Game Over? The Final Corporate Takeover of Congress

[Galraedia]

What would be the best way to kill or stall federal regulations that protect public health and the environment, but that rankle industry lobbyists and their political allies? The following, taken from the current Congressional playbook, could become the ultimate textbook example.

First, though, a little background: in 1990, as mounting evidence linked air pollution to brain damage, cancer, and premature death, Congress ordered reductions in the amount of mercury, arsenic, and other toxic chemicals released by coal-fueled power plants. So far, so good.

It fell to the Environmental Protection Agency to do the technical, scientific, and legal work required to turn the will of Congress into regulations.
Finally, those rules are set to come out on December 16, after more than 20 years of study, analysis, and review, as well as after many legal challenges and intensive lobbying by the coal industry seeking to water down the regulations.

For House Republicans, however, this decades-long process has apparently moved too fast. So here’s where their new strategy comes into play:

Read more: http://www.onearth.org/blog/game-over-the-final-corporate-takeover-of-congress