EPA Shenanigans

The Environmental Protection Agency was caught in a major lie yesterday on its recent mercury directive. Seems they purposely and knowingly dismissed a Harvard study that contradicted their findings. As the Washington Post reported, EPA officials ruled that their mercury protection policies could not be more stringent because the cost to industry far exceeded the expected public health payoff.

But they set aside a study they had commissioned, which showed that the public health payoff was 100 times higher than they were assuming. It’s difficult not to form the opinion that the EPA is protecting industry. Called on the carpet, none of the excuses the EPA is scrambling for really make much sense. At a minimum, it seems, the EPA ought to be revisiting, and rehashing, their recent ruling on mercury pollution.