Anti-EPA "Journalism", Plus Free Ads For Kasich

The Columbus Dispatch may be under new ownership, but not much has changed.  In fact, the content may be even worse.  We get daily doses of free campaign advertising for John Kasich, posing as journalism.  ("We'll follow Kasich every step of the way," wrote our new editor in a fan-boy  rationalization column.  Goody.  Wouldn't want to miss a moment.)

And on Sunday, the Dispatch ran a big article on the new federal clean-water rules which are soon to take effect.  But the piece boiled down to a 700-word attack on the EPA, as expressed by several Republican farmers and commissioners in Delaware County, as well the Ohio AG's office.

What's their bitch?  Well, the old EPA clean-water rules applied only to "navigable waterways" -- rivers, lakes, and reservoirs large enough for boats.  In essence, the old rule said, "Hey, industry and agri-business!  You can't dump your crap directly into the river."

But time marches on and we learn things about stuff like run-off and how watersheds work.  We learn about fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides.  So the new clean-water rules will apply to smaller elements, including tributaries, streams, and dry creek beds.  The new rule says, "Hey, industry and agri-business!  You can't dump your crap there either."

The Dispatch went up to Delaware County and found some folks who feel it's their right to dump their crap wherever they please, and resent the EPA's over-reaching attempt to regulate "puddles on my property," and gleefully printed all their half-baked complaints.

The article exactly two short sentences of support for the new rules.  It concluded by quoting a farmer who claimed the new EPA rules would "do away with the American spirit." 

When the wind is blowing just right, you can smell that "spirit."  It's the same American spirit, exemplified by Love Canal, mercury-filled fish, and the flaming Cuyahoga River, that led to the necessity for and creation of the EPA in the first place.