Just where or when did the "green lobby" become a branch of government. And why is is so powerful?
When Leftisits hijacked the conservation movement in the late '60s, they began a systematic crusade to 'save the Earth'. Granted, in those days pollution was in many areas a problem which did threaten humans and the food chain we rely on, especially wild animals (fish, shrimp, etc.). Conservationists and ecologists were for the preservation of the essential elements of dynamic systems which could continue to sustain themselves, and for keeping excessive levels of industrial pollutants out of the food chain, partly because they affected humans.
That part was not bad, but as with all good things, once the job has been done and the crusade is over, no one wants to say "Good enough!" and go home. By the mid 70s the seed money the KGB had provided at least one (now dubbed "environmental") organization had paid off, and a new breed emerged, the "environmentalist". These were in contrast to the Ecologists and Conservationists, who had sought to preserve a dynamic system, because the thrust of Environmentalism was to preserve a static 'snapshot' of a dynamic system. As Conservationists either left the Environmental movement (the awareness they sought had been achieved, and many did not agree with the anti-industrial mission of the environmentalists) even Organizations such as the Sierra Club shifted their emphasis from cleaning trails to activism aimed at stymying industrial development, even under the regulations which had been passed to keep the environment clean.
With the increasing leftist influence, partly because of the void left by those who dropped out, the targets of emissions standards, water purity, etc. became moving targets with increasingly stringent criteria.
Recall, the KGB had donated seed money to get at least one organization which achieved international prominence to use the excuse of protecting the environment to hinder Western industrial development. Numerous true believers and legions of useful idiots swelled the ranks, donated money, wrote congress, etc.
Lobbying for increasngly stringent standards, beyond noticeable or scientifically significant effect, had the effect of causing porduction facillities (steel plants, power plants, etc., to be out of spec even while they were under construction, and modifications became prohibitively expensive.
No wonder so much 'outsourcing' occurred during this era.
No politician wanted to be portrayed in the media as anti-environment, (especially with pictures of cute furry things in the ad) because it would cost votes--especially with Dems whose liberal voter base is often swayed by emotional appeals, so the politicians catered to the environmental lobby for the absence of bad PR and donations.
With the formation of the EPA, both the decline of US industry and the environmental lobby's power were pretty much locked in.
When it comes to science, the idea of 100 parts per billion of sodium in your water might seem outrageous (especially if hyped as such), when in actuality, that may be far less than is natural in the groundwater in your area. A little hype, and virtually any industry can be made to seem bad, and only 'good' science (realism) can combat that.
A few 'buzz' substances became words which would produce knee-jerk reactions: Alar, Dioxin, and lately, Carbon Dioxide, all have produced reactions by the public which are as disproportionate to the general threat as the hype which produced the reaction.
A decline in emphasis on solid science and math has improved the playing field for junk science as well.
Why is it so poserful? Because the leftist press has become a tool of the tools. With a lawsuit on behalf of the snot dipping bot fly, a multi-billion dollar refinery project can be held up indefinitely, and the company which tried to build something which would benefit the economy and the nation will be spun as "destroyers of the Earth" in ads replete with cute babies and fuzzy critters causing public outcry among the 'touchy feely set' and seriously impact their bottom line at best, and subject them to a Congressional Investigation (conducted by leftists, reported by leftists)at worst, with all the expense and possibly company-killing effect that can have.
Until the American people have established that we are part of a functioning ecosystem and that includes our industry, we will be suckling at the hind teat.
Unless that happens soon (a re-establishment of prioities), we will fade industrially and become a second rate power at best. As the Soviets were well aware, we cannot be a superpower if we have to rely on outside sources for our atrategic materials, especially oil, refined products, and metals, and our economy suffers seriously when we cannot create wealth by refining and manufacturing things from raw materials.