Speaker 1: From UFOs to ghosts and government cover ups. History is
Speaker 1: really with unexplained events. You can turn back now or
Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to now. Planet
Speaker 1: Earth unique amongst all the heavenly bodies man has found
Speaker 1: with a circumference of twenty four thousand, nine hundred miles, animals, insects,
Speaker 1: and of course human being almost seven point four billion
Speaker 1: of them as we record this podcast, with the projected
Speaker 1: ten billion people on the planet in twenty fifty six.
Speaker 1: But wait, there's more. The Earth faces peril. Just this
Speaker 1: past year, four million, five hundred and sixty six thousand,
Speaker 1: seven hundred and twenty six hectar AARs of forests were lost.
Speaker 1: To put that into perspective, since over one and twenty
Speaker 1: nine million hectares of forest the equivalent area of South
Speaker 1: Africa have been lost. Also, desertification soil is being destroyed
Speaker 1: at an alarming rate, over ten and a half million
Speaker 1: hectares this year. And that's not all. The air is
Speaker 1: being polluted. Thirty two billion, sixty seven million tons and
Speaker 1: counting of c O two emissions are released each year,
Speaker 1: not even to mention the methane and other gases. But
Speaker 1: all is not lost in this epic battle of destruction
Speaker 1: and creation. In the darkness has emerged a shining white
Speaker 1: light of hope. That is the e p A, the
Speaker 1: Environmental Protection Agency is here us. Welcome to the show,
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen. We did it a little bit differently today,
Speaker 1: but we hope you enjoyed it. I'm Ben and hopefully
Speaker 1: you are you and in the right place which makes
Speaker 1: this stuff they don't want you to know. This week
Speaker 1: we did a video on the e p A. Yes,
Speaker 1: it's it's one that we shot while we were in Washington,
Speaker 1: d C. This year. M and Uh. The e p
Speaker 1: A is uh Environmental Protection Agency kind of like a
Speaker 1: lot of other countries have. It's also uh, well, I
Speaker 1: don't know, let's just say what it's supposed to do.
Speaker 1: Oh sure. So d PA was actually established on December
Speaker 1: second of the nineteen seventy two consolidate into a single
Speaker 1: agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard setting, UH
Speaker 1: and enforcement activities to ensure the protection of our environment.
Speaker 1: Now the mission of the e p A, there are
Speaker 1: many of them. Uh. They are wide ranging, and it
Speaker 1: goes from everything to UH to ensure that Americans are
Speaker 1: protected from threats to health. Right, and that's where they work,
Speaker 1: where they live, and where they learn. Um. What else,
Speaker 1: let's see also to hold companies or even other governmental
Speaker 1: bodies responsible for pollution or contamination, keeping people up to
Speaker 1: the standards that are issued in their policies, right exactly,
Speaker 1: in other words, holding corporations accountable for their pollution. Right. Perfect,
Speaker 1: Please stop putting all of this. Uh, let's what's what's
Speaker 1: the all these all these benzene derivatives into the rivers,
Speaker 1: right or lead let's say, lead from an old gold
Speaker 1: mine perhaps, yes, it runs the gamut for sure. And
Speaker 1: so these efforts, these national efforts to reduce environmental risk,
Speaker 1: let's call it, are you know, ultimately based on the
Speaker 1: best scientific day that's available, and federal laws that protect
Speaker 1: human health and the environment are enforced, you know, hopefully
Speaker 1: fairly and effectively in theory, in theory. Indeed, if you
Speaker 1: go to e p A dot gov, you can find
Speaker 1: their entire mission statement all the things that they are
Speaker 1: supposed to do, at least officially. Um Nolevan and I
Speaker 1: were just going over the mission statement, and uh, they
Speaker 1: so they develop the e p A actually develops regulations
Speaker 1: and enforces them as well. So if you think about
Speaker 1: Congress goes and rites an environmental law, or let's say
Speaker 1: maybe a lobby or a company writes writes a law,
Speaker 1: and then Congress rewrites it and signs it. Maybe maybe
Speaker 1: that happenste it, Yeah, maybe they rewrite it. The e
Speaker 1: p A will then write the regulation to go along
Speaker 1: with whatever Congress says needs to happen. Oh, and they
Speaker 1: will also set national standards and enforce those regulations that
Speaker 1: they put forth in theory, in theory, and something Noll
Speaker 1: that I found out is that one of the big
Speaker 1: parts of the money that goes to the e p
Speaker 1: A is actually spent on giving out grants. Right, So
Speaker 1: nearly half of the ep A budget actually goes into
Speaker 1: grants to state environmental programs, nonprofits, educational institutions in the
Speaker 1: like UM. And these grants are intended to fund environmental studies,
Speaker 1: UM conduct research at labs across the US, and to
Speaker 1: share these findings with private organizations, academic institutions, other agencies,
Speaker 1: and other countries. So, as you've heard, we've been peppering
Speaker 1: this conversation thus far with the the caveats of in theory.
Speaker 1: In a perfect world, this is what's supposed to happen. So,
Speaker 1: Ben Matt, how does the e p A ultimately stack
Speaker 1: up to their mission? Well, see, that's the thing. Um,
Speaker 1: that's and and when it's so polite that you say,
Speaker 1: we've been peppering with we've been peppering the show with
Speaker 1: in theory because for the past couple points were making
Speaker 1: I was just sitting back with my arms crossed, leaning
Speaker 1: in and saying in theory, because it's true, the e
Speaker 1: p A does not always reach the goals it sets right,
Speaker 1: it's maybe, you know, there's a fair amount of defense
Speaker 1: we could say about that. What's little? Is it Robert Browning?
Speaker 1: Uh man's reach must exceed his grasp? Else, what's a
Speaker 1: heaven for? It's a very nice way to say, it's
Speaker 1: a very nice way to look at ambition. But uh,
Speaker 1: the the thing is that the e p A gets
Speaker 1: numerous criticism. Uh, not just from people who think it's
Speaker 1: too big government and too regulatory, not just from people
Speaker 1: who think that it's UM two two in the hands
Speaker 1: or in the pockets rather of corporate America. And even
Speaker 1: people who would say that the e p A is
Speaker 1: part of a lot of government agencies that do too
Speaker 1: much hand holding and prevent private industry from creating the
Speaker 1: wealth that it should be right. And add to that
Speaker 1: another group of critics, people who are formally employed at
Speaker 1: the e p A. Who have a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: to say about it, just like Joseph Stiglets, you know,
Speaker 1: going from working at the World Bank to being one
Speaker 1: of its largest detractors. Well yeah, because when you're inside,
Speaker 1: you know, the belly of the beast, it's the most
Speaker 1: stinky inside, right, Yes, not a biologist, but I would
Speaker 1: be What do you think It always reminds me of
Speaker 1: that scene in Return where he has to get inside
Speaker 1: the Kangaroo Monster. Yes it is in Hollywood. Punched me
Speaker 1: for not knowing that, but not really. She wouldn't really
Speaker 1: punch me. She doesn't punch, but she would punch me
Speaker 1: with her eyes. You're referring to Holly Fry District Lass.
Speaker 1: She is an avid Star Wars aficionado. Let's say. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they always talk about how, oh, it's also gross. What
Speaker 1: if it's not a tonton and I just that's just
Speaker 1: a word that I know it is. Okay, we've literally
Speaker 1: had this conversation before and I questioned what a tonton was,
Speaker 1: and you said, you know, the one that smells worse
Speaker 1: on the inside than was on the outside. Oh nice,
Speaker 1: that's my favorite reference here. So that's the that's where
Speaker 1: you're coming from with the belly of the beast. The
Speaker 1: belly of the e p A beast. Um really comes
Speaker 1: to light in some criticism Spike guy named William Sanjoor.
Speaker 1: For about twenty years Sandrew worked for the It was thirty,
Speaker 1: so for decades he worked at the e p A.
Speaker 1: And he did not come out a happy camper. He says,
Speaker 1: the entire place is corrupt. Yeah, and he wasn't just
Speaker 1: somebody who I don't know works in a small office
Speaker 1: as part of the e p A or a small
Speaker 1: lab operated by the e p A. Uh. He started
Speaker 1: as a consultant, but then he ended up as a
Speaker 1: branch chief in the Hazardous Waste Management division. So he
Speaker 1: knows his stuff. He's been in charge of some things there.
Speaker 1: He's been in the belly of the tonton. That's right,
Speaker 1: did I steal your life? It is yours and it
Speaker 1: does go fairly far back. I think he's been employed
Speaker 1: during three presidencies, worked for three different white houses while
Speaker 1: he was working there. Um, he's got this really great gosh,
Speaker 1: it's kind of long. Um, well, when do you split
Speaker 1: it up with me? Just because I think it it
Speaker 1: It really encapsulates the criticism that he's making well, and
Speaker 1: it's an insider perspective, so I mean it's certainly to
Speaker 1: be taken relatively seriously. So this is from What's Wrong
Speaker 1: with the e p A by William Sanjeur, written in
Speaker 1: absolutely quote. To understand why the e p A is
Speaker 1: the way that it is, you have to start at
Speaker 1: the top. And since the e p A is part
Speaker 1: of the executive branch, that means the White House. The president,
Speaker 1: any president, Republican or Democrat, and his immediate staff have
Speaker 1: an agenda of about half a dozen issues with which
Speaker 1: they are most concerned. These are usually national security, foreign affairs,
Speaker 1: the economy, of the budget, and maybe one or two others.
Speaker 1: Call them Class A priorities. All others, housing, education, transportation,
Speaker 1: the environment are Class B. The president expects performance in
Speaker 1: Class A. He will expect the military to to be
Speaker 1: able to deploy forces anywhere in the world when an
Speaker 1: emergency arises, and if it isn't, he'll bang heads until
Speaker 1: it is. If Congress doesn't support his budget, he'll bring
Speaker 1: the budget director into his office and slam his fist
Speaker 1: on the table. But can you picture the President bringing
Speaker 1: in the Secretary of Transportation to his office and yelling
Speaker 1: because of poor bus service and Sheboygan are calling the
Speaker 1: administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency into the Oval office
Speaker 1: to chew him out for pollution in the Cuyahoga River.
Speaker 1: I can't. That is the difference. The president expects performance
Speaker 1: in Class A and Class B. He expects peace and quiet. Yikes.
Speaker 1: I really thought that encapsulated just I mean, an understanding
Speaker 1: of if you tear out all the different things that
Speaker 1: a White House has to deal with a president and
Speaker 1: all the people who work in the White House, the environment,
Speaker 1: while it is not currently up there, doesn't it feel
Speaker 1: like it kind of should be. Well, that's that's part
Speaker 1: of the that's part of the thing, and that's something
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about spoiler alert, ladies and gentlemen in
Speaker 1: an upcoming podcast next week on Congress, and it is
Speaker 1: going to be about how uh individuals elected officials are
Speaker 1: or are not incentivized to take certain action. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're president. The thing is that president is such
Speaker 1: a I'll say it, it's a bum job to have
Speaker 1: I know, you only get to have one at a
Speaker 1: time here in the US, and so psychologically everybody wants
Speaker 1: to do something like that. But their place that has
Speaker 1: more than one at a time, well, I mean, you
Speaker 1: could be president of other things. You can be president
Speaker 1: of the Ben Bull and Fan Club, you know, and
Speaker 1: a tax a tax attorney. You could be president of
Speaker 1: Noel Brown Enthusiast Association. We started those clubs on the
Speaker 1: same day. I didn't get up the memo. Sorry, it's
Speaker 1: pretty exclusive mailing list. Kidding, but but you know, the
Speaker 1: point is that the point is that if you are
Speaker 1: president for four years or heck, let's say eight, you
Speaker 1: get the double whammy. Then the hard and bitter truth
Speaker 1: about it is a lot of meaningful change for a
Speaker 1: country at all. Anything that size is going to take
Speaker 1: more than four to eight years to reach fruition. I mean,
Speaker 1: what occurred to me when we were talking about, you
Speaker 1: know this class A and class B. In order to
Speaker 1: make something that is considered class B under a presidency
Speaker 1: in the nineties, two move up the ladder. That's gonna
Speaker 1: take a long time. Things move slow. The system is
Speaker 1: designed for things to move slow. And you know, I
Speaker 1: would argue in some cases for good reason. But it
Speaker 1: takes a whole lot of support from both sides of
Speaker 1: the aisle for something to become a class A consideration
Speaker 1: that has been historically a class PIECES consideration. And I
Speaker 1: think we're just now starting to see inklings of septance
Speaker 1: of things like climate change, you know, actually making its
Speaker 1: way to the forefront of political discussion. And furthermore, Sandor
Speaker 1: also accuses the e p A of something that that
Speaker 1: we've heard a lot in the course of our research,
Speaker 1: which is chrony ism, protecting the bureaucracy or the status
Speaker 1: quo rather than protecting the mission critical policies, right, which
Speaker 1: would be the environment. So a lot of people when
Speaker 1: they encounter the e p A, we're expecting something to
Speaker 1: be on their side, but they find that it can
Speaker 1: be adversarial instead. Or those are the reports. Um. One
Speaker 1: thing that Sandra said that and I'm not gonna read
Speaker 1: it in full here, I'm in a paraphrase. He says,
Speaker 1: regulatory agencies, by their very nature, can do little that
Speaker 1: doesn't adversely affect business, especially big business, and that disturbs
Speaker 1: the president. So what he's saying, like that Class B
Speaker 1: priority all of a sudden has some class A problems.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. He has Champagne problems on
Speaker 1: a PBR budget and Uh, it's it's not it's not
Speaker 1: a good look. I guess if we're being we're being slaying. Uh.
Speaker 1: But the e p A acorns Sandra can't write regulations
Speaker 1: governing big industries like petroleum without the oil companies going
Speaker 1: to the White House about an energy crisis. And this
Speaker 1: is this is again his this is again his opinion.
Speaker 1: And what we found is that, Uh, in the e
Speaker 1: p A there have been repeated cases of chronyism or
Speaker 1: people people kind of playing along and jumping through the
Speaker 1: hoops so that they can later get a job in
Speaker 1: the private sector. Yes, helping out industry while you're inside
Speaker 1: the e p A, so that eventually you're on the
Speaker 1: other side and helping out a company. Another interesting thing
Speaker 1: that Sandra writes here that I am going to read
Speaker 1: a bit in full, uh, is about how the agency
Speaker 1: is dealt with by environmental groups as opposed to industrial
Speaker 1: groups or private organizations. Um. And basically what he's saying,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to read it for he Basically what
Speaker 1: he's saying is that environmental groups will deal with the
Speaker 1: e p A as an organization, through courts, um as
Speaker 1: an institution in fact, you know, through committees, courts, and
Speaker 1: through the top EPA executive, so you go through the
Speaker 1: main channels, right, But what he's saying is that industry
Speaker 1: does the same thing, but it also interacts with individual
Speaker 1: EPA employees at the lower levels, so they will come
Speaker 1: through and talk to an inspector, let's say, and it
Speaker 1: what it What it seems like, uh Sandra is saying
Speaker 1: is that they almost groom these employees from an early
Speaker 1: stage of working at the e p A to eventually
Speaker 1: become one of their's. Huh. It's almost like I would
Speaker 1: think from the perspective of like a CEO of a
Speaker 1: big corporation that you know has dealings with the e
Speaker 1: p A, having high level board member that was once
Speaker 1: in the ranks of e p A probably be pretty
Speaker 1: helpful a lot of ways and dealing with the p A.
Speaker 1: And right, well, sure it's a strategy move. I mean
Speaker 1: that's you see that all the time. You see that
Speaker 1: with like sec you know, folks ending up on the
Speaker 1: boards of big banks, and you know, it just seems
Speaker 1: like a very a lot of potential for abuse there.
Speaker 1: It's a common practice. If we could run through some
Speaker 1: other criticisms of the p A, I just want to
Speaker 1: laundry list of these real quick so I don't slow
Speaker 1: us down too much. Uh. The most usual criticism the
Speaker 1: A p A, according to a lot of people, and
Speaker 1: there's a political one, is that all these regulations keep
Speaker 1: people from making money. So the idea would be like
Speaker 1: latest um CEO two emissions regulations are costing coal mining
Speaker 1: right and eroding the margins um or you'll also here
Speaker 1: when I do the car show on car stuff with
Speaker 1: Scott Benjamin, you'll also hear people I'm talking about the
Speaker 1: regulations in the way they impact the price or performance
Speaker 1: of cars. Uh. And another criticism again, I'll keep this
Speaker 1: really fast so I'm not you know, I was gonna say.
Speaker 1: We saw a great example of that last one with
Speaker 1: Volkswagen recently that we've kind of talked about already, but
Speaker 1: just there the way they were getting around e p
Speaker 1: A standards and guidelines. Yeah, excellent example. Another criticism that
Speaker 1: kind of is used to support the first one is
Speaker 1: this idea like what does it matter? You know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Other developing nations, like the bricks nations, don't
Speaker 1: care as much you know, uh, and then and I
Speaker 1: think there is a valid question there about pollution from
Speaker 1: developing countries because a lot of the developed countries talking
Speaker 1: about pollution to the developing world are just sort of
Speaker 1: ignoring the fact that the industrial revolution rested on the
Speaker 1: that kind of that level of pollution, and without that
Speaker 1: then there wouldn't be any of the advances that have
Speaker 1: gotten you passed polluting that in I mean, that's crazy.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a it's an interesting idea to to
Speaker 1: to what if and um, to explore a hypothetical world
Speaker 1: in which everybody was super concerned about the environment from
Speaker 1: day one? You know, would we be as far as
Speaker 1: a species. I don't know, what's a good question to ask.
Speaker 1: Another criticism the p A is that it serves the
Speaker 1: political interest of whomever is in charge. Because let's remember
Speaker 1: and listeners outside the US, just to be clear, Uh,
Speaker 1: the e p A employees are not elected. A lot
Speaker 1: of the policy makers in the US are not elected.
Speaker 1: They get an interview and they get hired. So we're appointed, yes,
Speaker 1: and so there are many that are under multiple presidents
Speaker 1: like Matt was talking about. And I just wanted to
Speaker 1: run through those criticisms because it's something that people need
Speaker 1: to need to hear. I think, oh, yeah, well, I
Speaker 1: I tend to you. You don't hear about the e
Speaker 1: p A very often in the news, right unless something
Speaker 1: really really bad happens, like a spill or I don't
Speaker 1: know something that the e p A is being culpable for,
Speaker 1: or if you hear someone talking about budget cuts, because
Speaker 1: organizations like the e p A, they are easy fodder
Speaker 1: a lot of times depending on the administration that's coming
Speaker 1: into the White House. Um, because it's one of those things.
Speaker 1: It's I guess again going back to what the guy said,
Speaker 1: a class b uh issue. And so now that we've
Speaker 1: we've painted some of those pictures, right, and I hope
Speaker 1: we're doing an okay job for you guys out there.
Speaker 1: When we talk about the criticisms that an organization like
Speaker 1: this has, we also point out that an organization can't
Speaker 1: be this big without generating criticism, especially if it seems
Speaker 1: like it's costing people money. And uh, there are people
Speaker 1: who say this has this a short term loss for
Speaker 1: long term benefit. But will I ever see the long
Speaker 1: term benefit? You know, there's a psychological thing at play there. Uh,
Speaker 1: But let's let's go right into the crazy stuff at first.
Speaker 1: A word from respons here's where it gets crazy. Yes,
Speaker 1: so surprised. There are a lot of conspiracy theories about
Speaker 1: the e p A. And I'm just gonna go ahead
Speaker 1: and stray out say it. Uh. Some of those that
Speaker 1: are that concerned corruption are absolutely spot on. Uh, it's
Speaker 1: hard to disprove some of those. It's hard to disprove however. Um. Well,
Speaker 1: also they easily prove themselves, That's what I mean. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But also, um, there are some that we found that
Speaker 1: that we're really interesting that we wanted to explore with
Speaker 1: you guys today. Yeah, some of these have a foot
Speaker 1: in reality for me, and then a foot in kind
Speaker 1: of the fanciful where it would it would require one
Speaker 1: of those big conspiracies that there are so many human
Speaker 1: beings that would have to be behind it, and uh,
Speaker 1: it just seems a little out of the reach of
Speaker 1: reality for me. But the first one is that the
Speaker 1: e p A is trying to enforce gun control by
Speaker 1: limiting and removing lead from bullets. Yeah, how's that going
Speaker 1: for him? Well, it was a it was an idea.
Speaker 1: You're saying that if that's the thing they're doing, it
Speaker 1: is failing miserable because that bought the bullets earlier. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe there's no lead in those bullets. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I haven't bought bullets ever in my life.
Speaker 1: A bullets even still made of leading. They have to
Speaker 1: be right. Oh God, but but go on with this story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: tell tell me really they so they actually said they
Speaker 1: said that, or people thought they were going to say, well, okay,
Speaker 1: that is one of those one of those reports that
Speaker 1: comes out that will mention something like the e p
Speaker 1: A is looking into effects of lead in the environment. Okay,
Speaker 1: and they want to see, well, where are some of
Speaker 1: the man made sources of lead? Where's it coming from? Now?
Speaker 1: We don't use lead paints anymore. There are a lot
Speaker 1: of places where we've reduced our use of lead as
Speaker 1: a human species, especially in the United States. Yeah, where's
Speaker 1: it coming from? Now? Well, one of the places is ammunition. Ammunition,
Speaker 1: and get this ben fishing tackle. Oh yeah, the silent killer.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I guess it surprises fish. So so
Speaker 1: what's what's the truth? Can you can you hit us
Speaker 1: up with a truth bomb real quick? All right, here's
Speaker 1: the truth. So, according to our sources, the Center for
Speaker 1: Biological Diversity and other environmental groups file the petition as
Speaker 1: getting the e p A to consider banning the use
Speaker 1: of lead and ammunition and fishing tackle, arguing that these
Speaker 1: products are exposing wildlife and the people who consume said
Speaker 1: wildlife too harmful levels of this heavy metal. But the
Speaker 1: e PA, for its part, had no plans to actually
Speaker 1: implement this agenda. Quote e p A was not and
Speaker 1: is not considering taking action on whether the lead content
Speaker 1: and hunting ammunition poses an undue threat to wildlife. You know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting that that that proposition, because ammunition
Speaker 1: in a hunting situation inherently poses a threat to wildlife.
Speaker 1: That's what it's supposed it to. I certainly hope so
Speaker 1: phishing tackle inherently aids and a bets fishing. Like I
Speaker 1: I love fishing. I suck at it, but I love it.
Speaker 1: I love the idea that fishing tackle aids and avets
Speaker 1: the harm of wildlife. Right. Yeah, So it's it's just
Speaker 1: it to me, it's strange, and I'm glad you point
Speaker 1: this out and all that there is a grain of
Speaker 1: truth to this that I guess became alarmist. It doesn't
Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense to me. It just it doesn't
Speaker 1: make sense to ban that in that way. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: and you can see if you've got a political agenda
Speaker 1: that wants to make someone make person B or group
Speaker 1: B look bad, you say, oh, look the this guy
Speaker 1: is trying to get the e p A to ban
Speaker 1: guns and and ammunition. Look at this, and you know,
Speaker 1: you can see how would be used in a political manner.
Speaker 1: It's pretty pretty blatant. Yeah, I could. I can totally
Speaker 1: see that, and I guess it would make sense. But
Speaker 1: I would just you know, like, so, where's where's the money?
Speaker 1: Where's the money Lebowski? You know, in doing this. I
Speaker 1: mean it seems like if we're talking about conspiracies within
Speaker 1: government organizations, usually it's about someone making some money. So
Speaker 1: what benefit is there for an EPA official two get
Speaker 1: behind this tow Well, there would be the I think
Speaker 1: the origin point there is the idea that big brother
Speaker 1: will do anything to render well armed populous irrelevant or yeah,
Speaker 1: take your guns away, right, I mean I think, I
Speaker 1: mean that was the implication for me as well. But I
Speaker 1: I just I just don't see it coming from this
Speaker 1: particular way. I think there's a better way. If if
Speaker 1: there's if the government really does want to get rid
Speaker 1: of all of the bullets. There's a better way to
Speaker 1: do it than the e p A. I don't know
Speaker 1: what that way is, because I'm not trying to do that.
Speaker 1: I was trying to I was. I'm really thinking of
Speaker 1: a better way to do that. Giant magnets, gigantic magnets, brilliant, brilliant.
Speaker 1: What I love is how simple it is. It's like
Speaker 1: that breaking bad. You know, yes, but how do they work?
Speaker 1: You have to ask the insane clown clown possele. Something
Speaker 1: tells me they don't know. All right, let's do one more.
Speaker 1: Let's let's talk about this idea that the e p
Speaker 1: A itself is polluting, that the e p A, like
Speaker 1: the World Bank allegedly might be uh, the e p
Speaker 1: A is creating or propagating the problem it was built
Speaker 1: ostensibly to solve. There are people who believe that. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean, if you believe this theory, here are a
Speaker 1: couple of things that I can imagine you saying to yourself, Well,
Speaker 1: they have to increase their budget year over year. So
Speaker 1: they have and they have to be increasing increasingly bad
Speaker 1: things that they have to take care of, that they
Speaker 1: need more money to handle. No, do you hear my
Speaker 1: head shaking, I hear it. Shape. I'm trying to I'm
Speaker 1: trying to imagine the things that would be said. Do
Speaker 1: you don't need a government organization to actively you know?
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is those people who work in
Speaker 1: the organization need to keep their jobs. In order to
Speaker 1: keep their jobs, they have to I'm just saying people
Speaker 1: do that for them. They don't need to help, you know.
Speaker 1: Or I mean, the corporations are doing a fine job
Speaker 1: of polluting jet they don't need the e p a's help. Well,
Speaker 1: the e p A has helped accidentally a few times,
Speaker 1: no doubt that. I'm just saying in terms of a
Speaker 1: conspiracy involving the e p A. Actually, you know, on
Speaker 1: their lunch break they go out and dump a bucket
Speaker 1: of toxic waste in the river. You know? Is that
Speaker 1: we're talking to Come on, unless they're getting money behind
Speaker 1: somebody's back from an industry on purpose just to make
Speaker 1: dump some toxic waste. Let's say, Oh, I don't know,
Speaker 1: from the old gold King mind, Ben, I was gonna say, say, uh,
Speaker 1: miss well, be yes, there is this idea that gained
Speaker 1: a little traction with the legislature in Utah, which was
Speaker 1: that the UH e p A did not accidentally release
Speaker 1: three million gallons of my wastewater into the Animous River
Speaker 1: in Colorado, that instead they purposefully did it, and Uh,
Speaker 1: the state's attorney general was kind of like, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe maybe who knows, Tupac might still
Speaker 1: be alive. Well, yeah, it seems from the idea that
Speaker 1: they were warned well in advance that there is an
Speaker 1: issue here. And not only would this one king gold
Speaker 1: or gold king mine, they're all these other minds in
Speaker 1: that area that are are connected directly directly to rivers,
Speaker 1: UH and groups they are just warning and mourning and warning, Hey, look,
Speaker 1: these mines have wastewater and terrible things in them that
Speaker 1: are going to get into the rivers. That we have
Speaker 1: to do something about it. And it stinks because the
Speaker 1: e p A really kind of has to table it
Speaker 1: to a certain extent until they can get the resources
Speaker 1: to take care of it. At least that's what the
Speaker 1: e p A says. A representative named Mike nol s
Speaker 1: the same way smelled the same way UH said that
Speaker 1: the e p A might have caused the spill to
Speaker 1: help environmentalists put an end to the hard rock mining industry.
Speaker 1: I just don't see that. I don't know how that
Speaker 1: would That's like such a Rube Goldberg machine of a plan.
Speaker 1: I would need some proof to believe that. Do you
Speaker 1: remember that board game mouse Trap? Oh? Yeah, it's it's
Speaker 1: like a mouse trap level overly complicated plan. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: gonna bust a hole in this retaining wall and let
Speaker 1: out all this stuff. By the way, the pollutes that
Speaker 1: were let out and ended up what is an Animus
Speaker 1: river and they got polluted. You're looking at extremely high
Speaker 1: levels of lead, arsenic, cadmium, beryllium, and mercury in that water.
Speaker 1: So anything living in that water, anyone using that water, Uh,
Speaker 1: this is not good. And according to this one CNN
Speaker 1: report that was looking at an actual e p A
Speaker 1: report was talking about uh, perhaps because these are heavy metals, right,
Speaker 1: and it's not that they just go away once they're
Speaker 1: in a river like this. They sink to the bottom.
Speaker 1: And then if you have catfish, catfish, anything else that
Speaker 1: lives in there, or even if there's um a lot
Speaker 1: of a lot of extra water moving through with a
Speaker 1: little bit of flooding, you're gonna get that stuff. It's
Speaker 1: gonna get up with the silt, get more problems. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I just thought this was a really interesting and kind
Speaker 1: of scary thing that happened on my birthday this year.
Speaker 1: So yeah. E p A created in nineteen seventy to
Speaker 1: look after the environment and a ruined birthday Facebook posts
Speaker 1: on birthday. Yes, uh, well, I'm glad that they are
Speaker 1: doing something. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, you know. Also,
Speaker 1: the e p A does a lot of good work
Speaker 1: that gets ignored, right, The squeaky wheels get degrease, right,
Speaker 1: and the barking dogs are the ones you hear uh
Speaker 1: and other various figures of speech. Point being were guessing
Speaker 1: on the stuff that has been alleged or proven to
Speaker 1: be shady, to be incorrect, to be corrupt, because that's
Speaker 1: what we're looking to do. Um, if the e p
Speaker 1: A does their job, then we have no idea. And
Speaker 1: can the e PA do their job structurally given the
Speaker 1: relationship between a business and a government, right or just
Speaker 1: the sheer size of this regulatory body, how how are
Speaker 1: they doing? Why do ex employees complain? But I guess
Speaker 1: ex employees will always come out of the woodwork for anything, right, So, Uh,
Speaker 1: we want to I guess we got to wrap it
Speaker 1: up unfortunately, And we want to hear from you guys.
Speaker 1: What do you think of the e p A. Are
Speaker 1: you one of the people who thinks it shouldn't exist?
Speaker 1: If so, I want to hear from you. I think
Speaker 1: that's something like it needs to exist. That's what I think.
Speaker 1: Just personally, I don't know, but I'm really interested in
Speaker 1: hearing the opinion of people who think that it shouldn't
Speaker 1: or that something different should exist. What would that be?
Speaker 1: And um, tell us tell us what things are like
Speaker 1: in your neck of the woods, especially if you live
Speaker 1: in a different country. Do you have something like the
Speaker 1: e p A. What do you think of them? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Do you have any run ins with let's say, stuff
Speaker 1: that's in your well water? Uh? If you live out
Speaker 1: in the Northwest or something the Midwest? I wanna Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear stories of just dealing with even
Speaker 1: like things like fishing advisories. Oh yeah, absolutely. So. You
Speaker 1: can find us in various corners of the Internet. As
Speaker 1: we always say, we're on Facebook and Twitter. Where are
Speaker 1: we at on that you can find us? We are
Speaker 1: conspiracy stuff on those We like using those. Yes, but uh,
Speaker 1: there are two places, two ways to hang out with
Speaker 1: us that I think are most profitable into like terms
Speaker 1: of time. Yes, okay. The first one is to go
Speaker 1: to stuff Don't want you to know dot com because
Speaker 1: you can find this that we're doing right now. It
Speaker 1: exists there every version of our audio podcast, every episode,
Speaker 1: all the videos, all the pictures of Ben and Matt
Speaker 1: hanging out around pylons, So Noel will be hanging around
Speaker 1: a pylon to picture. Can I lean on it? Oh? Yes,
Speaker 1: you can kneel. You do all with them more leaning? Okay, well, Neil,
Speaker 1: I like I like it when there are levels. What
Speaker 1: do people do people do if they don't like websites?
Speaker 1: What if they just want to send us a direct message?
Speaker 1: I I honestly don't know what. What do you do? Well?
Speaker 1: I suppose you could send an email to conspiracy stuff works.
Speaker 1: You're right from on this topic, another unexplained phenomenon. Visit
Speaker 1: YouTube dot com slash conspiracy stuff. You can also get
Speaker 1: in touch on Twitter at the handle at conspiracy stuff
Speaker 1: and it be