Patriots need to start reconnecting with the federal government's constitutionlly limited powers to put a stop to Obama's Constitution-ignoring socialistic agenda. Given that Congress has no Section 8, Article I power to regulate intrastate resources, Obama cannot sign into law any bill from Congress to regulate intrastate oil drilling imo.
Note that where the Commerce Clause (1.8.3) is concerned, using terms like "does not extend" and "exclusively," Thomas Jefferson had clarified that Congress has no business sticking its big nose into intrastate commerce; FDR's activist justices got the Commerce Clause wrong in Wickard v. Filburn.
“For the power given to Congress by the Constitution does not extend to the internal regulation of the commerce of a State, (that is to say of the commerce between citizen and citizen,) which remain exclusively (emphases added) with its own legislature; but to its external commerce only, that is to say, its commerce with another State, or with foreign nations, or with the Indian tribes.” –Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson’s Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank : 1791.
Also, the Founding States made Sections 1-3 of Article I of the Constitution to clarify that all federal government legislative powers are vested in the elected members of Congress, not rogue federal agencies like the EPA. In other words, Congress has a monopoly on federal legislative powers whether it wants it or not. And Congress can't regulate the environment because the states have never delegated to Congress via the Constitution the specific power to regulate the environment.
So please tell me what I'm overlooking concerning constitutionally indefensible involvement by Obama and the constitutionally undefined EPA in North Dakota oil drilling.
The EPA is Congress’s Hail Mary to deal with issues that the good legislators didn’t want to hash out in the halls of Capitol Hill.
It also allows them to pretend they’re helpless in the face of the same monster they created from the ground up. Sheer cowardice... GRRR. They do have the right to override their creation with legislation, though this has rarely happened.
Yes, it is called the Administrative Procedures Act. Instead of going off like Don Quixote, get into the game. Regulations have to be posted for public comment (Federal Register). The agency is required to respond to comments received on pending regulations. If you are so sharp in your history, you’d be great at sending in formal comments to pending rules. Pick your favorite agency, find their proposed rules in the Federal Register and follow the instructions for submitting comments.