Republican Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not one to back down from a fight. She has taken on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a lawsuit over a 2015 revised ozone standard. The EPA requires each state to develop its own implementation plan (SIP) for meeting air quality standards, which includes a “Good Neighbor” requirement that mandates states to prevent emissions from causing other states to fail in meeting air quality goals.
The EPA formally rejected Arkansas’s SIP in recent weeks, claiming it did not adequately protect against emissions from Arkansas causing neighboring regions, such as Dallas/Ft. Worth and Houston, to fail in meeting air quality targets.
Governor Sanders responded strongly to the EPA’s disapproval of her state’s plan, stating that they are threatening “dozens of Arkansas businesses and thousands of Arkansas jobs” with their big government overreach.
During her inaugural address, Sanders promised to push back against federal interference in her state and has now asked Attorney General Griffin to sue the EPA on behalf of Arkansans who may be harmed by these decisions. Sanders hopes that this lawsuit will serve as a warning for future attempts by agencies like the EPA to override state authority without due cause or consideration for local interests and industries.
In addition to taking on the EPA, Governor Sanders has proposed a sweeping education reform plan called “Arkansas LEARNS”. The proposal includes eliminating critical race theory from the classroom, increasing teacher wages, and expanding school choice.
The bill, if passed, would increase the current base salary for teachers in Arkansas from $36,000 to $50,000, ranking Arkansas as the fourth highest base salary for teachers in the nation. The measure also aims to broaden school choice, with the goal of adopting full universal choice for all Arkansas families by the school year 2025-2026, and seeks to eliminate any CRT or “indoctrination” in the curriculum.
Governor Sanders wants to empower parents by giving them educational freedom accounts to allow them to make the best decision about where and how their kids should be educated.
According to Sanders, “no child should be trapped in a failing school just because of their zip code or their parents’ bank account.” She believes that her reform plan represents the biggest overhaul in U.S. education and hopes that it will provide Arkansas families with better opportunities for their children’s education.
Indeed, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not one to back down from a fight and her bold stances on education and environmental protection demonstrate her determination to protect her constituents from what she sees as unwarranted federal meddling in local affairs. Her actions have gained her widespread support from conservative commentators who believe that she is standing up for state sovereignty and individual freedoms.
Sources: AmericanFirstReport, Fox News
A weak case for thing in Arkansas affecting the DFW metroplex since it is around 100 miles away but Houston? Maybe the nimrods at EPA failed basic geography or they are just being typical unelected bureaucrats trying to flex their power.