Award-winning journalist John Stossel is devoting his program tonight on the Fox Business Network (FBN) to slaying what he calls the “Green Monster”: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The episode prominently features Heartland Institute Science Director Jay Lehr, author of a recent Policy Study titled “Replacing the EPA.” (It’s available for free at the link.) [Full disclosure: I edited the study.]

In his study, Lehr, who was one of the key figures who originated the EPA during the early 1970s, argues that the agency has outgrown its usefulness: the nation’s air, water, and land are far cleaner than when the agency was created, and in fact are as clean as it is humanly possible to make them without erasing humanity’s imprint altogether (the latter being the real, unattainable goal of the most radical environmental activists).

Lehr notes that few states had serious environmental protection agencies when the national EPA was formed, but they all do now and are fully capable of handling any and all problems with the environment. Hence today the EPA’s activities are both redundant and politically biased toward excessive action. Its responsibilities should be handed over to the states, which are both closer to the problems and more immediately responsible to their electorates, Lehr concludes.

Lehr’s idea to replace the EPA with a “Committee of the Whole of the 50 state environmental protection agencies” is reportedly going to be addressed in the last 15 minutes of what promises to be a provocative and informative program.

Tune in tonight at 9:00 EDT or program your DVR. You don’t want to miss this high-profile examination of an idea that may be coming to Congress soon.