MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker said Monday he would shift most of the responsibilities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to state-based regulators, leaving the EPA to serve as an “umbrella organization” that would resolve disputes between them.
Like many Republicans, the Wisconsin governor is a vocal critic of the agency charged with enforcing the nation’s laws against pollution. While Walker said he would not eliminate the EPA if elected president, he would shift its powers and resources to state environmental agencies such as Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources.
In an interview with the Washington Examiner, and later during a campaign stop in Chicago, Walker said the proper role for the EPA is to serve as a mediator to resolve disputes between such state agencies.
The EPA, Walker said, should become “an umbrella organization that really is limited to mediating interstate conflicts over, say, where a body of water or a piece of land goes through multiple states.”
The EPA currently has the primary responsibility for enforcing many of the nation’s federal environmental laws and regulations, such as the Clean Water Act, and sometimes issues policy or guidance to encourage states to comply with those laws.