Monday, April 19, 2010
AG on health care, EPA
Virginia’s attorney general talks about eminent domain, the health care overhaul and doing battle with the EPA.
Cuccinelli said the federal government has kept the attorney general's office busy by throwing many "fastballs," or curveballs, depending on how you look at it. Here is what he had to say regarding a few of Virginia's hot topics:
The EPA lawsuit
Cuccinelli's office and 13 other states are filing suit against the Environmental Protection Agency over new vehicle fuel-efficiency standards that will regulate carbon dioxide emissions. The attorney general's office has petitioned the EPA to reopen the research process that determined that carbon dioxide could be regulated as a pollutant affecting global warming.
"We want to force the EPA to repeat the process and essentially redo the science. I say 'redo,' as if they did any science," Cuccinelli said. He said he doubts the EPA's main source of evidence, data produced by a United Nations climate change panel, which is not subject to review under U.S. law.
"None of it is verifiable. None of it is replicable. Literally, zero," Cuccinelli said. He said he is concerned about the costs the regulations will have for families and businesses, and their impact on jobs and employment.
He admitted that it is very hard to overturn agency actions, but because he said the EPA essentially ignored his petition, he believes there may be an easier shot at reopening the records.
The health care overhaul lawsuit
Virginia's Office of the Attorney General and several other states sued the federal government after the health care overhaul legislation was signed, claiming an overreach of federal authority.
"The case we have filed ... is critically important to the ongoing of federalism in our governing system," Cuccinelli said. He compared the mandatory purchase of health insurance to the government ordering Americans to buy a Chevrolet every five years, which he believes is unconstitutional.
The lawsuit "is truly unprecedented, which means that there is a great deal of doubt about the outcome," Cuccinelli said. "We feel we have a better-than-even chance of winning, and winning is important."
Eminent domain
Cuccinelli supports a stricter use of eminent domain and more rights for property owners, a topic he expects to see come up in the next General Assembly session.
"It's a sad state of affairs that something so fundamental is not protected in the Constitution," he said.
He said some local governments, including ones in the Roanoke area, are more aggressive in using the eminent domain power than others. Although he agrees that growth is a good thing, he said he wants to avoid one business or one family bearing the brunt of eminent domain decisions.
The budget
"I don't know if we have ever dealt with a shortfall of this size in one session ever before," said Cuccinelli about this year's budget.
He praised Gov. Bob McDonnell and the General Assembly for getting through a tough budget year. "I think they did a great job. It was a good example of well-managed governance in Virginia."
He also addressed the question of whether local school systems might sue the government over budget cuts. No such suits have been filed. "Everything took a hit," he said, and education didn't take more than anything else.
Cuccinelli went on to say that if any lawsuits were filed over budget cuts, they would not have the basis to get very far. It would be a "slam-dunk" for Virginia to knock them out, he said.
Transportation
Other topics Cuccinelli expects to come up over the next four years are toll roads and rest stop privatization.
"I don't think the federal government ought to be able to tell us what to do with property next to highways," Cuccinelli said. He said he supports funding road building and road maintenance with tolls. He also questioned the efficiency of HOV lanes, saying that they were harder to manage financially, that allowing hybrid vehicles on them clogged them up and that a third of the cars in unseparated HOV lanes don't belong there.
