Opinion Forum

Only Happy Numbers Wanted on Regulatory Impact

November 18th, 2011

According to testimony today before a House Natural Resources subcommittee,

The Obama administration pressured analysts to change an environmental review to reflect fewer job losses from a proposed regulation, the contractors who worked on the review testified Friday.

The dispute revolves around proposed changes to a rule regulating coal mining near streams and other waterways. The experts contracted to analyze the impact of the rule initially found that it would cost 7,000 coal jobs.

But the contractors claim they were subsequently pressured to not only keep the findings under wraps but “revisit” the study in order to show less of an impact on jobs.

Steve Gardner, president of Kentucky consulting firm ECSI, claimed that after the project team refused to “soften” the numbers, the firms working on the study were told the contract would not be renewed. ECSI was a subcontractor on the project.

Shocking! Unexpected! How could that sort of thing happen?

(This article was first published at The PJ Tatler.)

Articles written by Dan Miller
Tags: coal mining, environment, jobs, regulation, satire, testimony
Categories: News, Politics | Comments (2) | Home

2 Responses to “Only Happy Numbers Wanted on Regulatory Impact”

larry | November 24th, 2011 at 5:57 am

Dandy Dan
Aint that sort of skullduggery called stacking the deck? Something that the American people have grown to expect from the present administration.
Reminds me of the classic statement from the movie “The outlaw Josey Wells. “Don’t pee down my neck and try to tell me its raining”.
Is this administration so naive as to think the American people are just plain stupid?

Dan Miller | November 24th, 2011 at 10:19 am

Larry,

I think so. However, the administration seems to take the view that they built and own the deck so they can stack it as they wish. Besides, it’s for the good of the little people.