The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Assault on State Sovereignty

This report was published by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)

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Since 2009, the EPA has expanded its own prerogatives at the expense of the states’ rightful authority. Congress wanted states to quarterback environmental policymaking, but the EPA has pushed them to the bench.

The purpose of this report is to explain how the EPA is replacing cooperative federalism with command and control. In the first section, the report addresses the empirics. Since 2009, EPA regulatory disapprovals are up 190 percent relative to the average during the previous three presidential terms. EPA takeovers of state programs are up 2,750 percent.