Gov. Scott Walker told a conservative forum in Florida Tuesday that he’d like to see the next U.S. president give states more power to regulate their natural resources instead of the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Speaking at an event attended by other GOP presidential hopefuls, Walker said every state has an equivalent of the EPA.
“They’re much more effective, much more efficient and certainly much more accountable at the state and local level than they are in Washington. Why not take major portions of the funding and responsibilities of the federal government in that regard, natural resources protection, and send it back to the states?” he said.
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He said that only role for the federal agency should be to mediate multi-state compacts.
Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters Director Kerry Schumann said the trouble with Walker’s idea is that pollution doesn’t respect state lines.
“The air blows across state lines, water flows across state lines and the precedent that that would set and what that would do across the country could be devastating,” said Schumann.
In Wisconsin, Walker has made substantial changes to his own environmental agency. His budget would cut several scientist jobs at the Department of Natural Resources and cut state taxpayer funding for the state park system.
Walker has also recently been sharply critical of the EPA’s proposed carbon emission rules, saying they’d lead to job loss in Wisconsin.
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