At a time when the EPA is rushing to place new regulations on the one thing that is still cheap and increasingly environmentally effective in America, energy, it may seem strange to laud the EPA. But career scientists do solid work there. I made that point in a comment about Rachel Carson and “Silent Spring” recently. While the book was not very solid scientifically it was certainly effective culturally. Every environmental group uses it as a template for outreach now – everyone in that business is hoping they write something that will get a Joni Mitchell song written about their work. Rachel Carson and the resulting outcry over DDT, I noted, got us the EPA, but not in the way activists think (to protect people from evil chemical companies) but rather to protect science from being determined by anecdotes and Congressional grandstanding – as happened with DDT. Read more.