It appears that Leonardo DeCaprio, Cameron Diaz and Lisa Kudlow have wide authority to draft the EPA’s roadmap to shut down all forms of energy production that produce carbon emissions.  How can this be?  They all support the National Resources Defense Council, which, of course, sets EPA policy.  DiCaprio sits on its board.

In a conversation with The Heritage Foundation, [mc_name name=’Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)’ chamber=’senate’ mcid=’V000127′ ] characterized the EPA’s relationship with the Natural Resources Defense Council as “beyond cozy”.  In case you don’t know, the NRDC, as most leftist organizations, represents nothing implied by its name.  They are high priests of the global warming religion, opponents of fracking, pipelines, and suburbs.  They’d prefer that all humans confine ourselves to “sustainable cities”, with no cars and 600 square feet of green-energy-powered IKEA lofts.  Except for, of course, the glitterati who write big checks.  They can keep their private jets, Suburbans, and 12,000 square foot mansions with infinity hot-tubs.

At the heart of NRDC’s takeover of EPA are three uber-lobbyists:  lawyers David Doniger and David Hawkins and scientist Daniel Lashof.

The trio’s 110-page proposal, which focused on slashing carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, was “widely viewed as innovative and audacious,” the article said. On June 29, President Obama announced EPA rules that “used as its blueprint the work of the three men and their team.”

In response to allegations by the New York Times and Politico, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy doth protest too much, in an email to her staff:

…According to an article from Monday, you just cut and pasted a particular NGO’s proposal and called it a day.  If you’re laughing right now, it’s because you know just how preposterous that is.

The NRDC also poo-poohed Senator Vitter and Senator Issa’s inquiries, denying that the EPA and NRDC are “are colluding to craft regulatory policy and shape agency action outside of the normal regulatory process.”  I suppose that to the NRDC, the “normal regulatory process” is when the NRDC says “jump” and Gina McCarthy says “how high?”

The Daily Signal did a fantastic job unpacking all the sordid details of years of close cooperation, high-fiving, and congratulatory emails between McCarthy and Doninger.  Collusion is a proper way to frame this…Doninger wrote “where’s the collusion?” as if the EPA and NRDC just happened to come to the exact same conclusions and support the exact same policies.

This is simply reason number 3,842 why the EPA is hopelessly corrupted and sees itself as some superhero defending Bambi against “big oil” and “big energy”.  It would be pathetic but for the fact that the EPA has massive regulatory authority and is not afraid to use it.

Kudos to Senators Issa and Vitter for their dogged pursuit of the truth.  I hold out hope that the truth might actually bring some sanity, but I fear that DiCaprio, Diaz, and Kudlow’s star power along with NRDC-EPA’s brazen hubris may win the day.

(crosspost)