Aug 10
9
The evils of bureaucrats pretending to be renovation experts
From: Cornwall Alliance Newsletter, July 9, 2010
The Complex and Expensive Procedures of a Federally Approved Paint Job
[Editor's note: Okay, I confess. I've lost patience. The bureautyrants at the EPA (that's Environmental Protection Agency, for those of you who haven't learned the acronym for your worst nightmare) just won't quit till they've made life miserable for everybody. Talk about inability to think through consequences! The EPA is absolutely fabulous at concocting rules that might save one life for every $10 billion spent while forgetting the opportunity cost of spending the $10 billion there instead of where it'd save a thousand lives - net loss, 9,999 lives. Check out this nonsense about new EPA regs on handymen and think about how many people will simply forgo home repairs and restorations rather than pay the higher prices - and how many will instead hire unlicensed guys from the black market whose willingness to break the law is a good predictor of less safe work. This story will make your blood boil. Or it should. - ECB]
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World – July 3, 2010
Agent John: The complex and expensive procedures of a federally approved paint job
By Andrée Seu
John came over to install my new electric dryer. It was a straightforward operation.
If he had come for a paint job or replacement window, he would have been required to read to me from a pamphlet entitled “Renovate Right: Important Lead Hazard Information for Families.” Then he would have cordoned off the “contaminated” area, put out “Lead hazard area” signs, and laid plastic (not drop cloths) six feet in every direction from the work site (10 feet, if outside). These are the EPA regs that went into effect on April 22 and apply nationally to everyone with a station wagon, ladder, and “handyman” sign. At the kitchen table John consulted his shiny EPA manual:
“Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations: Established as Federal Executive Policy on Environmental Justice. Its main provision directs federal agencies to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law to make environmental justice part of their mission. …”
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