Power grab: EPA wants to garnish wages of polluters

The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly floated a rule claiming authority to bypass the courts and unilaterally garnish paychecks of those accused of violating its rules, a power currently used by agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service Read more: www.washingtontimes.com...

The EPA has been flexing its regulatory muscle under President Obama, collecting more fines each year and hitting individuals with costly penalties for violating environmental rules, including recently slapping a $75,000 fine on Wyoming homeowner Andy Johnson for building a pond on his rural property. Read more: www.washingtontimes.com...

Sorry but the EPA has no power to do this.

Unfortunately we already have a government agency that does this, the IRS.

This is the most disturbing thing here:

Still, the rule would give the EPA sweeping authority to dictate how and whether Americans could dispute fines and penalties, even as the amount of EPA fines collected from individuals, businesses and local governments steadily increase. Read more: www.washingtontimes.com...

Hmmm.

The amount of fines raked in by the agency has jumped from $96 million in 2009 to $252 million in 2012, a more than 160 percent increase, according to EPA annual reports. Read more: www.washingtontimes.com...

A 160 % increase !

Had cap and trade passed, and the 'green agenda' hadn't been set aside from incompetent administrations actions.

Who knows how much they would be raking in by now.

The EPA said it deemed the action as not a “significant regulatory action” and therefore not subject to review. Read more: www.washingtontimes.com...

Wait 'not' a significant regulatory action ?

Not subject to review ?

Silly me I thought government agencies ALL have congressional OVER SIGHT.

The EPA has become a monster.

This is bad news for us.

$75,000 pond fines etc.

Once a person has been singled out by the EPA sounds like there is very little recourse.

Nice little way to increase their land grabs. Can't pay the fine? We'll take your land.

They want your land and that's really their agenda. Agenda 21 that is.

It's getting nastier by the day in the US and very soon the people will break. It's just going to happen and there's no way around it. The Obama Admin is in full power mode and will continue to destroy America from within with so many rules, laws, regulations that are becoming the noose that's getting tighter.

I still have faith that Americans will wake up very soon.

Peace

This is yet *Another* example of what happens when the ultra-Progressives, ultra-Fascists, ultra-Liberals, ultra-Democrat, ultra-Socialists, ultra-Left Wing get entrenched in power structures like the U.S. Executive Branch.

Perfect cover, as they are cloaked in the un-elected Legions sectors.

Some how I think this piece over at WUWT might fit nice into this thread

More on the story of the EPA being challenged as to its objectivity in its GHG endangerment findings.

Ashley Thorne, Executive Director, National Association of Scholars, writes in an email:

After the EPA stonewalled international trade lawyer Lawrence Kogan’s FOIA request, saying it was confused about what documents he wanted, Kogan wrote back with a 145-page document spelling out his exact request and pointing out potential smoking guns. My NAS colleague Rachelle DeJong breaks it down here:

wattsupwiththat.com...-112760

ETA Scholarly journal retracts 60 articles, smashes ‘peer review ring’ www.washingtonpost.com...

a reply to: neo96

After some digging I found this:
GOP senators slam EPA on wage garnishment via TheHill.com

Under the rule proposed last week, the EPA would be allowed to garnish up to 15 percent of the “disposable pay” of anybody with non-tax debt to the agency, such as fines for violating regulations. Thanks to the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, the agency does not need to obtain court permission before garnishing.

You can find the text of the rule here.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct final action to amend EPA's claims collection standards to implement the administrative wage garnishment provisions of the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1982, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996 (DCIA). The direct final rule will allow the EPA to garnish non-Federal wages to collect delinquent non-tax debts owed the United States without first obtaining a court order.

Any government entity that you owe money to seems to already do this. IRS, DoE, etc. Even your article points it out:

Under the law, every federal agency has the authority to conduct administrative wage garnishment, provided the agency adopts approved rules for conducting hearings where debtors can challenge the amount of debt or terms of repayment schedule, a Treasury official said.