EPA requires California to do “everything we feel is necessary.” No doubt this is the sort of federalism our founders had in mind?
The article is below.
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EPA, DOT threaten to suspend California’s federal highway funds
April 26, 1993, Engineering News-Record
Federal regulators are putting pressure on California to improve its auto emissions inspection program immediately. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol M. Browner and Transportation Secretary Federico F. Pena have written Gov. Pete Wilson (R) that they intend to start the process for possible suspension of federal highway funds to the state, as well as other sanctions, unless California’s legislature passes “adequate legislation” in the next few weeks.
An EPA official says that, for now, parties are moving forward in discussions, but the agency insists that the state must do “everything we feel is necessary.”
Browner says California must overhaul its vehicle emissions inspection program to get a handle on its “severe air quality programs.” The program applies to passenger cars and some light trucks.
California deserves to take it in the neck. This is the dark side of rent-seeking. Want to dip into that pile of money gathered from the other 49 states? Then you play by the rules. Even so, it’s a sick, pathological system.
The States are junkies hooked on federal funds. Few show the willingness and determination to get clean and, thereby, avoid all the wasteful and liberty-limiting conditions attached to those funds.