Comments on: The Public's Right to Know http://www.ohioverticals.com/blogs/akron_law_cafe/2009/10/the-publics-right-to-know/ University of Akron School of Law Blog Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:05:07 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Dave http://www.ohioverticals.com/blogs/akron_law_cafe/2009/10/the-publics-right-to-know/comment-page-1/#comment-2488 Dave Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:04:36 +0000 http://www.ohioverticals.com/blogs/akron_law_cafe/?p=3344#comment-2488 As long as this is a law forum, can we speak of the legitimacy of the EPA? I don't mean the Ohio EPA, we have the right to do to ourselves whatever we want. But the legitimacy of the EPA comes from the commerce clause. Congress has the authority to regulate interstate commerce. But this authority gets stretched and twisted over time. If we have a soot problem in the area, but the problem does not extend east to Geauga or Ashtabula counties, then I think it is reasonable to assume that it is not making it to Pennsylvania. If these are not interstate problems, why is the Federal Government involving itself? E-check is another example. (Again it does not continue to the state border) The region was given some arbitrary standards to comply with. Now that we have met the standards, the standards are going to be changed. Portage and Medina counties are included in the articles that you linked. Their environmental crimes are largely the result of dirty neighbors. If there were no emissions in Medina, it would still be surrounded by Lorain, Cuyahoga and Summit. The EPA has its place. For example, if Chicago was polluting the Chicago River, and the environmental impact was making it's way down the Mississippi River, that is a good use of the EPA's resources. After saying that, some of the tools that you gave us links to are pretty cool. If these are Ohio problems then Ohioans need to decide what needs to be done about them. If we wish to hire the US EPA, then we should do that. But the mandates from the federal EPA are not supported by the constitution. As long as this is a law forum, can we speak of the legitimacy of the EPA? I don't mean the Ohio EPA, we have the right to do to ourselves whatever we want.

But the legitimacy of the EPA comes from the commerce clause. Congress has the authority to regulate interstate commerce. But this authority gets stretched and twisted over time.

If we have a soot problem in the area, but the problem does not extend east to Geauga or Ashtabula counties, then I think it is reasonable to assume that it is not making it to Pennsylvania. If these are not interstate problems, why is the Federal Government involving itself?

E-check is another example. (Again it does not continue to the state border) The region was given some arbitrary standards to comply with. Now that we have met the standards, the standards are going to be changed.

Portage and Medina counties are included in the articles that you linked. Their environmental crimes are largely the result of dirty neighbors. If there were no emissions in Medina, it would still be surrounded by Lorain, Cuyahoga and Summit.

The EPA has its place. For example, if Chicago was polluting the Chicago River, and the environmental impact was making it's way down the Mississippi River, that is a good use of the EPA's resources.

After saying that, some of the tools that you gave us links to are pretty cool.

If these are Ohio problems then Ohioans need to decide what needs to be done about them. If we wish to hire the US EPA, then we should do that. But the mandates from the federal EPA are not supported by the constitution.

]]>