THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 111, May 30, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
ARMED EPA AGENTS VISIT ASHEVILLE, N.C., MAN
By Alan Caruba
THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S USE OF NAZI SCHUTZSTAFFEL TACTICS: THE EPA AS A U.S. GOVERNMENT REGULATORY AGENCY THAT
OPERATES ON THE BASIS OF SEEKING TO INTIMIDATE CITIZENS WHO INQUIRE ABOUT THE AGENCY OR QUESTION ITS METHODS -- THE EPA'S ASSERTION OF
POWERS TO IMPEDE THE MOST INNOCENT ACTIONS OF CITIZENS -- HIGH TIME FOR THE AGENCY TO BE REINED IN BY CONGRESS -- DO WE REALLY WANT AN EPA
THAT EMPLOYS NAZI SS TACTICS AGAINST A CITIZEN WHO HAS MERELY INDICATED AN INTEREST IN CONTACTING AN EPA ADMINISTRATOR TO COMMENT ON
WHAT HE HAD SAID DURING A LECTURE? DO WE REALLY WANT AN EPA WHOSE WORKING "PHILOSOPHY" REGARDING THE OIL & GAS INDUSTRY IS TO
"CRUCIFY" IT IN ORDER TO REGULATE IT, AN AGENCY WHICH IS TRYING TO THWART OIL & GAS DRILLING, AS WELL AS TO DESTROY THE COAL INDUSTRY,
WHICH PROVIDES AN ENERGY RESOURCE THAT PRODUCES ONE HALF OF THE ELECTRICITY USED IN THE U.S.A.
FULL STORY:
Sometimes a small incident says volumes about a large government agency -- in this case the Environmental Protection Agency.
Around 1.45 PM on May 23, 2012, Asheville, North Carolina, resident Larry Keller was in the midst of an international call which he had to cut short in order to
answer his front door. He found two armed agents of the EPA who were accompanied by an Ashville Police officer.
According to a May 24 news story in the Asheville Tribune, a weekly newspaper to which I am a contributing columnist, the agents had blocked his and his
neighbor’s driveways with their cars. They had driven all the way from Raleigh to confront him.
What had he done? The unannounced visit had been occasioned by news that Dr. Al Armendariz, a regional EPA administrator, whose 2010 lecture had been
videotaped and been released by the office of U.S. Senator James Inhofe (Republican - Oklahoma) on April 25th. In the lecture, Dr. Amendariz had said that the
agency’s “general philosophy” was to “crucify” oil and gas producers.
He compared the Agency’s “philosophy of enforcement” to the way, as a Wall Street Journal editorial reported,
“Romans used to conquer little villages in the Mediterranean.
They’d go into a little Turkish town somewhere, they’d find
the first five guys they saw and they would crucify them.
And then, you know, that town was really easy to manage
for the next few years. The point is to ‘make examples’ of
alleged lawbreakers.”
The case in point had been Range Resources, a driller who had been exonerated of charges of water pollution as the result of fracking. As the Wall Street
Journal noted, the reference to executions “raise(d) questions not only about” Dr. Arnendariz’s comments, “but the EPA’s larger impartiality and judgment.”
Keller, who describes himself as “a bit of a political activist” had emailed the EPA Director of External Affairs, Dr. David Gray, saying “Hello Mr. Gray. Do you
have Mr. Armendariz’s contact information so we can say hello?”
That was enough to dispatch two armed agents to his front door. He was told by one agent that “…my choice of words in the email could be interpreted in many
ways.” They did not identify themselves, but asked if he had ever been arrested. He responded swiftly that he had not. When he asked for a copy of his email,
they refused to provide it because “the case was still under investigation.”
His wife arrived home, and the agents did not want a witness. So, “They left in a big hurry.”
The Asheville Tribune news story by Catherine Hunter quoted Keller, who described their attitude as "accusatory," reporting that he compared "their
tactics to those of Nazi Germany SS methods.”
Keller contacted the agent’s supervisor, Michael Hill, and was told that the incident with Dr. Armendariz “had prompted so many emails and calls that authorities
in Washington, D.C. ordered an investigation.”
Keller’s email inquiry to contact Dr. Armendariz was treated as a threat when it clearly was not. Since when is trying to contact an EPA administrator a crime?
Keller said:
“I want the world to know the government is reaching into
the privacy of our homes and computers. I’ve never been
so offended by the power of government in my life.”
Do we really want an EPA that uses such tactics against a citizen who has merely indicated an interest in contacting one of their administrators to comment on
what he had said during a lecture?
Do we really want an EPA whose working “philosophy” regarding the oil and gas industry is to “crucify” it in order to regulate it and, as we know, is trying to
thwart drilling, as well as to end the coal industry that provides an energy resource that produces one half of all the electricity in the nation?
It is, as noted, just one small incident, but it reflects the way the EPA functions in a presumably free society. Over the years, I have read of many incidents in
which the EPA has asserted powers to impede the most innocent actions of citizens and it is long past the time when this agency should be reined in by
Congress.
The only option at this point is to rid the nation of the Obama administration, crack down on the EPA, and rid us of the threat it poses in its efforts to deny
entire industries from providing the energy the nation requires and attacks our agricultural and ranching communities for practices that reflect its normal
operation.
As they used to advertise horror films, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” An EPA that operates on the basis of intimidating its chosen enemies and that seeks to
intimidate citizens inquiring about it, is reason enough to be afraid.
© Alan Caruba, 2012
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Alan Caruba's commentaries are posted daily at Warning Signs, his popular blog -- and thereafter on dozens of other
websites and blogs. His monthly report on new books is posted at Bookviews.
A business and science writer, Caruba is the Founder of The National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information
about "scare campaigns" designed to influence public opinion and public policy.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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