Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Leaked memo reveals Trump’s plan to smash the EPA

Leaked memo reveals Trump’s plan to smash the EPA

"A leaked copy of the Trump team’s plan for the EPA calls for slashing its budget, “terminating climate programs,” ending auto fuel-economy standards, and executing “major reforms of the agency’s use of science and economics.” The Trump administration has frozen EPA’s grants and contracts, cutting off funding for everything from cleanup of toxic sites to testing of air quality. EPA employees have been ordered not to share information via social media, press releases, or new website content"

Trump Has Already Become The Worst Environmental President Ever

Scientists Planning March On Washington To Combat Anti-Science Administration

Trump bans government scientists from sharing their work with the taxpayers who funded it

Trump bans government scientists from sharing their work with the taxpayers who funded it

"The president signed executive orders Tuesday that cut off all new contracts and grants for the Environmental Protection Agency — and he also banned the agency’s employees from providing updates on social media or to journalists, the Associated Press reported."

Boycott the Banks: Actor Shailene Woodley Calls for Action Against Funders of Dakota Access Pipeline

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Gov. Rick Perry Would Put Science and Scientists at Risk as Energy Secretary

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2017/01/17/296621/gov-rick-perry-would-put-science-and-scientists-at-risk-as-energy-secretary/
"Scientific integrity ensures that trustworthy information reaches decisionmakers and the public by relying on transparency, peer review and open discussion, the involvement of experts based on their own integrity and experience, and the removal of political influence. The DOE and its National Laboratories depend on and exercise these values to deliver new technologies as flashy as 3-D printed cars and as transformative as wide band-gap semiconductors. More importantly, the department and its laboratories apply their values across collaborative efforts with universities, industries, and other countries to deliver new business opportunities, enhance trade, and meet international goals, such as curbing climate change. The Clean Energy Ministerial, one example of this collaborative work, brings energy departments from more than 24 countries together to tackle common obstacles to technology deployment. Perry has repeatedly failed to meet such standards of integrity when interacting with the scientific community or using scientific information in policymaking."

Friday, January 27, 2017

Bipartisan EPA Alumni Urge Senate to Reject Pruitt's "Troubling" Nomination

Bipartisan EPA Alumni Urge Senate to Reject Pruitt's "Troubling" Nomination

"Pruitt has deep ties to the fossil fuel industry and the rightwing billionaires Charles and David Koch."

Trump’s pick for EPA admits acting on behalf of oil and gas interests as state attorney general

https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-presents-fundamental-conflict-of-interest-between-epa-and-oil-companies-cf83f394fdc5#.bnmnexap6
"Pruitt has been criticized for using his position as a spokesperson for oil and gas interests. In 2014, he wrote a letter to the EPA on state letterhead that was later found to have been written by Devon Energy."

Trump’s EPA pick stood by while human-caused earthquakes spread across his state

https://thinkprogress.org/pruitt-earthquakes-dbaacffdaec1#.6nzw03piw
"In 2010, the year Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt (R) was elected, the state experienced 43 earthquakes. In 2016, the year Pruitt was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump to run the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oklahoma registered 518 earthquakes. Sixteen of them were magnitude 4.0 or greater, including the state’s biggest ever, a 5.8 quake that rattled houses from their foundations. There is no question these earthquakes are caused by wastewater injections from oil and gas operations. Over the past decade, the state’s biggest industry has transitioned to hydraulic fracturing technology, which uses massive amounts of chemical and sand-laced water, injected at high pressure into the ground. The industry boomed — but it also was left with significant amounts of unusable water. The cheapest, easiest disposal method is to simply inject the water back into the ground. As state attorney general, Pruitt is responsible for advising and defending state agencies on legal issues. He is also responsible for protecting Oklahoma citizens. But under his watch, earthquakes grew exponentially, in both size and frequency. Oklahoma’s ground literally can’t take the wastewater. The pressure is chipping away at the state’s fault line. And some legal experts say Pruitt could be on the hook for a potentially devastating earthquake."

Friday, January 20, 2017

The Many Times Scott Pruitt Chose Polluters over Children’s Health

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2017/01/17/296643/the-many-times-scott-pruitt-chose-polluters-over-childrens-health/
"During his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump railed against so-called pay-to-play politics and started a rallying cry to “drain the swamp” in Washington. Despite this strong rhetoric, journalists and politicians have noted that Trump’s cabinet nominees actually epitomize a system rigged to benefit large corporations at the expense of the public good. His nominee for administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA—Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt—is no exception. During his career, Pruitt has demonstrated that, given a choice, he will side with large, polluting corporations over the environment and public health, including the health of children. Every time."

Donald Trump’s Plan for Our Water is Just as Bad as You’d Imagine

Donald Trump’s Plan for Our Water is Just as Bad as You’d Imagine

"Trump’s plan for repairing our nation’s water systems would be an absolute disaster for just about everyone—except of course, water corporations and Wall Street investors. In fact, some of the same players that brought down our nation’s housing market are poised to repeat the same mistakes—but this time, with our water. Donald Trump is a business tycoon, not a policy expert. It’s therefore disturbing (though not terribly shocking) that his policy proposals favor Wall Street and private interests. Trump's infrastructure plan was crafted by his Commerce Secretary nominee Wilbur Ross, a billionaire who built his fortune helping companies lay off employees, and Peter Navarro, a conservative professor of business at the University of California Irvine."

Scott Pruitt: Trump's Pick for EPA

http://prwatch.org/news/2017/01/13201/scott-pruitt-trump-nominee-epa
"Pruitt was the focus in a Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times investigative series published in 2014, which examined how numerous Republican attorneys general, including Pruitt, had formed secret alliances with energy corporations."

500+ Groups Urge Senators: 'Use All Your Power' to Block Anti-Environment Pruitt

500+ Groups Urge Senators: 'Use All Your Power' to Block Anti-Environment Pruitt

"More than 500 national, state, and local organizations on Tuesday announced their opposition to Donald Trump's fossil-fuel soaked nominee to run the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt."

Endangered Species Act is now an endangered species as Republicans plan its extinction

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/1/17/1621533/-Endangered-Species-Act-is-now-an-endangered-species-as-Republicans-plan-its-extinction
"Congress reconvened last week with two critics of the law holding key Senate leadership positions — Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso as the incoming chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski as chairwoman of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Pair those two with Scott Pruitt heading up the EPA, and the only species that won’t be endangered is the Republican lobbyist."

Rex Tillerson Denies Oil & Gas Subsidies Exist, While Company Profits From Them

Rex Tillerson Denies Oil & Gas Subsidies Exist, While Company Profits From Them

"Rex Tillerson on Wednesday, under oath, denied the existence of fossil fuel subsidies. This is dangerously incorrect. In fact, the Oil & Gas Industry receives more than $17 Billion in Subsidies per year, and according to our new analysis ExxonMobil likely gets as much as $1 billion of that. Former ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson, testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations committee and may be about to head the State Department – and it’s not looking good for the climate. Under Tillerson and his predecessors, Exxon knew that climate change was happening yet spun a massive disinformation campaign to sow doubt about climate science, and spent hundreds of millions buying influence in Washington to block progress on climate pollution. Today Tillerson was at it again, testifying that the science on climate change, and the impact it might have on the world and our country, is still fuzzy. But he also upheld another proud oil and gas industry tradition: denying that the oil and gas industry receives subsidies. There’s a pattern here. Whenever the oil industry faces a problem that truly threatens their business model, they deny it exists."

Bracing for Trump's Anti-Science Agenda, DOE Announces 'Scientific Integrity Policy'

Bracing for Trump's Anti-Science Agenda, DOE Announces 'Scientific Integrity Policy'

"As President-elect Donald Trump's anti-science administration prepares to swoop into Washington, D.C., outgoing Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz on Wednesday announced a new "scientific integrity policy" meant to protect workers and policies that may be at risk."

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Trump’s EPA Pick “Hasn’t Looked At” The Dangers Of Lead In Water

Sanders Skewers Perry for Whitewashing Climate Crisis

Sanders Skewers Perry for Whitewashing Climate Crisis

"During his confirmation hearing on Thursday, former Texas Governor Rick Perry was able to laugh off having once called for abolishing the Department of Energy, which he is now poised to lead, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) refused to let him get away "sounding like a hung over frat boy," as one observer put it, when speaking about the crisis of climate change."

Kerry Issues Dire Climate Change Warning

The Most Dangerous Bill You've Never Heard of Just Passed the House

The Most Dangerous Bill You've Never Heard of Just Passed the House:

"Last, week, under the cover of a media bliss-out except among Koch funded right-wing channels, the House of Representatives passed a bill which would effectively repeal future standard setting under every important environmental, public health, consumer protection, labor standards, occupational safety and civil rights law on the books."

Climate Denier Scott Pruitt Faces Protests at Senate Hearing as 2016 Is Declared Hottest Year Ever

Trump Picks Agribusiness & Chemical Industry Darling Sonny Perdue as Secretary of Agriculture

Why Oil Is the Glue That Bonds Trump and Putin @alternet

Why Oil Is the Glue That Bonds Trump and Putin @alternet:

"They include the U.S. corporate giant, ExxonMobil, and Russia’s mega-methane firm, Gazprom. Almost everyone, except for much of the media, acknowledges that Russia behaves like a classic petro state. Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, once described the Russian Federation as “an oil and gas company masquerading as a country.” Putin’s government, for example, gets half its revenue from oil and gas sales to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Oil accounts for almost 60 per cent of Russia’s exports and a third of its capital investments. The global 2014 oil price crash severely undermined the country’s economy and lowered living standards for ordinary Russians. As a consequence Putin’s oil locomotive is now stagnating and needs foreign investment and higher oil prices. Unlike most Canadian politicians, Putin has studied the politics of oil. He can even talk about theDutch disease and other resource curses. As a young intelligence officer he watched a global oil price collapse in the early 1990s unhinge the Soviet Union and does not want to see that experience repeated. Beginning more than a decade ago, Putin removed the country’s most powerful oligarchs from Russia’s oil and gas companies and nationalized the industry to consolidate his power. He then let in a few western players such as ExxonMobil to help revitalize Russia’s oil patch."

How Exxon Won the 2016 Election

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2017/01/10/296277/how-exxon-won-the-2016-election/
"At no time in recent U.S. history has one company been at the brink of attaining so much power and influence over U.S. policy, both domestic and foreign. If the Senate confirms most or all of the five Cabinet nominees whose backgrounds and positions would most benefit Exxon, the company will have acquired substantial direct and indirect control over the regulatory, law enforcement, lawmaking, and diplomatic powers of the American government. Although the company’s change in fortunes and access to power will undoubtedly boost its bottom line, Exxon’s public policy agenda will come at extraordinary cost to public health, the environment, and taxpayers."

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Did Putin help elect Trump to restore $500 billion Exxon oil deal killed by sanctions

https://thinkprogress.org/putin-helped-trump-exxon-oil-deal-sanctions-6f169c4a4cd0#.ohl4vn3mu
"it appears our democracy and our children have a new axis to worry about: Putin, Trump, and ExxonMobil, whose CEO Rex Tillerson — an extreme Russophile and long-time director of a US-Russian oil company — is Trump’s puzzling choice for Secretary of State. I say “puzzling” because the long-serving Exxon employee (from age 23!) has no qualifications to be secretary of state — other than a history negotiating major oil deals with countries like Putin’s Russia, which in any sane world would actually disqualify him or at least force a recusal from all State Department dealings with Russia. But that puzzle disappears if we follow the famous dictum from the Watergate era for uncovering a tangled web of covert campaign acts: “Follow the money"."

Trump to cede millions of high-wage jobs to China

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-to-abandon-millions-of-high-wage-jobs-to-china-3554a04796b1#.31nm4uq98
"China is preparing to go big on the only major new source of sustainable high-wage employment in the coming decades. Beijing’s newest 5-year energy development plan invests a stunning 2.5 trillion yuan ($360 billion) in renewable generation by 2020. Of that, $144 billion will go to solar, about $100 billion to wind, $70 billion to hydropower, and the rest to sources like tidal and geothermal power."

Monday, January 9, 2017

#DayAgainstDenial Calls on Senate to Reject Trump's Anti-Science Cabinet

#DayAgainstDenial Calls on Senate to Reject Trump's Anti-Science Cabinet
"More than 70 rallies and other events are slated to take place at lawmakers' offices around the country on Monday."

Republicans Planning Historic Sell-Off Of Federal Lands

New Resource Exposes 'Corporate Chieftains' Filling Trump Cabinet

New Resource Exposes 'Corporate Chieftains' Filling Trump Cabinet
"For those who want to keep tabs on the corporate influences President-elect Donald Trump's uber-wealthy and "horrifying" cabinet picks will be bringing with them, advocacy organization Public Citizen just unveiled a new resource. Trump, whose own conflicts of interest continue to mount, "ran against corruption, cronyism, and insider dealmaking," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, on Friday. Yet, he "is handing control of the government over to corporate chieftains." The new site, CorporateCabinet.org, so far profiles 14 picks including Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State, Steven Mnuchin for Treasury Secretary, Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary, and well as Vice President-elect Mike Pence. It is slated to be updated as further top officials become known."

House Republicans Move Forward With Plan To Destroy Life-Saving Regulations

Friday, January 6, 2017

How You Can Automatically Fact-Check Donald Trump's Lies @alternet

How You Can Automatically Fact-Check Donald Trump's Lies @alternet:
"Since his tiny hands first signed up for the site, President-elect Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been spewing misleading, flat-out inaccurate rants with no end in sight. Before the election, he was slinging racist and plain false statistics about African-American crime rates and his imaginary opposition to the Iraq War; after the election, his so-called “landslide” electoral victory. The bottomline, in case you’re brand-f*cking-new to the internet: Trump tells a lot of lies on Twitter. Seeing through the lies is pretty easy, but with dishonest tweet after dishonest tweet, the laborious task of fact-checking the madman sure adds up, so treat yourself to this delightful new Chrome extension that fact-checks Trump’s tweets for you."

Scientists Scramble to Protect Decades of Climate Research Before Trump Takes Office

There is no reason to ever build another coal plant in the United States

https://thinkprogress.org/renewable-cheaper-than-coal-589e43113faf#.9lwxa1m4k
"For the second year in a row, wind and solar accounted for roughly two-thirds of new U.S. generating capacity, while natural gas and nuclear made up most of the rest. That’s because right now, in much of the United States, wind and solar are the cheapest form of power available, according to a new report from investment bank Lazard. Analysts found that new solar or wind installations are cheaper than a new coal-fired power installation just about everywhere — even without subsidies — while the cost of renewables continues to fall rapidly."

New rule protecting waterways from coal mining will be early target of Trump administration

https://thinkprogress.org/interior-department-finalizes-rule-to-protect-streams-from-coal-mining-pollution-1d159d079fc9#.sqbu8vrb7
"The rule would protect thousands of miles of streams, and Trump has vowed to undo it."

It's Always About The Oil: Rex Tillerson Edition | Crooks and Liars

It's Always About The Oil: Rex Tillerson Edition | Crooks and Liars
"It would be a mistake to ignore what Trump is trying to do here. When we speak of a coup, we're really talking about how oil billionaires banded together to put a man in office who would let them have their way with energy and foreign policy."