Back to Basics

When we last saw the EPA’s Al “Crucify ‘Em All and Let Obama Sort ‘Em Out” Armendariz, he was stuttering his way through a mea culpa like Jackie Gleason through an episode of The Honeymooners. Today, he finally got his story straight, well, straight enough to know that his candid speech two years ago was something he should never have said out loud. He handed in his resignation on Sunday and bumbled off into the sunset.

“Over the weekend Dr. Armendariz offered his resignation, which I accepted. I respect the difficult decision he made and his wish to avoid distracting from the important work of the agency. We are all grateful for Dr. Armendariz’s service to EPA and to our nation,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson in a statement Monday.

In his resignation letter to Jackson, Armendariz reiterated that the 2010 comments did not reflect his approach to the job.

“As I have expressed publicly, and to you directly, I regret comments I made several years ago that do not in any way reflect my work as regional administrator. As importantly, they do not represent the work you have overseen as EPA Administrator,” he wrote.

This, as we know, is manifestly untrue. Armendariz reflected perfectly the work to which Lisa Jackson has set the EPA. As I noted last week, the EPA did find themselves a perfectly innocent target called Range Resources, and promptly crucified them right out where every other oil and gas drilling company could see. Jackson and her horde of legionnaires have done everything in their power to make sure that we do not drill for our own oil or gas, even if that meant trumping up charges against innocents.

The real story of L’Affaire Armendariz is that he unwittingly spoke truth to power about what our government under the extremists who currently run it thinks of us and the society we have built. We are flawed people in need of their guiding hands and if we resist, well they’ll just nail a few of us to the trees as a little lesson to everyone else about who truly wields the power in Progressive America.

Like I said last week: “Tyrannical actions, of course, speak louder than weasel words. And the record shows that Obama’s environmental overlords run amok.”

The latest corruptocrat throws himself under the bus:

The Obama administration’s top environmental official in the oil-rich South and Southwest region has resigned after Republicans targeted him over remarks made two years ago when he used the word “crucify” to describe his approach to enforcement.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson sent Sunday, Al Armendariz says he regrets his words and stresses that they do not reflect his work as administrator of the five-state region including Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.

But while the “Crucify them” guy is gone, his bosses and their “crucify them” ethos are still hard at work at the White House,.

Al Armendariz, President Obama’s hand picked administrator for the EPA’s Region 6 office in Dallas, an academic with a radical environmentalist bent, has issued an apology. Previously, Armendariz had compared the EPA’s strategy of enforcement to terror campaigns conducted by the Romans. “It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw, and they’d crucify them.” The purpose was to make, “that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”

Armendariz, as if knowing how bad that sounded, then tried to hedge his words on the spot saying that even though the EPA’s policy, according to him, was to crucify random and innocent people, that the EPA would only do this against those breaking the law. “You make examples out of people who are in this case not complying with the law …” he said. Of course, whether or not “the law” is scientifically or constitutionally sound or not is never broached. It is important to note however to “crucify” someone means to treat them “cruelly” and hence beyond what is reasonable or lawful.

Look, despite his attempted hedging, this is another example of a liberal saying what liberals believe when their handlers let them off their leashes. Armendariz tried to further walk back his comments further by saying in an apology that he “regrets” his “poor choice of words.” Note that he did not say that what he said is not what he believes. He only apologized for poorly choosing his words to properly express those beliefs. Liberals, as well as those who refuse to believe that liberals are really mean people who want to use the power of government to “crucify” their ideological opponents, may not agree. However, all we have to do is look at the facts.

Range Resources, a company that makes its money drilling for natural gas by the process of hydraulic fracturing was recently targeted by Armendariz and Obama’s EPA. After an environmental activist rigged his spigot to his gas line and lit it on fire to claim that there was gas contamination from wells drilled by Range Resources, the EPA jumped on the case and began prosecuting. It is important to note that from the get go this case was obviously a fraud. Repeated reports by the State of Texas showed no contamination from Range Resources’ wells in the water table and the documentation of the event was so hysterical that anyone who knows anything about gas contamination in water knew that there was a scam afoot. But the EPA pushed forward with plans to “crucify” Range Resources anyway. However, Range Resources did not back down and fought the fraudulent charges being hurled against them. And they won the day. The fraud was completely exposed and the EPA, who had to know the fraud was a fraud to start with like everyone else did, dismissed its case. Not before costing Range Resources millions to defend itself however. You can bet that liberals like Armendariz seethed over having their wrists slapped.

But the liberal crucifixion of the oil and gas industry is not isolated to their attack on drillers like Range Resources.

“Crucify them:” The Obama Way
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2012

One of President Obama’s radical eco-bureaucrats has apologized for confirming an indelible truth: This White House treats politically incorrect private industries as public enemies who deserve regulatory death sentences.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator Al Armendariz, an avowed greenie on leave from Southern Methodist University, gave a little-noticed speech in 2010 outlining his sadistic philosophy. “I was in a meeting once, and I gave an analogy to my staff about my philosophy of enforcement, and I think it was probably a little crude and maybe not appropriate for the meeting, but I’ll go ahead and tell you what I said,” he began. In a video obtained and released by Sen. James Inhofe (R., Okla.), Armendariz then shared his bloody analogy:

It was kind of like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw, and they would crucify them. And then you know that town was really easy to manage for the next few years. . . . So, that’s our general philosophy.

Echoing President Obama’s “punch back twice as hard” treatment of his political enemies, Armendariz explained to his underlings: “You hit them as hard as you can, and you make examples out of them, and there is a deterrent effect there. And, companies that are smart see that, they don’t want to play that game, and they decide at that point that it’s time to clean up.”

In other words: Suck up, fly left, or face prosecution. The goal isn’t a cleaner environment. The goal is political incitement of fear.

Publicly humiliated by the video release of the persecution strategy session (FYI: the video has now been pulled, but there’s a copy here), Armendariz said this week he regretted his “poor choice of words.” “It was an offensive and inaccurate way to portray our efforts to address potential violations of our nation’s environmental laws. I am and have always been committed to fair and vigorous enforcement of those laws.”

Tyrannical actions, of course, speak louder than weasel words. And the record shows that Obama’s environmental overlords run amok.

It was Obama’s power-mad interior secretary Ken Salazar who vowed to keep his “boot on the neck” of BP after the Gulf oil spill in 2010. Salazar and former eco-czar Carol Browner colluded on a fraudulent report — condemned by federal judges — that completely distorted a White House–appointed expert panel’s opposition to the administration’s job-killing, industry-bashing drilling moratorium.

It was Obama’s EPA that railroaded a senior government research analyst for daring to question the agency’s zealous push to impose rules on greenhouse gases. When Alan Carlin asked to distribute an analysis on the health effects of greenhouse gases that didn’t fit the eco-bureaucracy’s blame-human-activity narrative, he was gagged and reprimanded: “The time for such discussion of fundamental issues has passed for this round. The administrator and the administration has [sic] decided to move forward on endangerment, and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision. . . .

No antibusiness feelings here. From CNS:

. . . Inhofe quoted a little-watched video from 2010 of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official, Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz, admitting that EPA’s “general philosophy” is to “crucify” and “make examples” of oil and gas companies. In the video, Administrator Armendariz says: “I was in a meeting once and I gave an analogy to my staff about my philosophy of enforcement, and I think it was probably a little crude and maybe not appropriate for the meeting, but I’ll go ahead and tell you what I said: “It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them. “Then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.” “It’s a deterrent factor,” Armendariz said, explaining that the EPA is following the Romans’ philosophy for subjugating conquered villages. Soon after Armendariz touted the EPA’s “philosophy,” the EPA began smear campaigns against natural gas producers, Inhofe’s office noted in advance of today’s Senate speech: “Not long after Administrator Armendariz made these comments in 2010, EPA targeted US natural gas producers in Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming. “In all three of these cases, EPA initially made headline-grabbing statements either insinuating or proclaiming outright that the use of hydraulic fracturing by American energy producers was the cause of water contamination, but in each case their comments were premature at best – and despite their most valiant efforts, they have been unable to find any sound scientific evidence to make this link.” . . .

On Wednesday Sen. James Inhofe showed a video on the Senate floor that was recorded in 2010. In it an Environmental Protection Agency administrator named Al Armendariz offers the EPA’s general philosophy when it comes to enforcing rules and regs on oil and gas companies: Crucify some of them right away so the rest are highly attentive:

“I was in a meeting once and I gave an analogy to my staff about my philosophy of enforcement, and I think it was probably a little crude and maybe not appropriate for the meeting, but I’ll go ahead and tell you what I said:

“It was kind of like how the Romans used to, you know, conquer villages in the Mediterranean. They’d go in to a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find the first five guys they saw and they’d crucify them.

“Then, you know, that town was really easy to manage for the next few years.”

Yes, these are the “public servants” in power in Washington. It’s gotten out of control, and this guy isn’t an isolated example. Between the EPA, the Department of Energy and the Department of the Interior’s anti-oil fervor and fury we’re still expected to believe they don’t think they can affect the price of gas?

Mao said that political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, and this guy, like so many in the Obama administration, is speaking in Tse-tungs:

Doug Ross asks the rhetorical question: What does the Obama EPA’s stated policy of “crucifying” oil companies do to gas prices?

EDITOR’S NOTE: The original video was pulled by YouTube with questions brought forth by Sen. Inhofe. Click for Politico article: YouTube yanks EPA “crucify” video

Original source link: http://youtu.be/DzKfVQIO4xM

Remember, government regulations are job creators. As proof we need look no further than the creation of jobs to watch buses idle.

From CNS News:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforced nearly $500,000 in fines and mandatory “environmental projects” on a school bus contractor for “excessive idling,” and as part of its anti-idling campaign to reduce the carbon footprint of school buses waiting to pick up children for their routes.

“As part of a settlement for alleged excessive diesel idling in Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Durham School Services will commit to reduce idling from its school bus fleet of 13,900 buses operating in 30 states,” read an EPA press release on Tuesday.

The EPA says an agency inspector two years ago spotted buses of the Durham School Services, the second largest school bus transportation contractor in the country, “idling for extended periods of time” in school lots in New England.

“The inspector observed some buses idling for close to two hours before departing the bus lot to pick up school children,” it said. State rules limit idling to three minutes in Connecticut and five minutes in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where the infractions occurred.

Durham reached a settlement for the violation and agreed to pay $90,000 in penalties. It also agreed to pay for $348,000 worth of environmental projects, including implementing a national training and management program “to prevent excessive idling from its entire fleet of school buses.”

Yes America, we’re paying EPA agents to stake out idling school buses all day. Learn more about a possible action-packed government career as an idling bus buster in the book “EPA Stakeout: ‘I think I dozed off there for a second, is it still running?’”

How long will it be until there’s an EPA agent in front of (or in) each of our homes? I’ll go in the garage and ask the guy who just ticketed my leaf blower.

Has the EPA fined Joe Biden and Al Gore yet? Have they called for a moratorium on the monstrous carbon footprint created by presidential campaign swings? We’re waiting.

Yikes! Termites!

Poets never seem to run out of words to describe spring. Alfred Lord Tennyson said a young man’s thoughts turn to love when spring arrives. Gardeners especially welcome it to put their little part of the world in perfect order, and many thrill to the sound of “Play ball!”

Spring, for me, is an annual reminder of the sheer power of nature to regenerate itself. Wherever you live, the trees burst into bloom along with the fecund life cycles of every species. In a world shaking loose the icy grip of winter, spring is full of the promise of warmer days, blue skies, and the real greening that nature provides.

Along with other species, spring signals the emergence of insect and rodent pests. America has been suffering a plague of bed bugs these days because there is only one pesticide registered to kill them and the Environmental Protection Agency has been notoriously slow to permit its use. All manner of other non-chemical techniques are used, but the bed bugs survive and thrive.

I know a lot about pests because in the 1980s I began to provide public relations services for my home state’s pest control association. These days both the national and state associations have renamed themselves “pest management” groups, but the only thing you want to “manage” with insect and rodent pests is to kill them as fast as possible.

So, yes, when spring arrives, I know that a lot of pest control professionals are gearing up to do battle with cockroaches, termites, ants, spiders, ticks, bed bugs, wasps, and the many permutations of their various species. The profession had its beginnings in the Middle Ages when men called “ratcatchers” plied their trade. Even English royalty employed them to keep their castles rat-free.

At the time, few made any connection between rats, fleas, and the Bubonic plague that raged through Europe from 1347 for the next five years, but that didn’t stop the plague from killing off a quarter of the population of Europe, some 25 million! Try to imagine what life would be like without pest control professionals today?

Spring, for example, marks the arrival of Lyme disease in many parts of the nation where there are large deer populations. The northeast is particularly vulnerable to this disease that is spread by the black-legged deer tick.

For homeowners and others with property, spring signals the presence of termites when their winged alates show up on window panes, attracted by the sunlight. What most do not know is that their home has likely been infested for several years until the colony reaches a point of sending the alates out to establish new colonies. Annually termites do more damage to homes throughout the United States than the combined effects of storms, fires, and earthquakes. Termite damage is frequently not covered by homeowner’s insurance. It is estimated they cause $5 billion in damage every year.

Termites aren’t the only insect that can inflict property damage, a colony of Carpenter ants, often several thousands in numbers, can enter a home overnight and begin to dine on its wooden elements.

Pest management professionals always urge consumers to have their homes and workplaces regularly inspected for signs of insect or rodent pests.

In December 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency released new Clean Air Act “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants.” Once again, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson touted the supposedly huge benefits of controlling emissions of mercury (Hg) and other air toxics from U.S. coal- and oil-fired power plants (or electric generating units, EGUs).

The people of Idaho may welcome this new rule, since EPA’s miraculous modeling machine has promised to prevent “six premature deaths” and create “up to $54 million” in health benefits by 2016 – even though not one coal-fired EGU in Idaho fits the EPA’s final rules. Even the District of Columbia, which has only one oil-fired unit, will somehow, magically realize “up to $120 million” in health benefits, presumably from new restrictions on coal-fired units in Maryland or Virginia.

The average U.S. citizen, however, can be excused for no longer being willing to be penalized by EPA – the Extreme Punishment Authority – for such minimal, imaginary and manufactured benefits.

In fact, the final rule may be the most expensive one ever devised by EPA. And yet, even EPA admits, the alleged “hazards to public health” from mercury and non-mercury emissions from American EGUs are “anticipated to remain after imposition” of the new regulations.

As to benefits, EPA computer models claim Hg emission cuts will reduce average per person “avoided IQ loss” by an undetectable “0.00209 IQ points,” with estimated “total nationwide benefits” of $500,000 to $6.1 million by 2016. For the electric utility sector, says EPA, net job creation from the rules will be “not statistically different from zero” and could be between minus 15,000 and plus 30,000 jobs.

In fact, the new regulations will likely eliminate tens of thousands of jobs annually, especially in energy-intensive industries that rely on low-cost electricity to survive and face growing competition from foreign companies that pay far less for energy, labor and raw materials. Small businesses will also get hammered.

“EPA cannot certify that there will be no SISNOSE from this rule,” the agency admits. “SISNOSE” is EPA-speak for “significant impacts on a substantial number of small entities.” In other words, the rules are likely to inflict significant economic harm on small businesses, and thus on the health and welfare of numerous (former) small business owners, employees and families. The agency failed to explain why it has once again ignored the adverse impacts on human health and welfare caused by its rules.

EPA also confessed that U.S. power plants actually contribute a mere 3% of the total mercury deposited in computer-modeled American watersheds, and thus in fish tissue. Citizens will justifiably wonder where the other 97% comes from, and why we should spend so much money for so little benefit. (The “missing” mercury comes from foreign sources and from volcanoes, subsea vents and other natural sources.)

To see how extreme EPA’s scenarios are, consider five more egregious errors in the final regulations. First, EPA admitted it could “calculate risk” for only 3,100 (4%) of the continental USA’s 88,000 watersheds.

Second, for over 60% of the 3,100 watersheds it did model, EPA took only one or two fish mercury measurements – making it virtually impossible to adopt even valid 75th-percentile fish mercury values.