Monday, May 04, 2009

Forget Socrates; Apparently, the Unexamined Federal Program Is Worth Continuing

Last November, the Annapolis, Md. office of the Environmental Protection Agency examined its latest batch of data and concluded that despite $6 billion in spending and years of cleanup efforts, they were falling well short of their goals in cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay. Various state environmental officials began to wonder if the goals were realistic, considering how much they were already doing; as one put it, "how do you do more of everything, more of everywhere, by more of everybody?" They began a study of whether their original goals for the Chesapeake Bay were feasible, or whether they needed to revise their expectation of what their programs could achieve.

The Washington Post reveals today that President Obama's newly appointed senior adviser to the EPA administrator on the Chesapeake Bay killed the evaluation, concluding that it was "diverting energy from the real challenge."

Thank goodness taxpayers were saved from government officials examining whether their programs were actually achieving their goals, and whether those goals are feasible.

05/04 10:30 AMShare