Concerning the editorial in the Sept. 8, 2014, issue (p. 22): Few questioned the importance of clean air and clean water when the Environmental Protection Agency was established. Few objected to the work the EPA was undertaking. For the next 2 or 3 decades, the EPA accomplished great things.
There came a time, however, where the law of diminishing returns set in and few actual improvements were made. And today, with 16,000 employees, the EPA has been transformed into a political organization on a mission that has little to do with the environment and all to do about control over the American economy and Americans.
While the EPA in Washington, DC, was growing, comparable, independent environmental protection organizations were being implemented in each state. These state-centered environmental protection agencies, or departments, have developed to the point where they are fully capable of maintaining the environmental gains that have been made.
This is at the heart of a new proposal by Dr. Jay Lehr, science director of the Heartland Institute, to transform the EPA: in essence, to devolve the EPA so its functions are assumed by the environmental agencies in each of the 50 states.
His proposal envisions a 5-year transition, where the duties of the EPA are transferred to the state environmental agencies, overseen by a committee of the whole composed of representatives from each of the 50 state environmental agencies.
The committee of the whole would review all existing regulations and their relevancy to existing legislation, working with Congress to clarify or eliminate regulations not supported by legislation.
The 50 state environmental agencies have the talent to do the job without 16,000 EPA activists overseeing them.
It's envisioned that this new structure, with the committee of the whole defining environmental needs, and the 50 state environmental agencies overseeing the regulations for their states, would improve the effectiveness of environmental protection while saving 80% of the existing EPA's budget.
Quoting from Lehr's proposal, "It's time for the national EPA to go. The path forward is now clear and simple: a 5-year transition from a federal government bureaucracy to a committee of the whole composed of the 50 state environmental protection agencies."
This proposal is logical and rational. It's not a knee-jerk reaction calling for the EPA to be eliminated. It explains why trying to "fix" the EPA is a bad idea.
Donn Dears
Retired executive, GE Co.
The Villages, Fla.
