LePage's War on the Environment

Well, it didn't take long to realize that our worst nightmares vis a vis the Maine environment really are about to come true. I think this lede from the Kennebec Journal about sums it up:

Gov. Paul LePage has proposed zoning 10 million acres of northern Maine for development, repealing laws that require manufacturers to take back recyclable goods for disposal and reversing a ban on the use of a chemical linked to cancer in children's products.

Holy Cow! Have you ever seen so much and such diverse SUCK crammed into a single sentence?Kudos to KJ reporter Beth Quimby. My late and wonderful high school Journalism teacher Ms. Lane would have definitely dispensed a gold star for that one. I mean, cripes...10 MILLION acres, repealing recycling laws, reversing a chemical ban, and children's cancer all right there in the lede.

And, of course, as always with LePage it just gets worse! LePage also wants to:

* Making Maine's environmental laws conform to less stringent federal standards;

* Requiring a cost-benefit analysis for all rulemakings;

* Relaxing air emissions removal standards, especially for smaller projects;

I especially love that second one. Picture this kind of analysis: "Well, this toxic byproduct causes mind-controlling brain slugs to grow on the skulls of the elderly, but a ban on dumping it into Auburn Lake will cost businesses $100,000 a year! RULE CHANGE DENIED!!1!one!"

And relaxing our regulations to fit federal guidelines? Anyone else see the irony here? A loony tea party conservative, a guy who represents the spittle flinging nitwits who hate the federal government with every fiber of their being, who worship at the altar of "state sovereignty," wants Maine to abandon its particularly specialized environmental protections and follow bare minimum "one size fits all" federal rules? Uh...right, but god help us all if the Federal Government wants to establish healthcare standards. That's commie pinko triple Nazi-Socialism.

Folks, you might be asking yourself where these proposals come from. Like, did Governor Illiterate LeTripleChin think of these things himself? It doesn't seem likely does it...hmmm...let's see:

LePage's proposals are based on a series of "red tape workshops" the administration is holding with chambers of commerce to identify government rules that may dampen the state's business climate.

Aha! Those pesky chamber folks again. Look, I know I'm starting to get a little Glen Becky paranoid sounding about the evil horrors of your state or local chamber of commerce...and it's not that such organizations are bad. They aren't. But they are, most definitely, SPECIAL INTEREST groups who have things beside the best interests of their fellow man at heart. The Governor's hypocrisy on this front is maddening.

Anyway, that's some quality red tape cutting, Paul. I hope you'll also be there to cut the red ribbon at the new children's cancer wing your red tape cutting will one day require.