The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is under new management. A recent executive order from President Trump instructed all federal agencies (EPA included) to “alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens” on the American people.
What ideas do you have for EPA that are consistent with the six areas of opportunity (see below)? Comments must be received on or before May 15, 2017. Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OA-2017-0190 here.
Click on the top “Comment Now” button to make suggestions regarding regulations that need to be changed. (Note that once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed.)
The EPA may publish any received comment. The EPA will generally not consider comments outside this venue. You do not have to be a US citizen to make comments.
Background
On February 24, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13777, “Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” which established a federal policy “to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens” on the American people.
The EO directs federal agencies to establish a Regulatory Reform Task Force.
One of the duties of the Task Force is to evaluate existing regulations and “make recommendations to the agency head regarding their repeal, replacement, or modification.” The EO further asks that each Task Force “attempt to identify regulations that:
(i) Eliminate jobs, or inhibit job creation;
(ii) are outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective;
(iii) impose costs that exceed benefits;
(iv) create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with regulatory reform initiatives and policies;
(v) are inconsistent with the requirements of section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriates Act, 2001 (44 U.S.C. 3516 note), or the guidance issued pursuant to that provision in particular those regulations that rely in whole or in part on data, information, or methods that are not publicly available or that are insufficiently transparent to meet the standard of reproducibility; or
(vi) derive from or implement Executive Orders or other Presidential directives that have been subsequently rescinded or substantially modified.”
These six recommendations bring many reforms into play. Here are some that I will highlight in my own comments as Physicist & Citizen Advocate:
- The mission of EPA should be redefined and reduced [1]
- Require that all environmental policies be genuinely Science-based [1]
- Reduce the reliance on computer models [2]
- Send the Paris Agreement to the Senate for ratification [1]
- Appoint a balanced Science Committee to hash out the AGW issue [1]
- Make EPA’s basis for Endangerment Findings genuinely scientific [1]
- Review and revise EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule [1]
- Objectively calculate the net Social Cost of Carbon [1]
- Eliminate the Sea Level Rise provision in Biggert-Waters-12 [3]
- Review all recent Executive Orders/Memoranda. Change as needed [1]
This is an extremely important and urgent opportunity. Make your voice heard today!
[1] These relate to EO13777 (i) & (ii) & (iii) & (v)
[2] These relate to EO13777 (ii) & (iii) & (v)
[3] These relate to EO13777 (iii) & (v)