I suspect they would if they could actually. I have no love for the EPA or for any of the bloated government agencies for that matter but I don’t care for pollution either. I think cutting all of their budgets back to FY 2007 levels is reasonable and far more acceptable to the average voter than completely eliminating them as some of my fellow freepers would recommend.Do you truly believe that eliminating the EPA entirely would be wise? It’s fun to blather about it on free republic but, in reality, does it take us where we want to go? I would rather put trout in my streams than dioxin sludge. Now, if you want to talk about defunding the welfare state, I’m all for that. Paying poor people to make babies is what got us where we are in the first place.
I have worked with the EPA since their inception in the 70’s. I am in CA and trust me, we had environmental protections prior to the EPA, though I’ll admit that in many states it was sketchy. I agree with you that we can’t live sans such protections and I don’t have a concept of federally mandated minimums, but I have watched both the EPA and many states go to unneeded extremes over the years.