Wall Street Journal
By Kimberley A. Strassel
Al "Crucify Them" Armendariz resigned from the Environmental
Protection Agency this week, for the mistake of telling it like it is.
All he leaves behind is an entire administration of Al Armendarizes.
EPA chief Lisa Jackson was quick to assure the public that her
regional administrator—who was caught on video describing his desire to
"crucify" oil and gas companies—was not "representative of the agency."
Mr. Armendariz's views, she said, "don't reflect any policy that we
have, and they don't reflect our actions over the past two years." At
least she didn't say it under oath.
The Armendariz story matters precisely because he is the model Obama
regulator. Hamstrung by both public opinion and Congress, President
Obama has turned to these types to enact his broader agenda.
The regional EPA administrator was no rogue appointee. Rather, "there
are Armendarizes all throughout this administration" says Oklahoma Sen.
Jim Inhofe, who first drew attention to the "crucify" video. They were
chosen for a purpose.
Consider the broader tale of Mr. Armendariz, lost in the wake of the
sensational video. Prior to being appointed by President Obama in late
2009 to serve as EPA's point man for south-central states, Mr.
Armendariz was at Texas's Southern Methodist University. His then-résumé
showed a scant three years of private-sector experience, with far more
time devoted to his work as an adviser to the militant fringe of the
environmental community.
Mr. Armendariz's expertise—take note—was working with groups like the
Environmental Defense Fund and "Downwinders at Risk" against hydraulic
fracturing. Among his achievements: a cameo appearance in "Gasland," the
anti-drilling propaganda film, as well as authoring a 2009 study making
the wild claim that gas drilling was the cause of more air pollution in
Dallas than even cars.
In other words, he was a perfect general for Mr. Obama's war against
natural gas. The White House is hostile to fossil fuels, yet it has been
unable to get Congress or the public to act. So it has unleashed the
EPA to crack down on those industries.
Mr. Armendariz was on the front lines. By early 2010, the EPA boss
was already making his "crucify them" comments at a
public-meeting-cum-activist-rally in Dish, Texas. At this gathering, Mr.
Armendariz also bragged that one of his "really special moments" had
been getting the overall chief of EPA enforcement, Cynthia Giles, to
watch "Gasland." He lamented that he did not have a "Way of Life Act"
that he could enforce—to deal with the "truck traffic," "noise," "water
use" and "waste pits" associated with natural-gas drilling. Though he
reminds the crowd that the laws he can use, like the Clean Water Act,
aren't exactly "toothless."
As he proved. Within a year of arrival, Mr. Armendariz had found his
first target: Fort Worth-based gas driller Range Resources. While Texas
regulators had found no evidence that Range had polluted local water
wells, Mr. Armendariz in December 2010 publicly bypassed them and issued
an emergency order giving Range 48 hours to begin supplying water to
residents and to clean up.
Emails show that Mr. Armendariz was communicating with his activists
on the day of the action. "We're about to make a lot of news," he crowed
in an email, advising them: "Time to Tivo Channel 8."
As it happens, "Channel 8" had the news before an aide for Mr.
Armendariz had bothered to notify the state. One of Mr. Armendariz's
email buddies (who included members of the Environmental Defense Fund
and Public Citizen) wrote back: "Yee haw! Hats off to the new Sheriff
and his deputies!" When a Texas official told Mr. Armendariz that he
felt the action was "premature," the EPA appointee forwarded the email
to his staff with this word: "Stunning."
Or not. Fifteen months later—after Texas regulators unanimously
concluded that Range was not the cause of natural gas in local wells,
after Range had sued, and after EPA was unable to find any evidence of
wrongdoing—the agency withdrew its order. Turns out Mr. Armendariz had
nothing more against Range than his, and his activists', disdain for
fossil fuels.
His actions are no aberration. This is the "Crucify Them" presidency.
Mr. Obama couldn't get a card check law passed, so his National Labor
Relations Board's union lawyers sue Boeing for locating in a
right-to-work state. He couldn't outlaw offshore drilling, so Interior
activists continue a permitorium in the Gulf. He can't make ObamaCare
work, so Health Department officials threaten to exclude insurers from
exchanges if they raise premiums. He couldn't outright kill nuclear
energy, so his top nuclear regulator has shut down the Yucca Mountain
waste repository to strangle industry growth.
Mr. Armendariz apologized for his "words," though you might wonder
why. He was picked to do a job—to "crucify" industry—and he did it. His
real mistake was admitting it.
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