Oh, EPA, why do you have to go around, you know, regulating all the time? You know it just pisses off Republicans. You tried to keep coal companies in West Virginia from dumping waste into streams, so now House Republicans (and, to be fair, a handful of Democrats) have passed a bill that would take away your authority to enforce the Clean Water Act. I mean, what did you expect them to do?
No bigs, right? It's only one of the most fundamental environmental laws OF ALL TIME. The one that was passed in response to the Cuyahoga River catching on fire, one of the most iconic images of the environmental disaster that was the United States in the 1950s.
Remember that? Remember when a river CAUGHT ON FIRE? Well, apparently Congress doesn’t. If they did, would the House want to take away the federal government's power to overrule state governments when they give weak-ass permits to polluting companies? Would they think it could possibly be a good idea to let one state dump pollution into a river whose water flows into another state? Because that's what just happened.
Ok, sure, it probably won't pass the Senate. (Nothing ever does!) But Washington is so crazy these days, who knows what might happen? You might as well just stop regulating right now, EPA. You’ll save yourself (and congresspeople who hate the environment) a lot of trouble.
