23 things Congress could defund in Interior and Environment

By Robert Romano 07/07/2015 14 Comments

This week, the House of Representatives is taking up the appropriations bill for the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies. This is an opportunity for Congress to exercise its constitutional power of the purse through policy riders that can help limit the size and scope of government.

To that end, Americans for Limited Government suggests the following areas where House members might look to offer amendments to curb what has been a department run amok.

1. Defunding EPA Carbon Endangerment Finding.

2. Defunding UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  

3. Defunding Northern Spotted Owl protection under Endangered Species Act.

(Editor’s Note:  We now know logging has nothing to do with the reduced population of the spotted owl.  Spotted owls numbers were decimated by barred owls, and now the government is shooting barred owls to protect spotted owls.  But logging has nothing to do with spotted owl protection.)

4. Defunding ethanol mandate.

5. Defunding removal of lands for energy production purposes without reporting and energy production offsets elsewhere.

6. Defunding any litigation pursued under new and existing power plants rule.

7. Defunding the Green Climate Fund.

8. Defunding the EPA Social Cost of Carbon assessment tool.

9. Cut EPA general counsel’s office by 30 percent.

10. Defunding surveillance cameras in national parks.

11. Zero funding the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities. 12. Defunding light bulb ban.

13. Barring sue and settle arrangements under the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act.

14. Protecting ANWR from Obama executive action.

15. Defunding Special Envoy to get Keystone XL approved.

16. Defunding EPA activities that impose additional, extralegal requirements for approving mine permits.

17. Defunding EPA rules on burning wood.

18. Reporting on Climate Impacts of Forest Fires.

19. Defunding Navigable Waters Rule.

20. Defunding Delta Smelt protection and all actions to divert water away from farmers in the San Joaquin delta of California under Endangered Species Act.

21. Defunding Boiler MACT regulations.

22. Defunding additional national monument designations.

23. Defunding no-take zones or marine sanctuaries designations.

Go here to read the explantion for each of these suggestions.