Environment

No department or agency in the federal government is immune from the bureaucratic toxin of waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement.  Ironically, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is responsible for cleaning up all kinds of sewage, sludge, and foul matter, has consistently been one of the most wasteful agencies.  EPA officials have so consistently mismanaged and squandered the taxpayers’ money in 2016 that this year alone should serve as a teachable moment for other federal agencies.

In the land of the free, the federal government still controls more than 50 percent of all land west of Kansas.  The ongoing control of such a large part of the western states by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has been disastrous to the environment and the economy.  With record-setting wildfires burning millions of acres, emitting pollutants into the air, and destroying habitats and watersheds, the only solution is to transfer the public lands to willing states, which will provide for more accountable and efficient land management.

In the summer of 2002, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and several other local environmental activist groups in California announced their radical agenda to combat the “drought” in California by removing 1.3 million acres of farmland from production in the San Joaquin Valley. The effort to remove such a vast amount of farmland from production was due to an effort to save a 3-inch long minnow called the Delta Smelt.  The burden that water policies in California have had on taxpayers is often overlooked and widely misunderstood.  It is worth understanding what these policies mean and how they affect not only California, but the rest of the country.

The most essential nutrient for people is water.  This is particularly true when someone is exercising or otherwise engaged in activities that require more than a “normal” amount of water.  Those activities would include strenuous walking or hiking, such as one might do while visiting one of America’s national parks.

There is no shortage of government agencies that fritter away hard-earned tax dollars by imposing hostile rules and regulations on businesses and individuals.  But the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has practically cornered the market on invasiveness and inefficiency.