And so it is with Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, and his ilk, and the Environmental Protection Agency. After they ensured a permanent underclass with deep cuts to maternal and infant health and nutritional programs, they have been taking every opportunity to enhance private access to public property and to disregard the environment.

The EPA and the Clean Air and Water acts have been repeated targets. At the time that they were demanding that the EPA be held to “highest standards” they were cutting its funding. Tipton and Ben Carson both took advantage of the recent discharge into the Animas River for photo ops and demands for accountability.

Perhaps you remember HR 4402. This Tipton-sponsored bill was disguised as the “National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act.” Essentially everything was included, even sand and gravel. This bill effectively eliminated any environmental review and greatly limited mining impacted communities any recourse.

An amendment was offered that would have provided for a modest royalty to be set aside for the inevitable cleanup that is the public’s responsibility, thanks to the General Mining Law, that has been ripping off the taxpayer since 1872. Tipton voted against this amendment. Privatize the profit and socialize the damage, both financial and environmental.

The House is back in session, after a five-week vacation (goodness knows they needed it – they are scheduled to work a total of 132 days this year) and the first item on the agenda: “Holding EPA Accountable for Polluting Western Waters.”

The game is simple; if you undermine an agency, you can then accuse it of failure and say, “See, Reagan was right; government is the problem.” And the biggest prize of all – shut down the entire government, as they did in 2013.

Christopher Isensee

Durango