It is time that a separate and autonomous United States Department of the Environment be created.
At present the various agencies that purportedly guard our nation's environment are part of the following entities, admittedly very likely, not a comprehensive list:
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Energy
Department of Interior
Environmental Protection Agency, a subset of the Executive Branch
I argue that the trusteeship of the purity of our water, air, earth and food should be under the aegis of a single and independent agency, the Department of the Environment.
The idea that the purity of our oceans and atmosphere should be governed by commerce is totally repellent to me.
It is equivalent to having the mobster in charge of prostitution or the madam of a whorehouse guarding the virginity of a thirteen-year-old girl.
You know damned well that that virginity has a price tag on it and the mobster and the madam are soliciting bids.
As it now stands:
The Department of Agriculture oversees: the Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Food Safety and Inspection, Animal and Plant Inspection Service, Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), under the auspices of the Department of Commerce.
The Department of Energy oversees: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Environmental Management, Fossil Energy, Nuclear Energy, Civilian Radioactive Waste Management,Biological and Environmental Research.
The Department of the Interior oversees: National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,Bureau of Land Management, Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement, Minerals Management Service now the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), established in the executive branch as an independent agency pursuant to Reorganization Plan #3 of 1970, effective December 2, 1970.
A National Ocean Council has been proposed by President Obama, but Senators Cantwell of the Pacific Coast and Snowe of the Atlantic Coast are concerned that the NOAA is not to be a major partner in this council.
McClatchy has some outstanding coverage:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/...
Of course, spreading environmental protection through a multitude of departments and agencies makes it more difficult to measure protection effectiveness as well as deliberate malfeasance in regard to the environment.
The environment is not a commodity. It's not for sale on the free market, not on any sort of market.
Damn the greedy profiteering pirates of commerce. This is our existence at risk as it now stands.