In the 1970s television sitcom "Chico and the Man," the late actor Freddie Prinze popularized the line, "That's not my job," to stereotype his fictional lazy character.
It brought gales of laughter.
But there's absolutely nothing laughable about the Environmental Protection Agency going before the U.S. Supreme Court and literally whining "it's not our job" to regulate or police greenhouse gases emitted by industries and automobiles.
EPA, in fact, is using every dodge it can find to avoid fulfilling its mission.
In its official Web site explanation of the $932 million "clean air and climate change" program, EPA pledges to "protect and improve the air so it is healthy to breathe and risks to human health and the environment are reduced."
But when Bush administration lawyers appeared before the high court to defend EPA's refusal to crack down on air polluters, it used an array of excuses. They argued that the law doesn't require enforcement. Even if it did, they argued, EPA has the right to refuse to enforce clean air. They also noted that a crackdown might be costly to industries that pollute.
This is astonishing. EPA should be working overtime to find ways of protecting the air—as its charter claims it will do—rather than ducking its responsibilities.
EPA has been dragged into court by an alliance of states and environmental activists tired of watching air polluted because of EPA inaction and dereliction.
The lawsuit dramatizes the growing global, national and local concern about climate change
Not the least of those concerned is the U.S. ski industry where the prospect of snow-less mountains has been foretold by European glaciers melting away at lower-altitude resorts, and predicted in studies such as the Colorado College State of the Rockies Report Card.
The study, which began tracking snow-pack data in 1960 and projecting consequences to the year 2085, finds that snowpack is dropping rapidly. It forecasts an 80 percent drop in New Mexico's and Utah's snowpack, 50 percent in Colorado's and a 34 percent loss for Montana by 2085.
The University of Montana's Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group has charted a 20-inch drop in annual snowfall—from 60 to 40 inches—over the past 40 years, and predicts some snow-less areas in 50 years if the trend continues.
The EPA's do-nothing position is an outrage and tantamount to criminal malfeasance. With a budget of $7.3 billion and 17,500 employees, EPA was mandated to be guardian of the environment, not its sworn enemy.
