Environmental Socialism ...

Lone Star Showdown II: Texas vs. the EPA
by Chris Bounds on September 20, 2010

As we have said before, being the strongest state in the union has put a huge target on the back of Texas. Texas is already battling the Obama Administration for its lack of support at the Mexican border, ObamaCare mandates, and being the only state singled in the $26 billion bailout bill. Last week the Lone Star State opened up another front in its defensive battle against the ever-increasing oppressive measures from Washington by suing the Environmental Protection Agency.

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Last Tuesday, Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a lawsuit against the EPA stating that the mandates it is imposing are illegal and will cost Texas thousands of jobs by driving up energy costs. In addition, he explained that the EPA used “flawed science” based the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an organization formed by the United Nations. WOAI explains:

“The state explained that the IPCC, and therefore the EPA, relied on flawed science to conclude that greenhouse emissions endanger public health and welfare,” Abbott said. “Because the Administration predicated its Endangerment Finding on the IPCC’s questionable facts, the state is seeking to prevent the EPA’s new rules, and the economic harm that will result from these regulations, from being imposed on Texas employers, workers, and enforcement agencies.”

…”The IPCC had the objectivity, reliability, and propriety of its scientific assessments called into question after a scandal erupted late last year,” Abbott said.

…”Today’s court filings challenge the EPA’s attempts to ignore federal law, impose their federally mandated deadlines and force Texas to spend millions of dollars advancing the Administration’s regulatory agenda,” Abbott said.

The scandal Abbott referred to is the same scandal that must have sent a cold chill down the spine of Al Gore – ClimateGate. Of course that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to make a few million bucks off the eco-fraud. But I digress.

Looking at the rules the EPA is imposing on Texas, the biggest impact will come from the regulation of carbon dioxide by extending clean air standards to tailpipes of personal cars and trucks. The “Tailoring Rule” would require Texas to comply with all clean air regulations by January 2, 2011, less than five months away, or the EPA will step in and enforce it.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is in lockstep with the attorney general. Governor Perry called the EPA’s measures “sweeping mandates and draconian punishments undoing decades of progress, painting entrepreneurs as selfish and destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process.” He even pushed back at Washington, suggesting they get on board with Texas in its effort to solve energy and environmental efforts by taking the state’s “all-of-the-above approach” – encouraging the development and use of all types of energy sources from coal to wind. Given the Obama Administration’s attitude towards conventional energy products, Perry’s words likely fell on deaf ears.

Washington may feel obligated to lower the success of every state in order to achieve a socialist utopia, but I firmly suggest they take good notice of the slogan “Don’t mess with Texas.” While Texas is not alone in the fight against the EPA since Virginia and Alabama filed separate suits, Texas is certainly a leader in the stand against tyrannical moves by the government that suppress constitutional rights reserved to the States and to the People. Win, lose, or draw in this showdown with the EPA, the Lone Star State is set to leave a Texas sized bruise on the backside of the federal government come November 2nd. Let’s do-si-do!