# Republicans want to eliminate the EPA **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 16, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976 "2017-02-16T14:23:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Translucent\_Daydream](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/translucent_daydream/32/16170_2.png) [@Translucent\_Daydream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Translucent_Daydream)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/21 "2017-02-16T16:46:16Z")
What the hell? Is this even remotely possible to do? I don’t get how a trio of dumbasses can just drop a bill like this. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/22 "2017-02-16T16:47:04Z")
> [@somepumpkin](#): > > Again, the legislature is talking out of both sides of their mouths. Eliminating the EPA would kill many jobs in the country. Well yes, but those would be wussy liberal snowflake jobs, not good \*manly \*jobs like coal miner. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/23 "2017-02-16T16:47:09Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > That’s gravy. The chance of making enormous profits in a very short time, combining a lack of environmental regulation and modern mining/extraction techniques, would make Croesus swoon. > > Of course, modern techniques use about 1/10 the manpower of what was used back in the glory days, so I feel sorry for all the excited coal country folks lining up for nonexistent jobs while chanting Trump! Trump! Trump!.. > > And too, too bad for the complete, Industrial-Revolution shitholes their home regions will be in a few years. Except it possibly won’t provide a ton of money to the businesses - and it certainly won’t provide stable jobs to West Virginia miners - they are - at best, 18th century weavers being replaced by mechanized looms - and at worst, buggy whip manufacturers. The issue with coal isn’t just the EPA regulations, its that its a lot harder to get out of the ground than natural gas. Costs more. Even if you let the coal companies trash the environment. Plus, utility companies face a lot of pressure in cities (you know, those enclaves of liberalism) to use clean burning fuel. And shockingly, big population centers have a lot of market sway when it comes to energy. When I was working for a utility, we could actually charge more for natural gas provided energy in certain markets than we could for coal produced energy - and even more for wind. The company was trying to figure out how to do a “pick your energy” menu for consumers - so that people could choose to get their energy “green.” Consumers are starting to demand it - and its a great option for the utility company - the consumers pay for investments in wind and solar. Finally, utility companies are regulated by states - who can turn down requests for new coal burning plants - regardless of the EPA regulations. When it comes down to it, people in most of America might not care too much if we trash West Virginia with the promise of cheaper energy bills, but when it comes to building a coal plant to get energy into your house, you get a hell of a lot of NIMBY - especially if the power plant doesn’t need all those scrubbers because we’ve gutted the EPA (even with scrubbers, in a lot of the country you can’t sell a coal plant.) ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/24 "2017-02-16T16:48:16Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > So “eliminating the EPA will help create jobs” should be understood to mean “eliminating the EPA will help create profits for wealthy donors” Well yes. For Republicans, those two things are synonymous. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/25 "2017-02-16T16:50:14Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Plus, utility companies face a lot of pressure in cities (you know, those enclaves of liberalism) to use clean burning fuel. And shockingly, big population centers have a lot of market sway when it comes to energy. I expect there to be more bills in future that forbid states or cities from requiring clean burning fuels. Next stop: Mandatory coal burning cars! The future is fantastic! (and really really sooty and carcinogenic) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/26 "2017-02-16T16:52:41Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > For some reason, this pisses me off more than anything else that has happened so far since the election. The EPA has done more good during its existence than any government agency I can think of. When I was a kid, the three rivers in Pittsburgh were essentially dead bodies of water. They’ve come back, thanks in part to EPA regulations. Fuck trump and his minions. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/27 "2017-02-16T16:53:33Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > So, not any attempt at all of acting like adults running the country, just running it into the ground out of spite. That’s the major incomprehensible cognitive dissonance of this election. I have a co-worker who has a PhD in chemistry. He is VERY intelligent. He is otherwise rational, caring, and well-spoken. He has children, so you know he should be invested in the future for their sakes if nothing else. Yet the day after the election, he was posting celebratory memes on FB, walking around the halls here crowing about how “the Deplorables” had shown everyone else up and how his vote for Trump was a fuck-you vote against Hillary and the libtards and big government. We work at a federally-funded public university. We write NSF and NIH grants. Let that shit sink in for a fucking second. Then consider that I posted this anti-EPA bill to Facebook a few days ago. His response? “What the actual fuck?!”, like some anencephalic doorknob humping adolescent. MOTHERFUCKER, THIS IS WHAT YOUR STUPID FUCKING ASS VOTED FOR. DANCE, YOU STUPID PIECE OF SHIT. YOU SHOULD BE CELEBRATING. SHOW SOME FUCKING SELF AWARENESS. FUCK. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/28 "2017-02-16T17:07:00Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When I was a kid, the three rivers in Pittsburgh were essentially dead bodies of water. They’ve come back, thanks in part to EPA regulations. > > Fuck trump and his minions. In 1987, I was in the L.A. area for job training. Several mornings, the CHP had to run traffic breaks because the _smog_ was so thick. And yes, it was smog, not fog. Fog isn’t a brownish-yellow color and it doesn’t burn your lungs. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/29 "2017-02-16T17:08:34Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > I expect there to be more bills in future that forbid states or cities from requiring clean burning fuels. Nothing to do with the environment, but it always seems astounding a group of old lobbyist creeps can instruct their local government minions not permit local municipal internet etc., and bring in bills against such dangerous 19th century progressivism. Will no-one say: “_Fuck off, old creeps !_”. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/30 "2017-02-16T17:11:14Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Well yes, but those would be wussy liberal snowflake jobs, not good \*manly \*jobs like coal miner. I see your point 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Crybaby\_Boobie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crybaby_boobie/32/545_2.png) [@Crybaby\_Boobie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crybaby_Boobie)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/31 "2017-02-16T17:18:18Z")
Kinda funny how everyone always says “Nixon was awful, but at least he created the EPA”, and now we have the worst administration ever trying to prove it by getting rid of it. And yes, I know this is not a Trump EO, but we all know he’d sign it if it got that far. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/32 "2017-02-16T17:18:28Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When I was a kid, the three rivers in Pittsburgh were essentially dead bodies of water. They’ve come back, thanks in part to EPA regulations. _“Burn on, big river, burn on…”_ Yeah, I grew up under the eco-panic late '60s too… and remember gawping at the coffee-colored haze over LA when we went to Disneyland, and seeing the ghost of it back in the Sacramento Valley on return. I have to tell my kids about it like splitting rails or walking six miles uphill to school in the snow (both ways)… it just doesn’t register with them. And it’s almost 100% due to the EPA’s efforts and power to enforce regulations. It’s the closest thing to a real-world miracle I’ve ever seen in my life. We can probably survive a lot of political horseshit. Laws can be flopped. I don’t like the idea of any population losing ground on discrimination, but that will pass. To curtail the EPA now of all times would be monstrous, an irreversible act that’s nothing less than a death sentence for millions in North America and gasoline on the fire of global environmental damage. > [@](#): > > Fuck trump and his minions. With a pine tree. Many parts are edible, too. ---
**Author:** ![random6x7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8baadc/32.png) [@random6x7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/random6x7)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/33 "2017-02-16T17:22:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When I was a kid, the three rivers in Pittsburgh were essentially dead bodies of water. They’ve come back, thanks in part to EPA regulations. > > Fuck trump and his minions. The creeks were all orange when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/34 "2017-02-16T17:26:58Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When I was a kid, the three rivers in Pittsburgh were essentially dead bodies of water. They’ve come back, thanks in part to EPA regulations. > > Fuck trump and his minions. I do most of my kayaking downstream from a paper mill that is over 100 years old. The water is clean and clear and full of wildlife. I wonder what condition the Scioto River would be in without the EPA? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/35 "2017-02-16T17:31:36Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > I do most of my kayaking downstream from a paper mill that is over 100 years old. The water is clean and clear and full of wildlife. I wonder what condition the Scioto River would be in without the EPA? Nothing [much different](http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/01/13/scioto-river-burned-long-before-cuyahoga.html). ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/36 "2017-02-16T17:31:49Z")
The Cuyahoga River on fire. I remember asking my mom how you would put out a burning river. She didn’t know, either. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/37 "2017-02-16T17:38:39Z")
**John Mace** posted early in the thread that this is probably show-boating by a few members of congress rather than a serious attempt to get a bill passed, and he is probably right. It may come to a vote in the house and get passed, but it does seem unlikely that the senate would pass it. I have no doubt that Trump would sign it if it did make it through the senate. Let’s vent a little but stay calm. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/38 "2017-02-16T17:41:08Z")
I remember when the San Diego harbor was a sewer and Boston Harbor was a toxic waste dump, when raw sewage in Anchorage was dumped directly into Cook Inlet and Love Canal was killing people. Abolishing this agency would be a disaster. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/39 "2017-02-16T17:45:08Z")
One good thing is that the EPA would not longer impede State DEQs from enacting tough environmental laws … and the other good news is The Donald won’t be violating Federal law gutting the agency … But a clever bit of “fake news” … strictly speaking, just introducing legislation doesn’t mean is has passed … only a particularly stupid butthurt snowflake would think this … Jesus fucking Christ people, that committee will be tied up for the next five years trying to get NOAA to backtrack their global warming data … that bill will be sitting on the shelf collecting dust long past the next election … C’mon … try to read with comprehension … a little … it doesn’t hurt … trust me … for what possible reason would I have to lie to you? ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-want-to-eliminate-the-epa/779976/40 "2017-02-16T17:45:43Z")
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