OPINION:
The Environmental Protection Agency, addressing the coronavirus outbreak, suspended all of its regulations and standards for companies.
The radical environmentalists are up in arms. Greta Thunberg, in particular, is up in arms. But boo freaking hoo. The girl, simply put, hasn’t a clue.
This is one of the smartest shows of leadership from an executive agency you can get in a time of national crisis.
Who gives a crap about protecting a puddle when there are masks to be made, right? And the puddle quip is no joke; under the previous presidential administration, by Barack Obama design, the EPA put ditches and watering holes under federal clean water protections. Aptly enough, the over-the-top provision was called the “puddle rule.”
President Donald Trump’s EPA has different concerns right now. Obama had his puddles; Trump’s got the human race.
For now, for coronavirus now, companies get to be their own environmental watchdogs.
“In general, the E.P.A. does not expect to seek penalties for violations of routing compliance monitoring, integrity testing, sampling, laboratory analysis, training, and reporting or certification obligations in situations where the E.P.A. agrees that Covid-19 was the cause of the noncompliance and the entity provides supporting documentation to the E.P.A. upon request,” the EPA order states.
The fed also asks that companies “act responsibly” and not take advantage of this current relaxing of rules for financial gain that harms the environment.
“E.P.A. is committed to protecting human health and the environment,” Administrator Andrew Wheeler said, MSN reported. “But [EPA] recognizes challenges resulting from efforts to protect workers and the public from Covid-19 may directly impact the ability of regulated facilities to meet all federal regulatory requirements.”
That’s smart government, actually working on behalf of the American people.
Regardless, leftists are outraged.
“’An Open License to Pollute’: The EPA Has Halted Enforcement Due to COVID-19,” Mother Jones blasted in a headline.
Rep. Mark Pocan, Wisconsin Democrat, tweeted of the EPA’s relaxed rules: “Outrageous. Suspending all environmental regulations indefinitely? This has nothing to do with coronavirus. This has everything to do with protecting Big Business.”
And famed child environmental activist Greta Thunberg had some words of criticism, as well.
“The EPA uses this global pandemic to create loopholes for destroying the environment,” Thunberg tweeted. “This is a schoolbook example for what we need to start looking out for.”
Yawn.
Make that cough and yawn. This is the time of the coronavirus outbreak, after all.
Or doesn’t Thunberg and her ilk realize that?
The EPA, under this Trump administration, has made a wise, smart and strong leadership decision to ease the burdens on businesses that make the necessary medical supplies to fight this virus — and to keep the ones that don’t afloat during this economically disastrous moment in history.
The radical environmentalists, on this, don’t get to put the puddles first.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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