Our View: It's time for Republicans in Congress to neuter the EPA

In an administration known for its cavalier attitude about the law, the EPA is one of the most lawless of agencies.

During Obama's six years in office, his minions in the Environmental Protection Agency have repeatedly sought to abuse their regulatory powers in an ongoing effort to undermine our nation's economy and restrict or negate the Constitutionally-protected rights and freedoms we enjoy as Americans. 

Gov. Rick Perry and State Attorney General (now Governor-Elect) Greg Abbott frequently have challenged the agency's attempted usurpations.

Earlier this year, Gov. Perry denounced a proposed EPA regulation that would close as many as 600 coal-fired power plants in America, ostensibly to abate an unproven environmental hazard (global warming).

“President Obama’s decision to impose drastic new restrictions on America’s energy industry,” Perry pointed out, “is the most direct assault yet on the energy providers that employ thousands of Americans, and fuel both our homes and our nation’s economic growth.”

A few months later, Abbott denounced another EPA proposal, this one seeking to expand the agency's authority over “navigable waters” by defining the term so broadly as to include stock ponds and drainage ditches on private property.

The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) also has voiced concern about this outrageous redefinition and its likely consequences.

“This rule amounts to the largest land grab in history and would not be good for the cattle industry or the landowners in our country,” charged TSCRA President Pete Bonds.

Bonds warned that “this proposed rule goes so far as to cover virtually every piece of dry land across the country through one way or another, depriving landowners of the use and enjoyment of their land and severely impacting their ability to make a living off of it.”

Obama's unilateral extension of amnesty to 5 million illegal immigrants just last week should dispel any remaining doubts about his self-avowed determination to radically transform this country.

As one of the spearheads in this diabolical effort, the EPA should be neutered.