Clean Water, Banking Regulations and Air Quality
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee marks up the “Clean Water Restoration Act.”
President Obama announces major new controls on the nation’s banking system.
The Environmental Protection Agency supervises air quality programs across the nation.
For more news, listen to the LibertyWeek podcast here.
1. POLITICS
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee marks up the “Clean Water Restoration Act.”
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Scholar R.J. Smith on why the bill is more about federal power than clean water:
“Before attempting to unconstitutionally extend their reach to include such things as a rancher’s isolated pond in northern Montana, one would think that those concerned with clean water and fishable water would first want to continue work on cleaning up the major navigable waters in the county like, perhaps, the polluted Potomac and Anacostia Rivers that flow past both sides of the U.S. Capitol.”
2. BUSINESS
President Obama announces major new controls on the nation’s banking system.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Director of the Center for Investors and Entrepreneurs John Berlau on why Obama’s overregulation won’t fix the financial crisis:
“The new Obama regulations should be also be viewed in light of another systemic issue in the economy: stimulating innovation. A recent Business Week cover story reports that ‘there’s growing evidence that the innovation shortfall of the past decade is not only real but may also have contributed to today’s financial crisis.’ If financial regulation chokes off financing for entrepreneurial firms in technology and other sectors, as the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting mandates have already done to a great extent, the economy could suffer the systemic effects of stagnation.”
3. ENVIRONMENT
The Environmental Protection Agency supervises air quality programs across the nation.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Regulatory Studies Fellow Ryan Young on the EPA’s misplaced priorities:
“Today’s Regulation of the Day comes to us from the Environmental Protection Agency ($7.1 billion 2009 budget, 17,217 employees). The EPA is traditionally one of the more active rulemaking agencies, issuing 330 new rules last year alone. One of their latest proposals concerns clean air in Columbus, Ohio. The area boasts some of the best air quality in the state. One would think that regulators, seeing these heartening results, would pat themselves on the back for a job well done, and move on to other pursuits. One would be wrong.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.