Since when does the EPA give a rats patootie about what the majority of Americans think? They have proved themselves to be liken to a bunch of Nazis that do whatever they like. Didn't they just override a Congressional law and hand over the Wyoming town of Riverton to the Wind River Indian Reservation? Aren't they controlling the fate of the Keystone Pipeline even though the majority of Americans want to see it built and the jobs that come with it? Aren't they closing down coal powered power plants raising electric rates and losing jobs of which people are against? How about their confiscation of and or control of personal property wherever they deem a wetland?
I think it's naive to think that even if 100% of America is against their decision it would change a thing because they know they have the same kind of power as the IRS and they will do exactly as they wish.
You are correct that they are closing down coal plants and the irony is that they are using the same particulate standards even though coal plants produce orders of magnitude less particulates than wood stoves on a energy-produced basis.
Your other examples are also all correct. There comes a point in time where such a government has to be reset, but in the meantime we have to fight these politically.
“Since when does the EPA give a rats patootie about what the majority of Americans think?”
They have comment periods that anyone, even you and I, can input to. In addition they’ll have face-to-face public meetings all over the USA and you can go, ask for clarifications, and express your concerns, while looking them in the eye.
I have been to the F2F meetings. Typically there are less than 30 people who show up. They DO pay attention, do publish comments, but if it looks to them like nobody cares nothing changes.
Now if we can get 300 people to show up at each comment meeting, and 30000 to put in written comments, things will be different. The tools for us to communicate are there but we don’t use them, most of us don’t even READ the regulations.