Junkscience.com reports that:
EPA official Al Armendariz who rocketed to infamy last week because of 2010 comments about “crucifying” industry, has resigned from the agency.
Click for his resignation letter. (PDF)
Here’s the source of the uproar, this video:
Inhofe wasted no time going after this public servant turned crucifier.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, announces that he has launched an investigation into the Obama-EPA’s apparent “crucify them” strategy targeted at American energy producers. This investigation will look into EPA’s actions towards domestic energy production specifically in light of the agency’s recent efforts relating to hydraulic fracturing.
Inhofe’s announcement today follows several questionable statements from top EPA officials, including comments released in a little-watched video from 2010, which reveals EPA Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz admitting that EPA’s “general philosophy” is to “crucify” and “make examples” of oil and gas companies.
Unfortunately, there are dozens, perhaps hundreds more just like him at the EPA, an organization that seems to be at war with the industry of the United States of America, and the people too. See:
“… This is a standard and legitimate tactic of prosecutors and regulators. It’s not anti industry. There is nothing wrong with it.” – Mindbuilder
Unless you’re the one who has been singled out to be made an example of. These guys are anti-industry and want to shutdown the oil and coal industries. It’s not just a matter of reducing violations. They are creating new regulations that make it impossible to comply with and stay in business. There IS something wrong with that!
“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.” — Barack Obama
Curfew says:
April 30, 2012 at 11:02 am
There needs to be a purge of “nutters” at the EPA.
—
If we did that, would there be anyone left?
Mindbuilder says:
April 30, 2012 at 11:20 am
“I’m dissapointed in the above summary of this issue. Nowhere does it mention that what this guy was saying was that he was crucifying violators to make an example and get other violators to comply with regulations because he didn’t have the manpower to go after every violator. This is a standard and legitimate tactic of prosecutors and regulators. It’s not anti industry. There is nothing wrong with it.”
He compared his approach to that of the Romans, who, when conquering a village, would crucify, as in kill, the first 5 guys they came across. Simply the first five, not the first five criminals. That is his idea of how to do his job. I find a lot of things wrong with that.
The EPA is a mixed bag in that they have done a lot of good in cleaning up/preventing of most pollution (although not always efficiently because of congressional interference/many super fund sites are still going to be a long time cleaning up because of this). I remember LA in the 70’s when descending through the smog layer into LAX, quite stinky/smelly. The smog would sometimes form a curtain to the east at the mountains from wind shear which was like driving from clear air into a smelly fog. Unfortunately they get carried away by trying to eliminate every last scrap of hazardous material sometimes to the parts per billion. And then there is the CO2 thing which is just insane.
I agree that this is the common way to handle the “10 per centers” to set an example, just not bright to say it. Sad that Inhofe and the like probably actually think that the 70’s air/ground water/water table pollution was OK.
Unfortunately this pollution is still winked at by the right which doesn’t help discourage cheaters. And people wonder why so much oversight/regulation is often actually necessary. Also sad that this winking attitude set up 2008 in the financial industry which because of the Congressional shutdown of the CFTC investigation into derivatives and the like is still an axe hanging over the global economy.
Any wagers on whether Lisa Jackson resigns before the November elections?
Senator Inhoff – just use the word – LIE. Don’t go all P.C. on us. 😉
“So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.” — Barack Obama
+++++++++
Charged by whom, for the benefit of whom?
Please be specific.
I want to know how Goldman Sachs makes money out of this. They have not invested in this sector for no reason at all.
Urederra says:
April 30, 2012 at 11:12 am
. . .
“His surname is basque, oh the shame!”
One rotten Armendariz does not tarnish the Basque!
@ur momisugly E.M. You sure you want him to resign? 😉
http://youtu.be/7rXyTRT-NZg?t=22s
http://youtu.be/8TTfCE1QfYg?t=36s
Notice how a true believer can’t even write a resignation letter without bringing social justice into the discussion; he was working especially for the “disadvantaged”.
Wasn’t it Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged where the government made so many rules you couldn’t follow all of them and they didn’t expect you to? They always knew if they ever needed it, you were guilty of something.
Some more quotes from the econuts that are giving impetus to the EPA’s crazy persecutions of energy production:
“Every time someone dies as a result of floods in Bangladesh, an airline executive should be dragged out of his office and drowned.” – George Monbiot, Activist & Journalist
“[to save us from climate change, we must]… rid the world of Industrial Civilization…this means the removal of grazing domesticated animals, razing cities to the ground, blowing up dams and switching off the greenhouse gas emissions machine.” — Keith Faranith, UK Eco-Activist
Just for fun: “Entire nations could be wiped off the face of the Earth by rising sea levels if the global warming trend is not reversed by the year 2000.” –Noel Brown (1989), ex Director of the UN Environment Program [it’s now 2012]
“… video from 1910 …” at approx 1:53
I like the part where he said “…there are limits to what we can do…”. Really? Wow. What a *totally* unnecessary obstacle for a government official to contend with..
One wonders if the EPA will have a spare “crucifier” around to go after these guys
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/04/30/video-green-tech-bust-solyndra-busted-for-abandoning-toxic-waste/
Gibson Guitar Corp. has been treated in this “crucifier” mode by the US Government. What’s not to wonder about when armed agents rush into a guitar factory? Perhaps guitar cases were concealing machine guns?!
http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/News/en-us/gibson-0825-2011.aspx
I do not believe this was a true resignation letter. It does not follow the form, has no formal address to the recipient, gives no leave-by date, and misspells “publicly” as “publically”, which doesn’t exist. Sorry, I don’t buy it. He may resign, and may in fact already have left for his cushy new job; but that is a poor excuse for a letter.
As for the question of his attitude and expression, it is reprehensible and totally ignores the primary rule in American jurisprudence: innocent until proven guilty. I join the chorus: Drop the EPA, devolve its functions back to the states where they belong, and leave us alone!
Mindbuilder says:
April 30, 2012 at 11:20 am
Wow, that’s the most disgusting response I’ve ever read on WUWT. And least informed.
If you’d delve into the issue just a bit more, you’d find his statement “the first five guys they’d run into, and they’d crucify them” wasn’t talking about five “violators” at all–unless you consider someone dealing in carbon-based fuels to be a “violator” just for dealing–in that case, do you burn gas in your car?
So what “institution of higher education” did you graduate from, Mindbuilder (amazingly disparate “handle”, by the way)? Were you in the same graduating class as Armendariz? It sounds like it.
Appalling!
Skeptic says:
April 30, 2012 at 11:59 am
“I agree that this is the common way to handle the “10 per centers” to set an example, just not bright to say it. Sad that Inhofe and the like probably actually think that the 70′s air/ground water/water table pollution was OK.”
Sad that you have no source for this allegation; and sad that you are not capable of fair debate.
Had I been in charge, I’d have fired him for his lack of knowledge in basic history. The Romans would have been hard pressed to go into a Turkish village to do anything, as they pre-dated the Turks by several centuries.
Reblogged this on TaJnB | TheAverageJoeNewsBlogg.
Although the following can only be categorized as anecdotal, on the surface it appears
That Mr. Armendariz acted on his strategy in the case of “Range Resources” in Texas.
Also, Range Resources reported, what was termed a large suprising loss to Wall Street
for the first quarter.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/03/30/3848079/epa-drops-action-against-range.html
Star Telegram
EPA drops action against Range Resources over Parker County wells
Posted Friday, Mar. 30, 2012
By Barry Shlachter
In an about-face, the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday withdrew its 15-month-old emergency order against Range Resources that had blamed the Fort Worth-based drilling company for methane contamination in water wells and demanded that the company supply safe drinking water to two Parker County homes.
“Range is very pleased to see that the EPA’s order in Parker County has been withdrawn,” said Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella. “It’s important for people to know that their environment, health and safety is protected and hopefully this provides them with that comfort.”
The company said the withdrawal could help its $4.2 million defamation suit that it’s pursuing against Steve and Shyla Lipsky, residents of Parker County’s Lake Country Acres subdivision.
Range lodged a counter-claim against the Lipskys after the couple filed a $6.5 million lawsuit, alleging Range’s gas drilling activity contaminated their drinking water. But a state district judge dismissed the Lipskys’ suit in January, and later said Steve Lipsky together with his environmental consultant had created a “deceptive video” of a methane-spewing water well.
The EPA did not make clear if its technical staff had reversed its views on the cause of methane contamination, which prompted the Dec. 7, 2010, emergency order.
“Resolving the lawsuits with Range allows EPA to shift the agency’s focus in this particular case away from litigation and toward a joint effort on the science and safety of energy extraction,” said Jennah Durant, a Dallas-based EPA spokeswoman, via e-mail. “EPA and Range will share scientific data and conduct further well monitoring in the area, and Range will also provide useful information and access to EPA in support of EPA’s scientific inquiry into the potential impacts of energy extraction on drinking water.”
Durant declined to say if the federal agency had dropped concerns that Range may have been responsible for any methane contamination of ground water in Parker County.
Mindbuilder says:
April 30, 2012 at 11:20 am
I’m dissapointed in the above summary of this issue. Nowhere does it mention that what this guy was saying was that he was crucifying violators to make an example and get other violators to comply with regulations because he didn’t have the manpower to go after every violator. This is a standard and legitimate tactic of prosecutors and regulators. It’s not anti industry. There is nothing wrong with it.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What you are missing is that the ObamaEPA looks at anybody that drills for oil or gas or mines coal as a “violator” regardless of whether or not they broke a law or a regulation.
BTW, Just what IS the ObamaEPA basing their regulations on these days? Science or policy?
Skeptic says:
April 30, 2012 at 11:59 am
“Unfortunately this pollution is still winked at by the right which doesn’t help discourage cheaters. And people wonder why so much oversight/regulation is often actually necessary. Also sad that this winking attitude set up 2008 in the financial industry which because of the Congressional shutdown of the CFTC investigation into derivatives and the like is still an axe hanging over the global economy.”
Skeptic, The Democrats were in charge of congress starting in 2007, so who was doing the winking? Barney Frank and his lot!
http://uspolitics.about.com/od/usgovernment/l/bl_party_division_2.htm
I’m surprised to hear that environmental issues are class struggle issues.