How the EPA Violated the Clean Air Act
2017-05-21 · Guest: Ted Hadzi-Antich (Texas Public Policy Foundation) · 5:50
Fifty year legacy of the Clean Air Act
Bob Zadek and guest Ted Hadzi-Antich discuss the 50-year legacy of the Clean Air Act. They explore the original intent of the legislation, the concept of “cooperative federalism,” and how the relationship between the EPA and states like California has evolved over decades of environmental regulation.
Topics: Clean Air Act, EPA, Environmental Regulation, Cooperative Federalism, California, Air Quality, Scott Pruitt
Speakers: Bob Zadek, Ted Hadzi-Antich
Introduction to the Clean Air Act [00:25]
Bob Zadek: Hello everyone, welcome to the Bob Zadek Show, the only live libertarian talk radio show on the air all weekend. I am, as always, your host, Bob Zadek. Thanks so much for listening and a good morning to all of my newly acquired friends in the Sacramento, California area and in Seattle, where we are now broadcast live on AM radio. We are, of course, broadcast live throughout the whole country courtesy of streaming on the web. So thank you so much Seattle, Sacramento, the Bay Area, and the rest of the country.
50 years ago to the year, as they say, the Clean Air Act—a dramatic, revolutionary, game-changing statute—was enacted by Congress to clean the air. There isn’t much dispute that the air was pretty rancid and foul, at least in parts of the country. The problem was nationwide, and probably not many people dispute the fact that legislation was perhaps needed—perhaps.
How has the Clean Air Act performed over the next 50 years? Has its purpose been perverted, captured, changed? How have the bureaucrats performed at EPA, a somewhat reviled, at least in some circles, federal agency? How has the EPA performed and what is the prospect for future performance? And how will its performance change with its new administrator, Scott Pruitt, appointed by President Trump? Scott Pruitt famously said his goal will be to more or less disband or eliminate the agency itself. How is that for agency morale, to have your boss want to fire everybody?
To help us understand these issues, I’m happy to welcome this morning Ted Hadzi-Antich. Ted is a litigation rockstar and a “no modifier” rockstar. More about the second part of my introduction later on in the show, but please stay tuned to learn about Ted’s real rockstar status. Ted is a litigator with the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and Ted has made a very happy career out of litigating on the issues of clean air in general, and specifically litigating against the EPA. This morning we’re going to discuss several important, very important, EPA-related issues. One involves the status of California as a what I will call “superstate” insofar as regulation of clean air is concerned—you’ll learn what I mean about that—and also about whether or not science has a role to play in the administration of the Clean Air Act and its progeny. Ted, thanks so much for joining us this morning.
Ted Hadzi-Antich: Great to be with you, Bob.
The Origins of Air Quality Regulation [03:31]
Bob Zadek: Now Ted, let’s just get the audience organized on some general principles. We have the Clean Air Act, which was enacted—well, there had been many somewhat sweeping bits of federal legislation, but the Clean Air Act enacted, I think, in 1967. It was a statute which I think was needed at the time, wasn’t it?
Ted Hadzi-Antich: It was. You know, a lot of folks like myself are old enough to remember in the 1960s, the air situation in many parts—not all, but many parts—of the country was pretty bad. And that really goes especially so for certain areas in California, primarily the Los Angeles Basin and the San Joaquin Valley. So the Clean Air Act really was enacted to deal with the growing air pollution issues throughout the country and especially in certain pockets.
Cooperative Federalism [04:40]
Bob Zadek: And the Clean Air Act has been identified as—the phrase I’ve seen is “an experiment in cooperative federalism.” Help us understand what cooperative federalism means in the context of the Clean Air Act as it was originally structured.
Ted Hadzi-Antich: So federalism, you know, as a general matter refers to the relationship between the federal government and the state government, and which aspects of law and regulation the feds are responsible for and which aspects the states are responsible for. And of course, the United States Constitution really enumerates the very limited powers of the federal government and, under the reserve clause, reserves to the states all other powers that are not specifically enumerated for the federal government. So what the Clean Air Act did in 1967 is coined this phrase of “cooperative federalism.”