Alaska AG warns of danger of reusable shopping bags; says EPA fails to recognize the enormous value of plastic bags

The latest Republican chain letter signed by Alaska Attorney General Tregarrick Taylor takes aim at a federal proposal to limit plastic pollution, claiming, among other things, that the EPA is blind to the immense benefits of plastic bags.

The GOP generals say that “reusable shopping bags are rife with harmful bacteria” and their use leads to more “emergency room visits and deaths.” Deaths are worse than litter, they said, quoting scientists.

Taylor, who recently blossomed as a champion of AM radio, now opines as a defender of the beleaguered plastic bag, and complains that the Biden administration plan to eliminate plastic waste is really a plan to eliminate plastic.

No doubt Taylor will claim he never said reusable shopping bags lead to more deaths. But the first rule of being attorney general is to pay attention to what you sign.

This is a link to the draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution, the document that Taylor, acting as if he represents Alaskans, wants withdrawn.

“EPA also fails to acknowledge the economic, employment and taxation benefits of the plastics industry, which directly benefit communities in which the industry is located,” Taylor and 15 fellow GOP generals complained in their July 31 letter.

Taylor’s state-funded publicity team, which promotes his every move, has yet to post his paean to plastic on the state website.

The generals say Congress never intended for EPA to be “Philosopher-King, dispensing Solomonic judgements from on high.”

Leave the Solomonic judgements to the generals.

They are clearly Mensa material because they drop in some helpful Latin, “Expressio unius est exclusio alterius,” and say things like, “the cost-benefit analysis vis-a-vis plastics can be complex and non-intuitive. . .”

Pompous the GOP generals may be, but they are not afraid of an old pop culture reference. They say that EPA administrator Michael Regan was acting out an old Mort Sahl routine when he said that “‘underserved and overburdened communities (are) hit hardest’ by plastic pollution.”

I’m guessing that Gen. Taylor never heard of Mort Sahl before the state signature machine stamped his name on the letter, but the generals say in a footnote that this Chicago Tribune account from 1986 justifies their reference to the great social satirist.

Here is the full quote from the EPA press release that Taylor and his fellow comedians found offensive:

“Plastic pollution negatively impacts our environment and public health with underserved and overburdened communities hit hardest,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “As a global leader in the efforts to address these challenges and pave the way for the future, we must combat plastic pollution from every angle and prevent it at every step of the plastic lifecycle. As we take comment on EPA’s draft national strategy, the agency will continue this work to protect people and the planet, ensuring the benefits reach our most vulnerable communities.”

The GOP generals missed a bet when they didn’t mention “The Graduate,” and the one word of secret advice given to Dustin Hoffman’s character about the great future opportunity awaiting him. “Plastics,” he was told by a man of business.

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