My what a difference a new administration can make.

The folks at Energy Tomorrow have compiled some revealing statistics indicating precisely how much the scope of the EPA’s mission has changed under the Obama administration, both in the volume of aggressive changes they seek to implement and the increasingly politicized nature of their proposals. And this is from one of the chief groups who complained about a disregard for “hard science” under previous White House occupants.

First, take a look at this two minute video which details a few of the new regulations being proposed and the impact they will have on American businesses, jobs and the economy.

How many new regulatory moves has the EPA been making? To put it in perspective, during the first 18 months of the second Bush administration, the EPA proposed 16 “significant regulations” which would have an economic impact of $100 million or more. During the first 18 months of the Obama administration, that number shot up to 42.

And who will be affected by all of these new regulations, if approved? In a paper published by Energy Tomorrow we find a fairly extensive list of the potential impact and questionable procedures under discussion.

• Under their more stringent ozone standards, some surprising entities would find themselves in non-compliance. Among them… Yellowstone National Park.
• The new Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHG) standards are an unconstitutional change to the Clean Air Act and represent an end run around congress. They would also impose punishing burdens on businesses and hinder job growth.
• Last month the EPA approved a new waiver for E-15 gasoline blends long before an ongoing CRC study into the effect this mixture will have on the current auto fleet has been completed. The potential damage to automobiles and potential increases in emissions as a result can’t even be calculated.

The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee said in a September 2010 report:

[T]hese rules threaten the economic viability of America’s manufacturing base and hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs. Moreover, these rules will bring little, if any, public health or environmental benefits. As Americans suffer through a jobless recovery, EPA is pursuing policies that exacerbate our economic problems and do not improve the environment.

I thought this was the administration that was going to restore “respect for science” in Washington and take the politics out of the equation? From this report, it seems like the net effect thus far has been exactly the opposite.

Now you can scream at Jazz for being a stupid, wrong-headed RINO even faster than just leaving comments by following him on Twitter! @JazzShaw