Kinda tells you how far they’ve gone from the core mission, eh? (via Junk Science)
(Reuters) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will take one of the biggest hits of any federal agency if the government shuts down this week, operating with under 7 percent of its employees, according to guidance issued by the agency.
Among those furloughed would be most workers at the Office of Air and Radiation, which is in charge of writing and implementing most of the EPA’s major air pollution rules. The clock would also stop, for now, on the EPA’s eagerly-awaited proposal on renewable fuel volume standards for 2014.
I’m not sure businesses are eagerly-awaiting those standard. Unless “eagerly” is a substitute for trepidation. Those standards are going to cause more and more problems and increase costs. Either way, when less than 7% of your employees are deemed essential, then the agency is out of control and mostly worthless.
[…] Stacey who spells his name William Teach noted that 93% of Environmental Protection Agency employees are considered “non-essential.R… I’d suggest that they have underestimated that by about 7%. But the obvious question is: if […]
And yet, less than 1 million people were furloughed across the whole federal system. a small fraction of the total amount employed.
Unfortunately, the “non-essential” is a play on words. Everyone who has to do a job is essential for getting the job done. The term “essential” details the level of staffing, and who, are required to maintain a basic level of function for a company. For instance, boiler operators and system admins are “essential” for continued operation of a business during severe storms.
For me, the only shutdown that matters, is a real shutdown. Physically Close 60% of the agencies and departments. Then, and only then can we begin to say that only essential services are remaining.