Thursday, September 10, 2009

What a ‘Green Jobs Czar’ Does   [Chris Horner]

As part of its climate agenda, the Obama administration (through the Vice President’s office) is pushing what they have labeled “place-conscious planning and place-based programming.”

 

This according to a new White House “MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES, FROM: Peter R. Orszag, Office of Management and Budget; Melody Barnes, Domestic Policy Council; Adolfo Carrion, Office of Urban Affairs; Lawrence Summers, National Economic Council.” It makes clear that agencies should not merely issue regulations — under the statutes whose execution is their sole function, incidentally — but butt in a little more and tell people how they really should be living, working, and doing anything else that EPA (whose copy I was given) thinks they should (or should not) be doing. In a memo circulated to senior employees, EPA says “Effective place-based policies can influence how rural and metropolitan areas develop, how well they function as places to live, work, operate a business, preserve heritage, and more.”

 

Citing this effort as “a major opportunity” and an “unprecedented opportunity” — both in the same paragraph, so please understand: this is an opportunity, people! — to address the problem of so many people taking up so much space (sorry, critical habitat) and using so much stuff, EPA and the Vice President have decided that “A systematic review of how a wide range of Federal policies affect the development of urban, suburban, and rural America is long overdue.” They also can’t resist citing carbon (sic) emissions as a reason to revamp policies with an eye toward telling people how to live.

 

Reading the document, one gets a whiff of Euro-envy, where nanny-statism has moved people into smaller houses and cars with the desired effect of discouraging having too many babies. For example, “Reviewing the Federal government’s placed-based strategy allows the Administration to retool existing policies and programs for a changed context. It also offers an opportunity to design a proactive strategy to promote economic and environmental sustainability.” Ah, droppin’ the S-bomb.

 

But wait, get the barf bag. “It is important to note the urgency of this effort. The prosperity, equity, sustainability, and livability of neighborhoods, cities and towns, and larger regions depend on the ability of the Federal government to enable locally-driven, integrated, and place-conscious solutions guided by meaningful measures, not disparate or redundant programs which neglect their impact on regional development.” (emphasis added) Did you know that?

 

“The Vice President and his staff are already working to put these principles to work in the implementation of the Recovery Act.” So that’s why Van Jones and Apollo bragged of having written the thing.

 

Social Democracy Alert: “The Federal partners meet weekly to assess progress and consider next steps in spurring community progress. For instance, Community Impact is focused on Kansas City’s Green Impact Zone, a 150-block area in the city’s urban core.”

 

Federal planners meet weekly to discuss the actions of a local community and consider how to, ah, spur, or direct them so they don’t get their little heads confused with their own priorities. Mmmm.

 

How far will this go? Hint: “By definition, all domestic policies affect people who live or work in particular places.” And as another president testified, you’re never really “alone” in a place. Certainly not anymore.

 

That’s just what I've got having gone through less than half of the document, which goes on and on with similar catnip to those who have a suspicion about the current governing class.

Here’s some place-based advice to EPA: get a life, get out of my “place,” and stick to the laws drafted for you to execute for the reasons they were drafted.

09/10 11:00 AMShare