Dirty GOP: The Republican Plan To Abolish The EPA »

For the past 40 years, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has played a key role in protecting our nation’s air, lands, and water from polluters. Now, if a growing chorus of Republicans get their way, the EPA’s days could be numbered.

Last month, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich became the first high-profile conservative to champion one of the most extreme environmental positions in recent memory: total elimination of the EPA.

Still, there are few policies too far right for the modern GOP, and dismantling the EPA is no exception. Over the past few weeks, ThinkProgress spoke with various members of Congress to get their thoughts on abolishing the EPA. Many, including freshmen Reps. Joe Walsh (R-IL) and Rich Nugent (R-FL), vigorously joined Gingrich in his anti-EPA mission.

Watch a compilation video:

Public opinion stands overwhelmingly against undermining the EPA. In a bipartisan survey released yesterday by the American Lung Association, a large majority of Americans not only support the EPA’s efforts to continue its protection efforts, but actually want to see the agency ramp up regulations of pollutants:

Three out of four voters support the EPA setting tougher standards on specific air pollutants, including mercury, smog and carbon dioxide, as well as setting higher fuel efficiency standards for heavy duty trucks. [...]
Key poll results indicate the level of concern expressed by voters regarding their right to breathe healthy air:
- 69 percent think the EPA should update Clean Air Act standards with stricter limits on air pollution;
- 68 percent feel that Congress should not stop the EPA from updating Clean Air Act standards;
- And a bipartisan 69 percent majority believe that EPA scientists, rather than Congress, should set pollution standards.

Unperturbed, House Republicans this week will take their first step in a process that many on the right hope will end with the complete dismantling of the EPA. The House is considering amendments to the 2011 Continuing Resolution (H.R. 1), includingdozens of proposals to prevent the EPA from regulating greenhouse pollution, coal ash, water pollutants, and pesticide cleanup. Rep. Mike Pompeo’s (R-KS) amendment to cut $8.5 million from the EPA passed last night, and a vote on slashing 33 percent from the EPA is forthcoming.

Still, if the hard right gets its way, the EPA won’t be done in by a thousand cuts. It will be eliminated in one fell swoop.

Full transcript after the jump:
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