An interesting look at what the EPA is spending its money on - from Forbes:
The EPA's 'Climate Change Liberation Army'
Why does the EPA need a $715 million police force, a $170 million PR Machine, a nearly $1 billion employment agency for seniors, and a $1.2 billion in-house law firm?
During last week’s Democratic presidential primary debate, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said the most important adversary of the United States was “climate change.” The EPA is ready for the fight in ways taxpayers haven’t imagined.
Recently, our organization, American Transparency, published our OpenTheBooks Oversight Report – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (PDF). We captured and analyzed $110 billion worth of EPA contracts (FY2000-2014), grants (FY2000-2014), salaries (FY2007-2014) and bonuses (FY2007-2014).
And some numbers:
Since 2006, the EPA Criminal Enforcement Program spent approximately $715 million fighting ‘enviro-crime.’ With 200 Special Agents, the EPA also spent millions of dollars on military-style weaponry.
For example: $2.1 million purchased guns and ammo up to 300MM – the majority of these expenditures were on weapons “up to 30MM” ($1.73 million).
Other checkbook entries included body armor, camouflage and deceptive equipment, unmanned aircraft, night vision, radar equipment, tactical sets, kits, and outfits, transport vehicles passenger and troop, and $6.6 million in joint “policing” projects with Homeland Security. EPA also purchased shotgun ammunition, Bushmaster rifles, mobile GPS units, puncture-protective gloves, amphibious assault ships, and much more.
In addition to the EPA police force, a division of nearly 200 “Public Affairs Officers” were paid salaries of $145 million since 2007. Seven out of 10 PR staffers also received performance bonuses. But even that wasn’t enough. The EPA also spent $26 million with outside PR consulting firms since 2000.
Yet, the EPA’s PR spending was dwarfed by the lawyers. The EPA loves lawyers. Nearly $1.2 billion in salary flowed to more than 1,000 lawyers since 2007. In fact, more money was spent on “General Attorneys” than on chemists, general health scientists, ecologists, chemists, microbiologists, geologists, hydrologists, toxicologists, biologists, physical scientists, and health physicists combined.
Emphasis mine - this is telling. This organization is a perfect example of Pournelle's Iron Law:
Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people":
First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisers in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.
Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.
The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.
The EPA is supremely guilty of this - the cure? An 80% budget cut - knock them back down to where they should be; a group of concerned scientists looking out for our environment. Not some unelected mega-maniacal bureaucracy only caring for its own existence and unbeholden to the concerns of us citizens.
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