Posted on 11/01/2015 7:40:24 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Even those of us who have worked in Washington for many years and become accustomed to the inner workings of government can still be amazed by what lurks behind the curtain sometimes. Case in point: the Environmental Protection Agency.
Most Americans have at least heard of the EPA, even if they have only a dim notion of what the agency actually does. It tends to skate along under the radar, unless something unusual happens, such as the toxic spill that turned the Colorado’s Animas River orange last August. Of course, what really made the spill unusual is that the EPA itself caused it.
Otherwise, Americans don’t hear much about the agency. So many of them would probably be as unpleasantly surprised as I was by a new report by Open the Books, a nonprofit group that promotes government transparency. Its look into the EPA’s spending habits is alarming, to put it mildly.
The first thing that strikes you is the EPA’s spendthrift ways. Even if times were flush and government coffers were overflowing (which is far from the case), the agency spends money like it’s expecting the Second Coming next week. The Open the Books audit covered tens of thousands of checks the EPA wrote from 2000 to 2014, with hundreds of millions going toward such things as luxury furnishings, sports equipment, and “environmental justice” grants to raise awareness of global warming.
The second thing that hits you is where the rest of the money goes. The headline of an op-ed by economist Stephen Moore in Investor’s Business Daily sums it up well: “Why Does the EPA Need Guns, Ammo, and Armor to Protect the Environment?”
And not just a few weapons. Open the Books found that the agency has spent millions of dollars over the last decade on guns, ammo, body armor, camouflage equipment, unmanned aircraft, amphibious assault ships, radar and night-vision gear, and other military-style weaponry and surveillance activities.
“We were shocked ourselves to find these kinds of pervasive expenditures at an agency that is supposed to be involved in clean air and clean water,” said Open the Books founder Adam Andrzejewski. “Some of these weapons are for full-scale military operations.”
Among the EPA’s purchases:
The list goes on. It’s filled with the kind of equipment you’d expect to be purchased by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, not an agency ostensibly designed to protect the environment.
But as it turns out, armed, commando-style raids by the EPA are not unheard of. One such raid occurred in 2013, in a small Alaskan town where armed agents in full body armor reportedly confronted local miners accused of polluting local waters. Perhaps the agency is gearing up for more operations like that one?
If so, the EPA wouldn’t be all that unique. According to the Justice Department, there are now 40 federal agencies with more than 100,000 officers authorized to carry guns and make arrests. They include the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The EPA audit underscores the need for serious budget cuts at the agency. In July, before the Colorado spill and the Open the Books report, environmental policy expert Nicolas Loris called on Congress to shrink the EPA’s budget, outlining several specific cuts that could be done immediately and with no detrimental effect on the environment.
“The proposed cuts outlined here merely scratch the surface of a rogue agency that has wildly spent and regulated outside its purview,” Loris concluded. After reviewing the Open the Books report, who can disagree?
That first block might go ok, but then....
What exactly does the EPA need with a 300 mm/12 inch cannon? I think this is taking the whole 'EPA SWAT Team' thing a bit too far.
Either that or the media is once again demonstrating their in depth knowledge of firearms.
Yeah, maybe it is to put down an Indian uprising caused by the EPA’s spill?
President Cruz should require them to turn the weapons over to a branch of the Armed Forces, or alternatively to sell them en masse to the public at large. The largest gun “buy back” in history.
Any questions America?
Stay safe my fellow Americans! Keep your powder dry and never put all your eggs in one basket!
Because you need to kill people who threaten mosquito habitats! /s
I’ve often heard that if you’re not paranoid, it’s because you don’t know what’s going on.
So, I’m paranoid, and I still don’’t know what’s going on.
The biggest I saw was the M110 8” but I thought we got rid of those a long time ago.
“That’s roughly 12 inches.”
Wow. That’s one heavy high-capacity mag.
Why do you think?
100,000 total?
Quickly reduced through attrition, if the need ever arises.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. - list of grievances; Declaration
They bought them to shoo away the birds from the windmills.
They need True Believers, not too bright, willing to throw themselves onto a grenade for Big Brother. 200 hundred tree huggers ain't gonna cut it.
Obama and the Social Justice Warriors can't do it themselves, they don't have the skill sets. They can't trust the US military to suppress the Redneck Bigots. That whole Constitution and 'preserve, protect and defend' oath gets in the way of a True Communist Utopia.
The only option is to build a citizen Army, out of bits like the Department of Education SWAT team, BLM goons, armed Forest Rangers, union thugs.
‘They only spent enough for an oversized company. Perhaps 200. 100,000 corrupt Outer Party members does not an army make.’
you made a number of statements that hit the target.
After-action reports from the Bundy Ranch incident showed that the feds needed to recruit federal volunteers to dress in Rambo gear who were culled from a half-dozen different agencies across four states.
“Obama and the Social Justice Warriors can’t do it themselves, they don’t have the skill sets.”
Bingo! The BLM clown who commanded the sacrificial Rambo lambs at Bundy led them straight into a kill zone; they were sitting ducks.
“The only option is to build a citizen Army, out of bits like the Department of Education SWAT team, BLM goons, armed Forest Rangers, union thugs.”
Spot on. The vast majority of the federal bureaucratic clogs in the fascist machine are fat, small IQ egoists who are more interested in stuffing their faces and collecting bloated federal paychecks. They’ll have no desire to die on a hilltop for the glory of King Obuma.
Nope. We had a few cruisers in WWII with 12-inch guns. The last one was the Mk 8. From the Wiki article:
The Mark 8 weighed 121,856 pounds (55,273 kg) including the breech and was capable of an average rate of fire of 2.4 - 3 rounds a minute. It could throw a 1,140 lb. (517.093 kg) Mark 18 armor piercing shell 38,573 yards (35,271 meters) at an elevation of 45 degrees
I use mine to hold up liquor stores. No, not rob them, hold them up. ;-)
“They have 300mm guns? I guess they will be doing some long range raiding?”
I noticed that, too. That’s nearly a 12-inch shell! Maybe they meant 30mm.
30mm is still large projectile. The term small arms was once explained to me as being under 20mm when I was in the Army.
CNN had an article about depression photos, over the weekend. It pointed out that Obama's Depression only hit 7% unemployment, while back when it was 30%. They are still pushing the Big Lie.
Forgot to ping you.
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