Just in time for summer beach reading: a tale of environmental-activist intrigue

◼ Senator David Vitter (R-LA) released a minority staff report from the U.S. Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPWC) titled “The Chain of Environmental Command: How a Club of Billionaires and Their Foundations Control the Environmental Movement and Obama’s EPA.” - Pacific Legal Foundation

"[T]he operation of our government is often more interesting than fiction." PLF's Todd Gaziano talks about the "revolving door between individuals who work for environmental activist groups that seek greater government regulation and the federal agencies that produce such regulations."

The report is an interesting read and shines some light on phony, supposedly “local,” grassroots campaigns that are directed by many of the same national entities and interests.

The section that most intrigued me covers the revolving door between individuals who work for environmental activist groups that seek greater government regulation and the federal agencies that produce such regulations. See pp. 23-32. It lists a number of individuals who recently obtained or held influential positions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and were previously employed by the National Resource Defense Council, Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Public Interest Research Groups, Union of Concerned Scientists, and elsewhere. These organizations regularly lobby and sue federal agencies seeking ever-increasing government regulation of economic and social activity.

With all eyes trained on the fight over government Dems Attempt Power Grab That Could Kill Keystone Pipeline:

◼ So, what is a “cultural” site? No one knows for sure. - Mike Flynn/Breitbart

Many observers believe that this precedent-setting amendment is a dry run to kill the Keystone Pipeline project specifically and set up a new paradigm for development in America. Can anyone say with a straight face that somewhere along the thousands of miles of pipes, there will not be a parcel of land where Native Americans once slept, gathered or ate? If the same logic being used on the land swap bill is applied, the Secretary of Interior--an avowed radical--would have the power to unilaterally pull the plug on the project. We have already seen what happened when one agency —the EPA — has the power to issue regulations that kill jobs. Could Republicans be so naive as to give another government agency the same power?

The Lujan amendment, as written, only applied to the copper mine in Arizona. But if there are enough votes to pass through a Republican House, it will be a precedent setter that will weaponize opposition to economic development for years to come on nearly every square inch of American soil and threaten the property rights for land owners all across the nation.