The battle for the Senate in Iowa is now a one point race. Sarah Palin protege and stealth Koch Brothers candidate Joni Ernst leads Bruce Braley 47-46% with 3-4% "undecided," in the latest Bloomberg, Des Moines Register poll. In last night's debate Ernst, the new darling of the far right, dutifully parroted one of the Kochs' most cherished issues, their fervent desire to dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency:
Republican Joni Ernst defended her call to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency during an Iowa Senate race debate here Saturday night, saying states should lead the way on ending pollution.
This echoed a
nearly identical statement Ernst made during the Republican primary:
Another area that we need to look at is the Environmental Protection Agency. When we talk about the rules and regulations that are burdening business owners, whether it is in ag, whether it is in industry here in the state of Iowa, let's shut down the federal EPA and focus on those issues here in the state where the state knows best how to protect resources.
What would it mean, in practice, to "shut down the EPA?"
The Environmental Protection Agency was conceived in tandem with the gradual realization that in order to cope with the problem of industrial pollution and poisoning of our air, streams and lands, the country needed a national environmental policy. Created in 1970 under the Nixon Administration, the Agency is responsible for the implementation and enforcement of regulations propounded by the Executive Branch, and laws (if any) propounded by the legislative, to curb pollution and despoilment of the natural environment. Some of the EPA's monitoring, compliance and enforcement functions are necessarily delegated to the states for proximity, budgeting and logistical reasons. Since corporations are by far the greatest polluters, they stand to lose the most by having their polluting activities regulated. When you hear these industries whine about "job-killing regulations," what you are hearing is the cry of corporate outrage over restricting their outsized profits, which depend to a large extent on their ability to pollute the country without restriction.
In assessing the impact the EPA has had on our lives it's important to understand what this country was like before its existence. Prior to the creation of the EPA, American towns and cities discharged their human waste directly into rivers, streams and other waterways. The EPA stopped that practice by enforcing something called the Clean Water Act. In the year before the EPA was created the Cuyahoga river in Ohio literally caught fire due to flammable industrial waste legally dumped into it. Prior to the EPA our waterways contained huge "dead zones" of depleted oxygen, unable to support any aquatic life. In many areas the only fish available for fishermen were those floating belly-up on the surface.
The EPA banned the use of DDT, removed poisonous lead from gasoline (and the air we breathe), instituted recycling, cleaned up countless toxic waste sites and eliminated hundreds of thousands of premature deaths that would have otherwise resulted from corporate pollution. In terms of air quality, without the EPA regulating toxic emissions those of us who live in or near cities would now be experiencing the same level of choking pollution as Beijing residents must tolerate every day. Here are some photographs of what our cities used to look like.
Nearly all of the problems that the EPA has so successfully managed were the consequences of letting "the states" individually regulate environmental policy. Joni Ernst is simply a tool in the efforts of very powerful and wealthy corporations to make that a reality once again. Here, Ernst seeks to capitalize on Iowa agricultural interests who object to Federal efforts to enforce clean water provisions over agribusiness, the state's greatest polluters. Normally the EPA works in cooperation with farming interests. But the EPA has recently issued new rules which agribusiness claims will extend the provisions of the Clean Water Act to farm ditches and gullies; the EPA denies that the Rules will expand its authority, effect any change in farming practices or adversely impact farmers.
Enter the Koch Brothers, smelling an opportunity.
Ernst's campaign ads are being bankrolled by Koch industries and she has credited them directly for her rise. Of course, the Kochs' fossil fuel industries are regulated by the EPA. If the EPA is dismantled, and assuming a compliant Republican House of Representatives (which the Kochs already have), any environmental regulation in this country would fall to the state government and legislatures, which have neither the budget, the expertise, the resources, nor in many circumstances, the inclination to police corporate polluters. Ultimately those legislatures would then be "streamlined" by Koch-selected candidates, funded by Koch Industry campaign funds, with pro-polluter legislation prepared by ALEC and assisted by other Koch front groups. The desired final result would be the elimination of all forms of pollution regulation, permitting Koch's companies to essentially pollute our lands, streams and air at will.
This is why the "Abolish the EPA" talking point makes its way into so many Tea Party candidates stump speeches, including Ernst's. Likewise, her disavowal of climate science is also a prerequisite to Koch funding, as has been made abundantly clear from the campaigns and statements of Marco Rubio and Chris Christie, two pols who obviously know better but act against the interests of their constituents in order to receive Koch funding for their campaigns.
Abolishing the EPA would essentially mean the end of clean air and water for our children. It would mean an explosion of birth defects, increased incidents of cancer and respiratory disease, and food poisoning. It would mean a lower, more dismal quality of life for all of us, and certainly for all Iowans.
That is what Joni Ernst stands for.
John McCormick, Bloomberg's national political reporter and Des Moines register alum, thinks that Former President Clinton could push Bruce Braley over the top.
Bruce Braley should get Bill Clinton on an airplane to Iowa as quickly as possible.
His race against Republican Joni Ernst, which could determine control of the U.S. Senate, is all but tied — and the former president outshines all other Democrats tested as someone viewed as a helpful supporter, according to a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll.
Bloomberg/DMR asked Iowa voters how they would rank the" helpfulness" of various personages towards each of the candidates. According to the poll results, Bill Clinton would be the most helpful to Braley, and by extension, to the Democratic Party right now.
Both national parties and outside groups are pouring millions into the race. The Des Moines television market, the state's largest, has been one of the busiest nationally with campaign advertising in recent weeks. Some of America's top political names are also flocking to the state. First lady Michelle Obama appeared with Braley Friday in Des Moines. On Sunday and Monday, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will campaign with Ernst.
Bill Clinton is the biggest dog as a campaign surrogate and supporter, the poll shows. Among voters of all political stripes, 65 percent think having him as a backer helps Braley. Even Republicans routinely praise Clinton's abilities.
On July 17, 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency
renamed its headquarters
The William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, in honor of the former President.
Now would be a great time for President Clinton to return the favor.