The new local head of the EPA is a nightmare

Meet Cathy Stepp, the new head of the local Environmental Protection Agency’s regional office. She’s now in charge of overseeing 450 employees in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. 

As the Star noted yesterday in a useful editorial, there are many reasons to believe Stepp will be terrible at her job. Stepp is a former homebuilder who got herself elected in the early 2000s to the Wisconsin State Senate, where she frequently complained about the state’s Department of Natural Resources stunting the growth of businesses like her own. In 2010, Koch stooge Scott Walker was elected governor of Wisconsin, and he tapped Stepp to run the DNR.

What followed was what you might imagine would follow in a state run by people who believe that free, unregulated markets are the solution to the inherently governmental issue of protecting the environment. Stepp’s tenure of environmental failures (she served from 2011 until last week) is succinctly summarized in this Wisconsin State Journal story. Some lowlights:

*Fines for environmental regulations hit a 30-year low in 2015.

*Last year, the DNR scrubbed from its website language stating that humans and greenhouse gases are the main cause of climate change, saying now that the subject is a matter of scientific debate.

*“Under Stepp, the DNR suffered the dissolution of its once-vaunted science and research bureau and employed fewer wildlife and fisheries biologists.”

*“Stepp has reduced the DNR presence at the state fair, has clamped down on the ability of DNR employees to speak to the news media and testify at legislative hearings, saying that it was up to the Legislature to establish policy.”

This month, Stepp will bring her pro-business, not-really-that-interested-in-protecting-the-environment expertise to Lenexa, where the EPA’s regional headquarters is located. (The position is a Trump appointment and did not require Senate confirmation.) Lenexa is a ways from Wisconsin, but it’s also just a few hours’ drive from Branson, where Stepp has a home. 

As for people who are concerned about fracking earthquakes in Kansas or oil leaks on Kansas City’s East Side: this is almost certainly bad news on top of bad news. 

If you work at the local EPA office and are observing weird ideas and bad decisions, we’d like to hear from you. Submit confidential tips by email to david.hudnall@pitch.com or by phone at 816-218-6778.