President Bush has ordered all federal agencies, before they issue any kind of regulations, to consider their impact on energy supplies, and to expedite permits so that energy projects don’t get “snarled in bureaucratic tangles as local governments or entrepreneurs seek permit after permit from agency after agency.”
It’s a small step, but a step in the right direction.
For years, environmentalist federal agencies have enjoyed a free ride. If you are part of the Washington, D.C. federal establishment, your virtue and motives are without question. At the same time, if you’re in business and make a profit, you are automatically considered a threat to the environment.
The fact remains: both federal regulatory agencies and businesses have self-interest. The crucial difference is this: private companies must be responsible in the pursuit of their self-interest, because a failure to be this way could result in loss of profits. Federal agencies, on the other hand, have no interest other than to whip up hysteria and emotion so as to convince taxpayers we desperately need to keep them around. Global warming is a case in point. Despite all kinds of evidence to seriously challenge the theory of global warming, government scientists are ready to shut down modern civilization to achieve their anti-human ends.
I’d love to see these worthless and dangerous federal agencies, such as the EPA, abolished altogether. Capitalism and business, while certainly not perfect, have done infinitely more to advance the cause of health, safety, and civilization than any government agency could ever dream.
