AP Interview: Gingrich calls for replacing EPA

[killerbee99]

:doh: I just don't get it, why do certain people just want to dismantle good regulation and let businesses run wild?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110125/ap_on_go_ot/us_gingrich_iowa#mwpphu-container

DES MOINES, Iowa – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called Tuesday for the elimination of the Environmental Protection Agency, which he wants to replace with a new organization that would work more closely with businesses and be more aggressive in using science and technology.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Gingrich said the EPA was rarely innovative and focused only on issuing regulations and litigation.

"What you have is a very expensive bureaucracy that across the board makes it harder to solve problems, slows down the development of new innovations," Gingrich said.

Gingrich, who has acknowledged that he's mulling a run for the Republican presidential nomination, was in Iowa to talk to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. He also met privately with Republican legislators, often a sign in Iowa that people are laying the groundwork for a campaign. The state has the nation's first presidential caucuses.

Gingrich, who has made several visits to Iowa recently, said the EPA was founded on sound ideas but has become a traditional Washington bureaucracy. Gingrich had previously mentioned his desire to change the EPA, but Tuesday's explanation was the first time he made a specific proposal for replacing the agency, Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said.

"We need to have an agency that is first of all limited, but cooperates with the 50 states," Gingrich said. "The EPA is based on bureaucrats centered in Washington issuing regulations and litigation and basically opposing things."

EPA spokesman Brenden Gilfillan in Washington declined to comment on Gingrich's statements.

Gingrich denied his proposal would result in environmental damage, saying he would replace the EPA with what he called the Environmental Solution Agency.

"I think you have an agency which would get up every morning, very much like the National Institutes for Health or the National Science Foundation, and try to figure out what do we need to do today to get a better environment that also gets us a better economy," he said.

Click link for rest of article..........

[AsburySkinsFan]

"Regulation is evil

Businesses doing whatever they want to make a profit is good"

Keep repeating that until you believe it.

[Larry]

I think we should dismantle the FBI and replace it with an organization that works more closely with criminals. One that doesn't just focus on laws and punishing people.

Edit: I wonder how he'd feel about doing the same thing with the border patrol and immigration enforcement.

[killerbee99]

I think we should dismantle the FBI and replace it with an organization that works more closely with criminals. One that doesn't just focus on laws and punishing people.

I lol'd

[Destino]

Anyone surprised? We've all known the GOP position on the environment is "just leave the hunting areas alone because we need their votes, everything else is fair game"

[Larry]

Anyone surprised? We've all known the GOP position on the environment is "just leave the hunting areas alone because we need their votes, everything else is fair game"

No pun intended.

[TradeTheBeal!]

"Regulation is evil

Businesses doing whatever they want to make a profit is good"

Keep repeating that until you believe it.

Bought and paid for.

[Riggo-toni]

Quite frankly, the Dept of Energy is far far worse, much more bureaucratic, and way more litigious than the EPA. It's also deeper in the pockets of trial lawyers. Replacing the DOE with something aimed solely at alternative energy sources makes far more sense than scrapping the EPA, but it's too hard of a sell. The irony/hypocrisy here is that Gingrich was first elected as a moderate pro-environment Republican, who used his stance on cleaning up local industry in GA (specifically a bad-smelling paper plant) to get elected during the midst of the anti-GOP Watergate backlash.

[Wrong Direction]

If you guys would take the chance to read his book (A contract with the environment) you might realize that he's still a pro environment politician. It seems like you didn't make it to the bottom of the post.

"I think you have an agency which would get up every morning, very much like the National Institutes for Health or the National Science Foundation, and try to figure out what do we need to do today to get a better environment that also gets us a better economy," he said.

[Teller]

I don't get it, why can't some people understand the definition of "replace?"

[Wrong Direction]

I don't get it, why can't some people understand the definition of "replace?"

It's easier to read a headline and assume things than it is to understand issues.

[Darth Tater]

:doh: I just don't get it, why do certain people just want to dismantle good regulation and let businesses run wild?

All government regulation, especially EPA regulation, exists primarily to help established business interests at the expense of the consumer. When it happens to "help" the environment, that's nice but never necessary and not usually considered.

[Teller]

Ahh, yes...I'm a conservative, so I must be stupid. Kudos to you though, for getting through your post without a Faux News reference.

[DRSmith]

You need a government agency to protect and a government agency to invest in research

You have the NIH but you also have the HHS and the FDA that works to protect people and make sure the manufacturer and people providing care are not doing things harmful or illegal

[Wrong Direction]

You need a government agency to protect and a government agency to invest in research

You have the NIH but you also have the HHS and the FDA that works to protect people and make sure the manufacturer and people providing care are not doing things harmful or illegal

Fair point. Gingrich wouldn't argue. He'd argue that the EPA is a road block on too many things, like nuclear energy for example, and not enough of proponent for positive enviromental innovation.

[DRSmith]

Fair point. Gingrich wouldn't argue. He'd argue that the EPA is a road block on too many things, like nuclear energy for example, and not enough of proponent for positive enviromental innovation.

How does the EPA represent a road block to nuclear?

[Enter Apotheosis]

Ahh, yes...I'm a conservative, so I must be stupid.

I knew you'd figure it out eventually

[Wrong Direction]

How does the EPA represent a road block to nuclear?

Bureaucratic permitting and approval processes.

[DRSmith]

Bureaucratic permitting and approval processes.

Proving that you will not create an Enviromental disaster is a problem?

I know we all miss the days of acid rain, burning rivers cancer clusters and a chance at the North American Cherynoble but avoiding this may be a good thing

Enviromental impact studies are a good thing

[AsburySkinsFan]

If you guys would take the chance to read his book (A contract with the environment) you might realize that he's still a pro environment politician. It seems like you didn't make it to the bottom of the post.

Please if there is a deal to "replace" the EPA, the GOP would make sure that the EPA is dismantled and then they'd never get around to replacing it. One of the Tea Party items is the removal of the EPA, let's not kid ourselves please.

Every time someone advocates something like this, the first thing I think is, "Gee might there be a reason we have an EPA to begin with?"

[Larry]

All government regulation, especially EPA regulation, exists primarily to help established business interests at the expense of the consumer. When it happens to "help" the environment, that's nice but never necessary and not usually considered.

All blanket statements are wrong. Many are utter BS.

[DRSmith]

Please if there is a deal to "replace" the EPA, the GOP would make sure that the EPA is dismantled and then they'd never get around to replacing it. One of the Tea Party items is the removal of the EPA, let's not kid ourselves please.

Every time someone advocates something like this, the first thing I think is, "Gee might there be a reason we have an EPA to begin with?"

I remember one Sunday on the right wing forums people came home from church and started posting how we could not destroy the Earth since God created it, it was almost like there was an organized effort by some preachers to teach the idea we do not need to care for the Earth since in the end we can not do any real damage and therefore all this worrying about the enviroment was nothing more than Earth worship

[Thiebear]

Didn't Gingrinch and Pelosi do commercials together on the environment?

Repubs made fun of him.......

[Larry]

Ahh, yes...I'm a conservative, so I must be stupid. Kudos to you though, for getting through your post without a Faux News reference.

Your attempts at faux outrage over being attacked and labeled stupid might work better if

a) You had been labeled as stupid, and

Your previous post hadn't been this one.

I don't get it, why can't some people understand the definition of "replace?"

[Teller]

Your attempts at faux outrage over being attacked and labeled stupid might work better if

a) You had been labeled as stupid, and

Your previous post hadn't been this one.

He said "dismantle" in the OP. " said that Gingrich said "replace."

If I'm wrong, show me.