Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told a group of state environmental officials in Alexandria on Tuesday that regulations that do not consider the impact on the economy ultimately end up hurting the environment and the poorest Americans.
"The only places on Earth that have ever strived for a clean environment all shared two characteristics: free people and free markets," Cuccinelli told a gathering of 150 in a speech to the Environmental Council of the States.
"You need both — yet we're gradually suffocating our free market with more and more regulation."
Cuccinelli's speech to the group, made up of state environmental officials, came at a time when he is engaged in litigation with the Environmental Protection Agency over proposed regulations governing greenhouse-gas emissions. EPA head Lisa Jackson addressed the group Monday.
Cuccinelli said the EPA's decision to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant will cost every American household an additional $3,000 a year and could cost Virginia 50,000 jobs over the next 10 years.
"Economic growth underwrites environmental regulation," Cuccinelli said. "We know that as societal wealth increases, the prevalence of some pollutants decreases, as the society has the money and the will to tackle environmental concerns."
Cuccinelli told the group that there isn't as much pollution in America as there was 40 years ago. He said that "on most every indicator" measured by the Pacific Research Institute, "air quality has been improving for decades," as well as for water and toxic releases.
"When you start to consider any new regulation, before you put pen to paper, go to the poorest part of your state and just drive around, then walk the streets and talk to folks," he urged the group. "Because broad regulations hurt the poor first and worst."
To avoid being viewed as anti-environment, the attorney general citied two instances in his first year in office during which Virginia worked with the EPA in stormwater-enforcement cases against major homebuilders.
"I have seven children who will be on this Earth for the better part of this century, and I certainly have a vested interest in seeing that they have clean water, clean air and clean land," he said.
(804) 649-6061
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement