Amazing show of disconnect from Fox News. Again. Do they really believe that only Democrats will be affected by toxic air and water? Shauna Theel at Media Matters has the proof that Fox News is oh so happy that the EPA is shutdown and even hoping that the shutdown is permanent.
A Fox News anchor suggested that since the majority of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees have been furloughed under the government shutdown, we should simply do without them even after it has been resolved. However, EPA employees furloughed include those in charge of cleaning up hundreds of hazardous waste sites and enforcing clean air and water laws. Fox News' America's Newsroom noted that less than 7 percent of the over 16,000 EPA employees would be working during the government shutdown (about 1,000 total employees). Co-anchor Martha MacCallum laughed that "some" have "asked why we need the other 15,000 EPA workers at all," adding that these were "valid questions":
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who also voted for the bill that led to the shutdown, once again cheered the shutdown because it would prevent the EPA from issuing new regulations:
“There is some good news out of the shutdown, the EPA can't issue new regulations”
For instance, only 182 of the 804 employees in charge of enforcing "regulations by taking legal action against an air or water polluter" are exempted from furloughs, according to Reuters. This is despite evidence that many regulations have not been sufficiently enforced. A September 2009 New York Times investigation found that the fact that "an estimated one in 10 Americans have been exposed to drinking water that contains dangerous chemicals or fails to meet a federal health benchmark in other ways" is partially because the "vast majority" of those who have violated clean water laws have avoided punishment. In April, a fertilizer plant in Texas killed at least 15 people when it exploded after falling through the cracks of several agencies in charge of regulating it, including the EPA.
Stunning crap coming from Rupert Murdock's crew at Fox News. You pay these people enough they will sell out their Grandmom.