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By George F. Will, Published: September 23
PHOENIX
Cindy Vong is a tiny woman with a problem as big as the government that is causing it. She wants to provide a service that will enable customers “to brighten up their days.” Having fish nibble your feet may not be your idea of fun, but lots of people around the world enjoy it, and so did some Arizonans until their bossy government butted in, in the service of a cartel. Herewith a story that illustrates how governments that will not mind their own business impede the flourishing of businesses.
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We've always said the EPA's extra-legal attempt to rewrite the 1970 Clean Air Act to twist it into a greenhouse gas law -- cap-and-trade by other means -- would be a disaster. Up to now, EPA tried to claim it would only apply permitting requirements to large industrial facilities. Now it is finally telling the truth -- that applying the Clean Air Act as written will force permitting for even small commercial facilities, schools, hospitals, churches, restaurants that use natural gas as a cooking fuel, and even larger single family homes.
In a court filing last week, EPA quantified the vast new army of federal bureaucrats it will need to process millions of new permits under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V permitting process. A shocking 230,000 new EPA bureaucrats at a cost of $21 billion -- more than tripling the EPA's total budget. In the filing EPA says it will reach these levels by April 30, 2016.
Based on the historical relationship between the number of federal regulators and private sector employment recently quantified by the Phoenix Center the addition of 230,000 federal bureaucrats would destroy 22.5 million private sector jobs.
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Remember how Obama recently waived new ozone regulations at the EPA because they were too costly? Well, it seems that the Obama administration is would rather make people with Asthma cough up money than let them make a surely inconsequential contribution to depleting the ozone layer:
Asthma patients who rely on over-the-counter inhalers will need to switch to prescription-only alternatives as part of the federal government's latest attempt to protect the Earth's atmosphere.
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday patients who use the epinephrine inhalers to treat mild asthma will need to switch by Dec. 31 to other types that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons, an aerosol substance once found in a variety of spray products.
The action is part of an agreement signed by the U.S. and other nations to stop using substances that deplete the ozone layer, a region in the atmosphere that helps block harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun.
But the switch to a greener inhaler will cost consumers more. Epinephrine inhalers are available via online retailers for around $20, whereas the alternatives, which contain the drug albuterol, range from $30 to $60.
The Atlantic's Megan McArdle, an asthma sufferer, noted a while back that when consumers are forced to use environmentally friendly products they're are almost always worse:
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Anyone who questions whether the regulatory state has anything to do with why the American economy is dying should consider one tiny part of the regulatory adventure businesses face.
In January 2010, with the country reeling from recession, President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency proposed tighter air quality standards.
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We Need Your Help! Please Join Us!
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What: Charleston, WV Congressional Hearing of the U.S. House Energy & Mineral Resources Subcommittee of the Natural Resources Committee
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When: Monday, September 26, 2011
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
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Where: Kanawha County Courthouse (Old Courthouse)
2nd Floor, Historical Courtroom #4
407 Virginia Street, East
Charleston, WV
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Please consider attending this important congressional hearing on Monday. The title of the hearing is “Jobs at Risk: Community Impacts of the Obama Administration’s Effort to Rewrite the Stream Buffer Zone Rule”. The hearing will examine the Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation’s (OSM) Stream Protection rule-making and its impact on jobs. It important to have a good showing of coal miners and pro coal people in the audience. The Courthouse opens at 8 a.m.
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By OSM’s own analysis, the new rule would destroy more than 20,000 coal mining and related jobs.
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We need your respectful participation at this hearing to show the congressional representatives in attendance that stakeholders in West Virginia’s coal economy believe the Stream Buffer Zone Rule is just one more attempt by this Administration to put Appalachian coal mining out of business, and with it, the region’s economy.
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Please attend!
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