees this mushy, this woman hasn’t had to cram for a final in her life.   These are the kinds of degrees that you get by pontificating, bull-shitting and spouting neo-chic group think on a test.  If the professor doesn’t have the foggiest idea what you have said, but agrees with your biases you are declared an, “A” student.  I wouldn’t want this woman as my bridge partner, let alone my EPA administrator. 

            With her limited academic credentials it is obvious that McCarthy never worked at anything outside of environmental desk jobs.  She took her mantra of, “…green good; business bad…” from state to federal offices right up the line.  McCarthy has now reached the top of all bureaucratic boondoggles, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. 

            On Tuesday, March 25, this unimaginative but malleable administrator proposed a change to the Clean Water Act which would give the government regulatory control over temporary (!!!) wetlands.  The EPA would apply pollution regulations to, “intermittent and ephemeral streams and wetlands.”  That means any hog wallow that gets muddy during a good rain.  McCarthy says that such transient surface water is part of the, “…waters of the United States” as if there is a kind of royal custody here.

Most land owners would say that the water that fills the run-off ditch in their back yard five days a year is just water, busy seeking its own level.  But McCarthy sees that water as part of a master plan.  She wants the government to exercise control of your conduct around that ditch, pond, sluice or mud puddle.  I guess there will be no more peeing in the creek—please make sure the cows know that.

            Sen. David Vitter (R-Louisiana), top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, says this rule, “…may be one of the most significant private property grabs in the U.S. history.”

            Never mind that the United States Supreme Court ruled in 2001 and 2006 that water controlled by the EPA must be, “relatively permanent or continuously flowing and sizeable, like "oceans, rivers, streams and lakes."  McCarthy and the EPA minions decided that the court rulings made administration too complex and confusing.  This proposal circumnavigates both the legislative and judicial branches of the government so the executive can do that voodoo that they do so well.

            The ultimate intent is clear.  Big brother will take control of your land and administer it as they see fit.   

            This proposal is now subject to a 90 day, “comment” period.  I hope the comments are forth coming and frank in condemnation of this attempt at turning our private lands into fiefdoms of the central government. 

            Protect the rights of private land owners and keep the faith.