Josh Stein, “science” guy?

Well, fellow Tar Heels, we managed to transition from an attorney general who didn’t do ONE DAMN THING to another one totally committed to being the handmaiden of the radical left.

The same guy who spent months whining about not having enough money to adequately represent the people of North Carolina — the same guy who, two years into his AG gig is presiding over the largest number of untested rape kits in the country —  seems to have plenty of time and resources to team up with leftist comrades from across the country in pursuing courtroom attacks on sensible conservative policy.  (I don’t believe anyone outside of Orange County voted for THAT.) 

Maybe, with this newfound interest in science, lil’ Josh could light a fire under his crime lab to reduce that backlog so localities don’t have to outsource their forensics to get justice for crime victims.  Just sayin’. 

Here is lil’ Josh’s latest foray into self-promotion:

Attorney General today called on Acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler to withdraw his predecessor’s “harmful and deeply flawed” proposal to censor science at the Agency. The call was part of detailed comments Attorney General Stein submitted as part of a 23-member coalition of states, counties, and cities on former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s proposed “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” rule.

“Prioritizing strong science should be a no-brainer for the EPA,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “This rule is silly, but its impacts could be serious. I urge Acting Administrator Wheeler to withdraw it.”

The proposed rule would exclude from EPA decision making any scientific studies that have been validated by peer review simply because not all underlying data are available to the public.

Throughout my twenty years of schooling, I was always taught that science dealt with matters that are quantifiable and qualifiable. In other words, stuff that you can SEE and MEASURE OR ACCOUNT FOR.

So, Josh thinks we ought to entrust environmental regulation-making to a bunch of far-left faculty-lounge types sitting in a circle agreeing with each other? We’re supposed to just “trust” them?

Lest we forget the University of East Anglia scandal revealed via leaked emails.  Ivory tower pointy-heads were fabricating “environmental research” to keep grant money coming and to avoid peer pressure from their comrades.

MORE:

But, as Attorney General Stein’s comment points out, this would cause EPA to ignore many key health studies, since legally-required confidentiality protections prevent making those studies’ data public. The coalition charges that, in addition to making “little sense as a matter of science,” the proposal is “arbitrary and capricious, violates controlling federal law, and contains clear errors in reasoning.” The coalition affirms that they “stand ready to pursue legal remedies should EPA persist in this misguided effort.” […] 

I can’t imagine the rule is demanding public release of personally-indentifiable information regarding human test subjects.  It sounds like lil’ Josh and his comrades are afraid of too many facts going public and their whole fallacious House of Cards tumbling down on them.

Why does all this matter to you?  These ideologues posing as scientists influence all kinds of draconian rules that hamstring or shut down businesses, cripple property rights, and make stuff cost more.

Ever hear of someone being told they can’t build THERE because it’s going to flood in 100 years?  We can rarely get an accurate weather forecast for the next 24 hours.  Yet, we’re restricting property rights and making economically-damaging policy decisions based on what someone thinks might happen when NO ONE currently walking around on Earth is still walking around.

MORE:

[…] By compromising EPA’s ability to use the latest, best available, and generally-accepted science, the proposed rule would violate the very federal laws that EPA is required to uphold – including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water and Air Acts, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Toxic Substances Control Act, and other of nation’s core environmental and public health statutes. […]

Actually, it sounds like the EPA is demanding the same standard judges demand in court: CREDIBLE VERIFIABLE EVIDENCE. PROOF. (That kind of thing.) MORE:

[…] Attorney General Stein is joined in signing these comments by the Attorneys General of New York, New Jersey, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and the District of Columbia; the Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection; and the Attorneys of King County (WA) and the cities of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.

Oh, goody.  We’re teammates with San Francisco on this one.  *Nothing crazy or haphazard about following that crowd around, eh?*