PrintDecember 2, 2010
The U.S.'s 'Little Shop of Horrors' Turns 40
Back on December 2, 1970, who could have predicted that the sprouting of a flower nurtured with good intentions would result in a blood-sucking behemoth with a ravenous appetite for domination and control of the human race? I'm not talking about Audrey II, the man-eating plant from Roger Corman's "Little Shop of Horrors." I'm referring to the spawn of Rachel Carson and her discredited 1962 bestseller Silent Spring, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Two years following the EPA's birth, one of its vaunted accomplishments was the banning of the pesticide DDT. This progressive milestone in unintended consequences resulted in the unnecessary worldwide deaths by malaria of millions, and it continues to curse us in this country with the recent resurgence of bedbug infestations.
Once it became clear that carbon cap-and-trade legislation would be untenable in the new Republican-controlled House, "Plan B" was put into action. This strategy is the third leg in Obama's undermining of the U.S. Constitution by executive fiat. Now that financial reform and the Food Safety Modernization Act will significantly contribute to government control of our finances and food supply, new Clean Air Act regulations will control us through the air we breathe. In a Forbes article by Larry Bell, the historical context behind this government power-grab through regulation is revealed.
Effective July 1, 2011, any new source of greenhouse gas emissions that exceeds 100,000 tons of CO2 per year or plant modification adding 75,000 tons annually, will be subject to permit approval based upon undefined case-by-case "best available control technology" assessments.[...] Such rapid expansion of EPA powers and growth is emblematic of Big Government bureaucracy run amok with the help of some influential friends. In the EPA's case, there was no better friend than Enron.
Seeing an opportunity to capitalize on the "acid rain" hysteria of the '90s, Enron co-opted climate scientists and legislators to organize the nation's first cap-and-trade Ponzi scheme, buying and selling sulfur dioxide emission credits. Based on the success of this scam, the wizards at Enron lusted over how much they could steal through cap-and-trade if carbon dioxide was declared a pollutant.
A massive campaign of lobbying and campaign donations ensued, with CEO Kenneth Lay working with President Clinton and Vice President Gore on a strategy to ratify the Kyoto climate agreement. As fate would have it, the U.S. Senate unanimously voted to refuse to ratify the treaty in one of the few contemporary acts that reflected the will of the American people. Enron was finished and fell under the weight of its own corruption. The supreme irony here is that Enron, the poster child for the excesses of capitalism, was actually a tool of the political left.
Under the aphorism that bad ideas never die -- they just become progressive agenda items -- the EPA won a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling that "greenhouse gasses" including carbon dioxide are pollutants. The five assenting justices, being strict arbiters of the law, did not allow actual science or common sense to play a role in the decision. This opened the door for the EPA to regulate the production of carbon dioxide in any manner they choose. The inconceivable amount of money and power to be acquired in controlling the Earth's atmosphere is an irresistible temptation to our easily corruptible ruling class, and they have won.
And so, after forty years, the Audrey II of the Obama administration grows in power and regulatory appetite, set to strangle the U.S. Constitution and swallow American freedoms whole.
Andrew Thomas blogs at http://darkangelpolitics.com.
