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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
A Hybrid Car, An Environmentalist Does Not Make
In her latest column, Cindy Skrzycki of The Washington Post summarizes the opposing view points of OMB Watch and the Mercatus Center over the nomination of former Mercatus Regulatory Program Director Susan Dudley to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs:
OMB Watch and Public Citizen . . . released a 68-page report last week using Dudley's writings to attack her. It chastised her for ties to corporate donors and for what it called "Dudleynomics," an emphasis on free-market solutions to health and safety issues at the public's expense.
The study said Dudley has suggested that the Environmental Protection Agency leave it up to individual communities to control arsenic in their water; that publicly releasing information on toxics may be more costly than it's worth; and that regulators' "one-size-fits-all" approach to vehicle airbags eliminates consumer choice.
The Mercatus Center called the report "incomplete and biased" against Dudley and the center.
And how does Mercatus set the record straight?
Dudley's backers point to what they call her personal commitment to environmental stewardship, noting that she and her husband, Brian Mannix, the EPA's associate administrator for policy, economics and innovation, drove hybrid cars before hybrids were cool. Her profile on the Mercatus Center Web site says she enjoys hiking, canoeing and fly fishing.
The rationalization that driving a hybrid car somehow gives Dudley her environmental merit badge is somewhat ludicrous. Dudley's choice to drive a hybrid could very well have more to do with the economics of rising gas costs than a commitment to the environment. Even if Dudley does have a personal commitment to the environment, her writings, documented thoroughly in the report, still clearly express an economic and political position that is very hostile to public protections. Indeed, Dudley's driving habits are congruent with Mercatus's anti-regulatory philosophy. As Skrzycki explains:
The center -- whose board of directors includes Edwin Meese , attorney general under President Ronald Reagan ; Vernon Smith , a George Mason professor who shared the Nobel Prize for economics in 2002; and Charles Koch , chief executive of Koch Industries Inc . -- regards regulations as a hidden tax on American consumers. It has urged the Bush administration to pay more attention to market solutions and allow Americans to make their own choices about the need for regulation.
In Dudley's worldview, there's no inconsistency between making the personal choice to save on gas, while opposing standards to keep our air clean and our cars fuel efficient. Seems bizarre? It's called Dudleynomics.
Posted by Genevieve Smith
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