He was trying to be funny, as the video below shows. But one wonders about the sense of humor of someone in charge of regulating anyone or anything, much less the oil industry, who compares the terror tactics of Romans with EPA enforcement.

First, the video:

Heritage:

A video surfaced on Wednesday showing a regional administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency comparing his agency's philosophy with respect to regulation of oil and gas companies to brutal tactics employed by the ancient Roman army to intimidate its foes into submission.

EPA's "philosophy of enforcement," said EPA's Region VI Administrator Al Armendariz, is "kind of like how the Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean: they'd go into little Turkish towns somewhere, they'd find the first five guys they'd run into, and they'd crucify them."

"That town was really easy to manage for the next few years," Armendariz added.

His comments are indicative of the "EPA's war on fossil fuels," claimed Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) in a news release on Wednesday.

Inhofe reiterated the remarks in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon. Armendariz's comments, Inhofe said, "give us a rare glimpse of the Obama administration's true agenda." The region over which Armendariz has authority includes Inhofe's home state of Oklahoma.

Spurious enforcement action just to intimidate the industry? That's what this goon seems to be saying. More than proving the EPA's war on fossile fuels, the video shows the arrogance of power little men like this petty bureaucrat exhibit when given responsibility far above their abilities or temperament.