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When you ask them why they’re in favor of various policies that hurt people, like racial segregation, laws against various forms of consensual sex, and the relaxation of industrial pollution standards, conservatives will often tell you that they’re not really in favor of those policies, just “states’ rights” to engage in those policies. But Environmental Protection Agency administrator Stephen Johnson, a Bush political appointee, ignored the concept of states’ rights when he informed 18 states, led by California, that they would not have permission to pass laws requiring higher mileage and lower greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles bought in their states. This shows that states’ rights isn’t the motivating force for conservatives; it’s representation of industrial interests that don’t to be fettered by little things like clean air and a stable climate.

But that’s not all that Bush appointee Stephen Johnson had to barrel through in order to do his corporate masters’ bidding. He also had to specifically reject the advice of EPA lawyers, who told him that these 18 states actually do have the legal right to pass greenhouse gas and mileage laws. Johnson also had to reject the findings of EPA scientists who told him that the policy proposal of these 18 states fit the EPA’s standards for improving environmental conditions. An EPA staffer brought these findings to Bush appointee Johnson’s attention: “”California met every criteria… on the merits. The same criteria we have used for the last 40 years on all the other waivers. We told him that. All the briefings we have given him laid out the facts.”

But screw all that. Screw the supposed commitment of conservatives to state autonomy. Screw the law. Screw science. That is what happened, and that is what will continue to happen until we see regime change in Washington.

(Source: Los Angeles Times December 21 2007)