Environmental Solutions Agency: Newt Gingrich's pro-business plan for replacing the EPA

Natalie Gonnella

As a featured speaker at the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association summit, Newt Gingrich today unveiled his plans for pro-business energy development, commenting that as a country:

We need an American energy plan that is designed for good environmental reasons, good economic reasons and good national security reasons...I would rather have the next building boom in Des Moines than in Dubai.

Later in his remarks, Gingrich elaborated on his proposal to replace the Environmental Protection Agency, with a new, innovation focused, Environmental Solutions Agency, which, according to his aide Rick Tyler,:

[W]ould encourage innovation, incentivize success and emphasize sound science and new technology over bureaucracy, regulation, litigation and restrictions on American energy.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Gingrich discussed his views for changes to the country's energy and environment protection outlook, calling attention to the EPA's expensive and unproductive focus:

What you have is a very expensive bureaucracy that across the board makes it harder to solve problems, slows down the development of new innovations.

He further commented that:

We need to have an agency that is first of all limited, but cooperates with the 50 states.

The former House Speaker went on to provide further insight on his plans for the ESA via his website, where he noted the key reasons behind the proposal:

• "In the name of protecting the environment, the EPA has become a tool of ideologues to push an anti-jobs agenda that would never survive the scrutiny of the American voter." 
• "The EPA has become the bureaucracy of choice for Presidents to exert more control over the decision making of the private sector and local and state governments, stifling the very innovation and entrepreneurship that is necessary to achieve a cleaner environment." 
• "The EPA’s activities have gone well beyond protecting the environment; instead, the EPA is focused on centralizing and asserting unlimited federal power over the economy."

Gingrich's full speech from the IRFA event can be viewed here.

Comments

[Christopher Hinn]

Gingrich has a point with his plan in changing EPA into a solution agency. We are facing a rather challenging problems with our environment and I think what we need is to look for solutions on how to solve these problems. It is time that we develop some ideas on how to approach the problem and not focus only on its protection.