By Brady Dennis:
Scott Pruitt woke up Friday morning as Oklahoma’s attorney general, a post he had used for six years to repeatedly sue the Environmental Protection Agency for its efforts to regulate mercury, smog and other forms of pollution. By day’s end, he had been sworn in as the agency’s new leader, setting off a struggle over what the EPA will become in the Trump era.
Pruitt begins what is likely to be a controversial tenure with a clear set of goals. He has been outspoken in his view, widely shared by Republicans, that the EPA zealously overstepped its legal authority under President Barack Obama, saddling the fossil-fuel industry with unnecessary and onerous regulations.
* * *
“Scott Pruitt as administrator of the EPA likely means a full-scale assault on the protections that Americans have enjoyed for clean air, clean water and a healthy climate,” Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in an interview. “For environmental groups, it means we’re in for the fight of our lives for the next four years.”
The Full Story (February 17, 2017)
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label environment. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Monday, May 15, 2017
Washington Post: Trump Undertakes Most Ambitious Regulatory Rollback Since Reagan
By Juliet Eilperin:
After just a few weeks in office, the new administration is targeting dozens of Obama-era policies, using both legislative and executive tactics. The fallout is already rippling across the federal bureaucracy and throughout the U.S. economy, affecting how dentists dispose of mercury fillings, how schools meet the needs of poor and disabled students, and whether companies reject mineral purchases that fuel one of the world’s bloodiest conflicts.
The campaign has alarmed labor unions, public safety advocates and environmental activists, who fear losing regulations that have been in place for years, along with relatively new federal mandates. Business groups, however, are thrilled, saying Trump is responding to long-standing complaints that a profusion of federal regulations unnecessarily increases costs and hampers their ability to create jobs.
* * *
Incoming agency officials are also signaling significant shifts in the way some industries are regulated. In November, the EPA sent out a lengthy request to nearly 20,000 oil and gas companies, asking them to gauge their emissions of methane within 60 or 180 days, depending on their facilities. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas linked to climate change.
Matthew Hite, who represents gas processors as vice president for government affairs at the GPA Midstream Association, called the request “unnecessary and duplicative” and estimated that complying would cost each processor nearly $3 million.
Since Trump took office, EPA officials have been granting companies that ask for it a 90-day extension. Several oil and gas officials said they expect the methane survey to be scaled back significantly or abandoned altogether.
Meanwhile, Michael S. Piwowar, the acting chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said he has instructed staff to determine whether it is “still appropriate” to require manufacturers to certify that they do not use minerals from conflict-ridden areas such as Congo, where armed groups accused of massive human rights violations profit from their trade.
Some major U.S. firms, including Intel and Tiffany & Co., have embraced the policy, but others have said complying with the disclosure rule is costly and complicated.
The Full Story (February 12, 2017)
After just a few weeks in office, the new administration is targeting dozens of Obama-era policies, using both legislative and executive tactics. The fallout is already rippling across the federal bureaucracy and throughout the U.S. economy, affecting how dentists dispose of mercury fillings, how schools meet the needs of poor and disabled students, and whether companies reject mineral purchases that fuel one of the world’s bloodiest conflicts.
The campaign has alarmed labor unions, public safety advocates and environmental activists, who fear losing regulations that have been in place for years, along with relatively new federal mandates. Business groups, however, are thrilled, saying Trump is responding to long-standing complaints that a profusion of federal regulations unnecessarily increases costs and hampers their ability to create jobs.
* * *
Incoming agency officials are also signaling significant shifts in the way some industries are regulated. In November, the EPA sent out a lengthy request to nearly 20,000 oil and gas companies, asking them to gauge their emissions of methane within 60 or 180 days, depending on their facilities. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas linked to climate change.
Matthew Hite, who represents gas processors as vice president for government affairs at the GPA Midstream Association, called the request “unnecessary and duplicative” and estimated that complying would cost each processor nearly $3 million.
Since Trump took office, EPA officials have been granting companies that ask for it a 90-day extension. Several oil and gas officials said they expect the methane survey to be scaled back significantly or abandoned altogether.
Meanwhile, Michael S. Piwowar, the acting chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said he has instructed staff to determine whether it is “still appropriate” to require manufacturers to certify that they do not use minerals from conflict-ridden areas such as Congo, where armed groups accused of massive human rights violations profit from their trade.
Some major U.S. firms, including Intel and Tiffany & Co., have embraced the policy, but others have said complying with the disclosure rule is costly and complicated.
The Full Story (February 12, 2017)
Monday, April 3, 2017
Reuters: Trump Administration Tells EPA to Cut Climate Page From Website [Say] Sources
By Valerie Volcovici:
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to remove the climate change page from its website, two agency employees told Reuters, the latest move by the newly minted leadership to erase ex-President Barack Obama's climate change initiatives.
The employees were notified by EPA officials on Tuesday that the administration had instructed EPA's communications team to remove the website's climate change page, which contains links to scientific global warming research, as well as detailed data on emissions. The page could go down as early as Wednesday, the sources said.
"If the website goes dark, years of work we have done on climate change will disappear," one of the EPA staffers told Reuters, who added some employees were scrambling to save some of the information housed on the website, or convince the Trump administration to preserve parts of it.
The sources asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
A Trump administration official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The order comes as Trump's administration has moved to curb the flow of information from several government agencies who oversee environmental issues since last week, in actions that appeared designed to tighten control and discourage dissenting views.
The Full Story (January 25, 2017)
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to remove the climate change page from its website, two agency employees told Reuters, the latest move by the newly minted leadership to erase ex-President Barack Obama's climate change initiatives.
The employees were notified by EPA officials on Tuesday that the administration had instructed EPA's communications team to remove the website's climate change page, which contains links to scientific global warming research, as well as detailed data on emissions. The page could go down as early as Wednesday, the sources said.
"If the website goes dark, years of work we have done on climate change will disappear," one of the EPA staffers told Reuters, who added some employees were scrambling to save some of the information housed on the website, or convince the Trump administration to preserve parts of it.
The sources asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
A Trump administration official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The order comes as Trump's administration has moved to curb the flow of information from several government agencies who oversee environmental issues since last week, in actions that appeared designed to tighten control and discourage dissenting views.
The Full Story (January 25, 2017)
Friday, March 31, 2017
Washington Post: Federal Agencies Ordered to Restrict Their Communications
By Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis:
Trump administration officials instructed employees at multiple agencies in recent days to cease communicating with the public through news releases, official social media accounts and correspondence, raising concerns that federal employees will be able to convey only information that supports the new president’s agenda.
The new limits on public communications appear to be targeting agencies that are charged with overseeing environmental and scientific policy, prompting criticism from officials within the agencies and from outside groups focused on climate change.
The Environmental Protection Agency as well as the Agriculture and Interior departments now have formal policies restricting what they should convey to the public about their work.
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Mother Jones: Trump Just Ordered Government Scientists to Hide Facts From the Public
By Tom Philpott:
Throughout Donald Trump's campaign, he and his proxies consistently expressed hostility to government regulation, particularly of the fossil fuel and agriculture industries. Within days of taking over, the Trump administration has already put a squeeze on the two agencies that most directly regulate Big Energy and Big Ag, the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Agriculture.
At the EPA, the administration has ordered that "all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately," ProPublica writers Andrew Revkin and Jesse Eisinger report, quoting an internal EPA email they obtained. Myron Ebell, the climate change denier who led the Trump team's EPA transition and directs the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, confirmed the suspension, Revkin and Eisenger report.
That's potentially a massive blow to the agency's core functions, says Patty Lovera, assistant director of the environmental watchdog group Food & Water Watch. "The EPA's not necessarily out there running a bulldozer to clean up a toxic site," she says. Superfund, an EPA program responsible for cleaning up the nation's most contaminated land, is executed through contracts, she said. The EPA turns to contractors for "tons of water stuff, too"—from monitoring water quality downstream from polluters to helping municipalities update water infrastructure to avoid toxins.
"It's one thing to put a pause on new contracts so they can be reviewed, but to reach back and stop existing ones is a whole other can of worms," Lovera said.
In Flint, Michigan, where lead contamination has led to the nation's most notorious drinking-water catastrophe in years, the announcement brought uncertainty and confusion. "State officials are seeking more information on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency freeze on grants and contracts and what it could mean to $100 million in federal funds already appropriated for the Flint water crisis," the news site MLive.com reported Tuesday. In statement quoted by MLive.com, the press secretary for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder noted that "we haven't received any guidance from the federal government" about the EPA's funding to address the Flint crisis.
Andrew Rosenberg, who directs the Center for Science and Democracy for the Union of Concerned Scientists, adds research to the list. The agency funds crucial environmental science through contracts with outside scientists, and interruptions to their funding can be devastating, he said. He likened the situation to the government shutdown of 2013, which temporarily blocked research funding throughout the federal government, including the EPA.
The Full Story (January 24, 2017)
Throughout Donald Trump's campaign, he and his proxies consistently expressed hostility to government regulation, particularly of the fossil fuel and agriculture industries. Within days of taking over, the Trump administration has already put a squeeze on the two agencies that most directly regulate Big Energy and Big Ag, the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Agriculture.
At the EPA, the administration has ordered that "all contract and grant awards be temporarily suspended, effective immediately," ProPublica writers Andrew Revkin and Jesse Eisinger report, quoting an internal EPA email they obtained. Myron Ebell, the climate change denier who led the Trump team's EPA transition and directs the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, confirmed the suspension, Revkin and Eisenger report.
That's potentially a massive blow to the agency's core functions, says Patty Lovera, assistant director of the environmental watchdog group Food & Water Watch. "The EPA's not necessarily out there running a bulldozer to clean up a toxic site," she says. Superfund, an EPA program responsible for cleaning up the nation's most contaminated land, is executed through contracts, she said. The EPA turns to contractors for "tons of water stuff, too"—from monitoring water quality downstream from polluters to helping municipalities update water infrastructure to avoid toxins.
"It's one thing to put a pause on new contracts so they can be reviewed, but to reach back and stop existing ones is a whole other can of worms," Lovera said.
In Flint, Michigan, where lead contamination has led to the nation's most notorious drinking-water catastrophe in years, the announcement brought uncertainty and confusion. "State officials are seeking more information on a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency freeze on grants and contracts and what it could mean to $100 million in federal funds already appropriated for the Flint water crisis," the news site MLive.com reported Tuesday. In statement quoted by MLive.com, the press secretary for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder noted that "we haven't received any guidance from the federal government" about the EPA's funding to address the Flint crisis.
Andrew Rosenberg, who directs the Center for Science and Democracy for the Union of Concerned Scientists, adds research to the list. The agency funds crucial environmental science through contracts with outside scientists, and interruptions to their funding can be devastating, he said. He likened the situation to the government shutdown of 2013, which temporarily blocked research funding throughout the federal government, including the EPA.
The Full Story (January 24, 2017)
Friday, March 10, 2017
Think Progress: The 4 Biggest Problems With Trump’s Choice to Head the EPA
By Alison Cassady:
1. Pruitt has significant conflicts of interest.
Several Democratic Senators asked Pruitt about his ties to the oil and gas industry.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) asked Pruitt several questions about a letter he sent the EPA in 2011 written almost entirely by Devon Energy. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sharply questioned Pruitt about his fundraising from oil and gas companies and other fossil fuel interests.
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) raised a different concern, one that an independent watchdog has already asked the EPA ethics office to examine. As Attorney General, Pruitt has sued the EPA 14 times to block pollution limits, and several of those cases remain pending. If confirmed as EPA administrator, Pruitt will become the defendant in these suits and also would have authority to modify the rules at issue in the litigation. As Markey said, Pruitt would become “plaintiff, defendant, judge, and jury.” He repeatedly pressed Pruitt to recuse himself in these cases. Pruitt only committed to recusing himself if directed by the EPA ethics office.
1. Pruitt has significant conflicts of interest.
Several Democratic Senators asked Pruitt about his ties to the oil and gas industry.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) asked Pruitt several questions about a letter he sent the EPA in 2011 written almost entirely by Devon Energy. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sharply questioned Pruitt about his fundraising from oil and gas companies and other fossil fuel interests.
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) raised a different concern, one that an independent watchdog has already asked the EPA ethics office to examine. As Attorney General, Pruitt has sued the EPA 14 times to block pollution limits, and several of those cases remain pending. If confirmed as EPA administrator, Pruitt will become the defendant in these suits and also would have authority to modify the rules at issue in the litigation. As Markey said, Pruitt would become “plaintiff, defendant, judge, and jury.” He repeatedly pressed Pruitt to recuse himself in these cases. Pruitt only committed to recusing himself if directed by the EPA ethics office.
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Time: Donald Trump's EPA Pick Imperils Science—And Earth
By Eric Pooley:
The Full Story (January 17, 2017)
As the Senate prepares for Scott Pruitt’s Jan. 18 confirmation hearing, much of the debate over Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency has centered on Pruitt’s doubts about global climate change. And though it would be genuinely appalling to have an EPA Administrator who doesn’t accept basic climate science, the trouble with Pruitt goes deeper. As the Attorney General of Oklahoma, Pruitt has shown he is not only a relentless opponent of EPA standards for climate pollution. He has been a relentless opponent of basic pollution limits as well, the kind that protect us from mercury, smog, arsenic and other deadly air toxics. He questions whether toxic mercury pollution is hazardous to public health. He shut down his office’s Environmental Protection Unit. And now he wants to do for the United States what he did for Oklahoma.
For six years as Attorney General, Pruitt kept very busy doing the bidding of his financial supporters in the oil and gas industry. E&E News reported last month that, after being elected in 2010, he folded his office’s Environmental Protection Unit, which investigated things like water contamination and illegal dumping, and launched a new “Federalism Unit” devoted to filing legal challenges against the EPA—at least 14 of them, 13 of which had industry players as co-parties to the suits and financial contributors to Pruitt's political causes. A Pruitt spokesman says others absorbed the environmental unit’s duties. But its budget was zeroed out by 2014, and one former state environmental official has come forward to say that Pruitt "hasn't really done anything to protect Oklahomans."
Mercury is a deadly neurotoxin that damages the brains of “the developing fetus and young children,” according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is spewed into the air from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources before settling into lakes and waterways and contaminating the fish we eat. But Pruitt’s challenges against the EPA’s mercury standards include a tidy piece of scientific denial, claiming “the record does not support the EPA’s findings that mercury... pose[s] public health hazards.” After that legal challenge failed, Pruitt sued a second time to block the mercury rules—even though virtually all power plants had already complied with them at a fraction of the expected cost.
Thanks in part to the EPA rules Pruitt opposed, mercury levels in Atlantic Bluefin tuna are rapidly declining. But Oklahomans aren’t so lucky. While Pruitt was busy trying to kill national mercury rules, the number of Oklahoma lakes listed for mercury contamination was climbing. This year, the state lists 40 lakes with fish consumption advisories due to mercury levels—up from 19 listed in 2010. Eight lakes were added just this year. Another Attorney General might have been trying to identify the sources of this pollution. But Pruitt was apparently too busy suing the EPA.
Think Progress: China Makes it Clear They Are Ready to Lead on Climate if Donald Trump Won’t
By Natasha Geiling:
Trump, who does not accept the scientific consensus on climate change, has claimed that climate change is a “hoax” created by the Chinese to make the United States less competitive in global markets. He has called the Paris climate agreement “bad for business” and falsely claimed that it allows “foreign bureaucrats control over how much energy we use.” In reality, the Paris agreement is built off of a set of independently decided national contributions, meaning each country is able to decide exactly how it will reduce its carbon emissions. Moreover, proponents of the deal argue that it will spur investment in green energy and create jobs in countries that remain within the agreement.
Unlike Trump, Xi seems to understand the economic potential latent within the Paris agreement. In his speech at Davos, he championed the idea of globalization, calling the global economy “the big ocean you cannot escape from.” Xi also praised innovation, calling on the world to “develop a dynamic, innovation-driven growth model.”
Xi’s remarks come just weeks after China announced that it would be investing $360 billion into clean energy, a move that the Chinese National Energy Administration expects will create 13 million jobs by 2020. In the United States, meanwhile, Trump has promised to cut all federal funding for clean energy research and development.
The Full Story (January 17, 2017)
The Full Story (January 17, 2017)
Friday, January 13, 2017
[Special] Donald Trump, Environmentalist
Washington Post: Energy Dept. Rejects Trump’s Request to Name Climate-Change Workers, Who Remain Worried by Joe Davidson (December 13, 2016)
“The Department of Energy received significant feedback from our workforce throughout the department, including the National Labs, following the release of the transition team’s questions. Some of the questions asked left many in our workforce unsettled,” said Eben Burnham-Snyder, a department spokesman. “Our career workforce, including our contractors and employees at our labs, comprise the backbone of DOE (Department of Energy) and the important work our department does to benefit the American people. We are going to respect the professional and scientific integrity and independence of our employees at our labs and across our department.
Washington Post: Scientists are Frantically Copying U.S. Climate Data, Fearing it Might Vanish Under Trump by Brady Dennis (December 13, 2016)
The efforts include a “guerrilla archiving” event in Toronto, where experts will copy irreplaceable public data, meetings at the University of Pennsylvania focused on how to download as much federal data as possible in the coming weeks, and a collaboration of scientists and database experts who are compiling an online site to harbor scientific information.
Think Progress: Trump Taps Rep. Ryan Zinke for Interior, Adds Another Climate Denier to the Cabinet by Samantha Page (December 13, 2016)
Zinke’s nomination could be great news for big fossil fuel interests. The congressman has made it clear that he favors coal — over U.S. taxpayers. Zinke opposed efforts to reform the federal coal leasing program, which is estimated to cost U.S. taxpayers billions each year, by undervaluing public land. He was also a strong supporter of the successful effort to repeal the oil export ban, a move that is expected to increase U.S. exports while tying the country even more closely to the international oil market.
Washington Post: Trump Taps Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to Head Energy Department He Once Vowed to Abolish by Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson (December 14, 2016)
His nomination — announced officially by Trump’s transition team a day after sources leaked the decision — stirred further alarm from environmental groups and others worried that the Trump administration will roll back efforts to expand renewable energy and give a powerful platform for officials questioning the scientific consensus on climate change.
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Washington Post: Trump Names Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma Attorney General Suing EPA on Climate Change, to Head the EPA
By Chris Mooney, Brady Dennis and Steven Mufson:
The Full Story (December 8, 2016)
President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Scott Pruitt, the attorney general of the oil and gas-intensive state of Oklahoma, to head the Environmental Protection Agency, a move signaling an assault on President Obama’s climate change and environmental legacy.
Pruitt has spent much of his energy as attorney general fighting the very agency he is being nominated to lead.
He is the third of Trump’s nominees who have key philosophical differences with the missions of the agencies they have been tapped to run. Ben Carson, named to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has expressed a deep aversion to the social safety net programs and fair housing initiatives that have been central to that agency’s activities. Betsy DeVos, named education secretary, has a passion for private school vouchers that critics say undercut the public school systems at the core of the government’s mission.
The Full Story (December 8, 2016)
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
[Special] Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State Nominee
Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, has been chosen by President-Elect Donald Trump to be his Secretary of State. Like Trump, Tillerson has no government or military experience. Like most of the people surrounding Trump, including the Trump clan, Tillerson has interesting ties to Russia, although not urine related.
Tillerson's confirmation hearing begins today, January 11, 2017, and you can follow live updates over at Talking Points Memo (via journalist Caitlin MacNeal). To get up to speed on Tillerson, here are some links:
Tillerson's confirmation hearing begins today, January 11, 2017, and you can follow live updates over at Talking Points Memo (via journalist Caitlin MacNeal). To get up to speed on Tillerson, here are some links:
- Washington Post: Trump Expected to Pick Rex Tillerson as His Secretary of State by Steven Mufson and Philip Rucker (December 10, 2016)
- New Yorker: Rex Tillerson, From A Corporate Oil Sovereign to the State Department by Steve Coll (December 11, 2016)
- Washington Post: Rex Tillerson is an Able Executive. But What About His Ties to Russia? by the WaPo Editorial Board (December 12, 2016)
- New York Times: Rex Tillerson, Exxon C.E.O., Chosen as Secretary of State by Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman (December 12, 2016)
- Talking Points Memo: ExxonMobil CEO Has Cozy Relationship With Russia, Complicated Climate Record by Matt Shuman (December 12, 2016)
- Washington Post: Trump Picks ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be Secretary of State by Steven Mufson, Philip Rucker and Karoun Demirjian (December 13, 2016)
- L.A. Times: Rex Tillerson Could be a Good Secretary of State — but not in a Trump Administration by Max Boot (December 15, 2016)
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