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By: Elias J. Atienza

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky) is joining efforts to end the Environmental Protection Agency by cosponsoring Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla) legislation.

The Courier-Journal reports that Massie was first identified by the Pensacola News Journal when it reported on Gaetz’s bill as one of the cosponsors.

“The Constitution reserves lawmaking authority for the legislative branch, not unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch,” Massie said in a statement on Friday. “The EPA makes rules that undermine the voice of the American people and threaten jobs in Kentucky.”

Massie’s position is echoed by the Governor of Kentucky, Matt Bevin, who said in November that he wanted President Donald Trump to gut the EPA.

“Nothing would make me happier than to see his administration say, ‘You know what? We’re going to gut the EPA.’ The EPA is not needed at the federal level … There’s not one state in America that wants dirty water and dirty air for its people,” Bevin told WVHU in West Virginia. “Not one. We’ve got the ability to implement, we’re already the ones that enforce all the action at the state level. Let us continue to do what we are doing and what we can do well without the interference, without the un-elected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., passing down edicts …”

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky) has not said he wanted to end the EPA, but wants to lessen their involvement. He wrote an op-ed in The Hill last year blasting the EPA, claiming they were violating private property rights.

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