经济学人下载:环境保护遭遇攻击

Environmentalism under fire
环境保护遭遇攻击

Soaring emissions
不断增加的废气污染

The rhetoric about environmental controls killing jobs is getting louder and louder
声称环境保护会导致就业机会减少的言论愈演愈烈

Jun 2nd 2011 | WASHINGTON, DC | from the print edition
.
ISN’T it odd, asks Henry Waxman, a Democratic congressman from California, how the same Republicans who make such a fuss about abortion do not seem to care if the unborn are poisoned by toxic chemicals such as mercury? Isn’t it strange, Republicans retort, that people like Mr Waxman, who profess to care about working Americans, cheer on bureaucrats determined to smother business and destroy jobs? It may be hard to discern amid the melodramatic rhetoric, but the two sides are talking about the Environmental Protection Agency, and the various new rules it has in the works to curb pollution. Besides the endless toing and froing about government spending, it has become the most fiercely debated topic in Congress.

来自加州的民主党议员Henry Waxman称，反对堕胎并对此大作文章的共和党人似乎并不担忧未出生的胎儿是否会受到例如水银这样的有毒物质的毒害；共和党则声称，像Mr Waxman这样宣称关心美国人就业问题却为誓要抑制美国企业成长减少就业的官僚们呐喊助威。我们似乎很难从这些夸张的言论中辨别事非，不过，民主党和共和党争论的对像都是美国环保局以及环保局正在起草的各类污染管制法规。继关于政府开支没完没了的争论之后，环境污染管制成了国会又一激烈争论的对象。

As soon as they took control of the House of Representatives in January, Republicans began summoning Lisa Jackson, the head of the EPA, and several of her underlings to answer questions about their job-killing ways. Fred Upton, the head of the committee responsible for energy and environmental regulation, joked that she would be on Capitol Hill so often she would need her own parking space.

1月，共和党刚接管众议院就随即召集了环保局主管Lisa Jackson以及她的几位下属，询问关于环保局制定的“扼杀就业”的各种环保措施。能源和环境管制委员会主席Fred Upton说，Lisa Jackson去国会的次数频繁到几乎要单独给她安排一个车位。