Fox News host apparently believes EPA created to do nothing

A host for the Fox News channel, either out of ignorance or agenda, claimed Tuesday that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was breaking its custom by issuing updated regulations for auto-makers.

During the broadcast, Fox News host Martha MacCallum bizarrely claimed that it was "not customary" for the EPA to take such actions, when in fact, that's what the EPA has done since its inception.

Strangely enough, her guest, a longtime politician, seemed to agree and even built upon the false rhetorical assault on the Obama administration's environmental policies.

Earlier that day, the president had used a Wall Street Journal op-ed to announce a new business-friendly executive order that aimed to "make sure we avoid excessive, inconsistent, and redundant regulation."

"The business community in many ways has felt that President Obama has not been on their side," MacCallum told her guest, former New York Governor George Pataki (R). "Is this an outreach on his part to this group?"

"I think it is," Pataki replied. "I think he understands that they got clobbered in the November elections in part because they were treating business as secondary citizens at a time we need to create jobs."

"So, you know, the ideas in [Obama's op-ed] -- it talks about redundancies and federal regulations. I mean, you know, if you have something happen at your business in this country you're going to be visited by a whole bunch of agencies with forms this big to fill out," MacCallum noted. "It's extremely onerous and takes up a lot of time and energy."

"But the problem here is that we have wonderful words from the president saying the right thing, but, at the same time, you have the EPA trying to regulate carbon and enact cap and trade through regulations at a time when Congress is saying, no, we don't want this. So what we need to see is not just the words; we need to see action," Pataki added.

"That's such a good point 'cause that's an area -- just to bring up one specific that is not mentioned in the president's editorial -- it is not customary for the EPA to tell, you know, car companies how to run their business, which is what we're seeing here, right?" MacCallum said.

"And it's not just car companies it's every business in America," Pataki agreed.

Liberal watchdog group Media Matters, who first noticed MacCallum's remarks, observed that the EPA had been regulating car companies since the Clean Air Act was passed in 1970.

"Starting in the early 1970's, EPA has set national standards that have considerably reduced emissions of [carbon monoxide] CO and other pollutants from motor vehicles, including tailpipe emissions, new vehicle technologies, and clean fuels programs," according to the agency's website.

In 1990, the Clean Air Act was amended to establish "tighter pollution standards for emissions from automobiles and trucks."

This video is from Fox News' America's Newsroom, broadcast Jan. 18, 2010.