Saturday, March 25, 2017

‘We will not be a nuclear waste dump’: Vulnerable GOP senator slams Trump’s Nevada nuke waste plan

‘We will not be a nuclear waste dump’: Vulnerable GOP senator slams Trump’s Nevada nuke waste plan

"The Las Vegas Review Journal notes that, while Trump would increase funding to revive the Yucca Mountain facility, his budget would also slash the Office of Science’s $5 billion budget by a whopping $900 million, which would dramatically cut the amount of research that it now funds at more than 300 universities and at 10 national labs."

Defense Secretary Defies Trump, Says Climate Change Is a Real Threat to American Interests

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/15/1643924/-Defense-Secretary-Defies-Trump-Says-Climate-Change-Is-a-Real-Threat-to-American-Interests
"Indeed, the new Pentagon chief is directly disavowing the position of the President. He went on to stress that "this is a real-time issue, not some distant what-if." According to "Mad Dog" Mattis "Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today." This is not a particularly new opinion within the walls of the Pentagon. The military has been crystal clear for years about the very real consequences of a world where water and arable land become scarce, and nations erupt into chaos and war."

Friday, March 24, 2017

Trump’s defense secretary James Mattis says climate change is real — and a national security threat

Trump’s defense secretary James Mattis says climate change is real — and a national security threat

"In unpublished written testimony provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee after his confirmation hearing in January, Mattis said it was incumbent on the U.S. military to consider how changes like open-water routes in the thawing Arctic and drought in global trouble spots can pose challenges for troops and defense planners. He also stressed this is a real-time issue, not some distant what-if."

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Putting Trump’s Budget In Perspective

Putting Trump’s Budget In Perspective:

"Trump Budget by the Numbers: Amount the United States currently spends on the Department of Defense: $587 billion Amount the Pentagon characterized, in an internal report, as wasteful spending on bureaucracy that ought to be eliminated: $125 billion Amount Trump proposes to increase spending on the Department of Defense in FY2018: $54 billion Specific cuts to domestic programs to help pay for the Pentagon increase, a border wall, and school vouchers: Cuts to Department of Agriculture (USDA): $4.7B Includes $200 million in cuts to the Women, Infants and Children nutrition assistance program. Cuts to Department of Commerce: $1.4 billion Includes $250 million in cuts to coastal research programs that help prepare communities to deal with storms and rising seas. Also includes $221 million investments to stimulate local economic growth. Cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency: $2.5 billion Cuts to the Department of Education: $9.2 billion Includes $3.7 billion in cuts to grants for teacher training, after-school programs, and aid programs to low-income students. Cuts to Department of Energy: $1.7 billion Includes $900 million in cuts to research at the nation’s universities and national laboratories. Cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development: $6.2 billion Includes eliminating the entire $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program. Cuts to State Department: $10.9 billion Includes programs focused on climate change and foreign aid. Cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency: $2.5 billion Includes eliminating funding for international climate-change programs. Includes eliminating funding for international climate-change programs. Eliminates National Endowment for the Arts: $148 million Eliminates National Endowment for the Humanities: $148 million Eliminates the Institute of Museum and Library Services: $230 million Eliminates the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which supports public television and public radio: $445 million"

Right-Wing Billionaires Have a Project to Rewrite Our Constitution, and They Are Shockingly Close to Pulling It Off @alternet

Right-Wing Billionaires Have a Project to Rewrite Our Constitution, and They Are Shockingly Close to Pulling It Off @alternet:

"Imagine if the U.S. Constitution barred the EPA and Department of Education from existing. All union protections are dead, there are no more federal workplace safety standards, and even child-labor laws are struck down, along with a national minimum wage. Imagine that the Constitution makes it illegal for the federal government to protect you from big polluters, big banks and even big food and pharma—all are free to rip you off or poison you all they want, and your only remedy is in state courts and legislatures, because the Constitution prevents Congress from doing anything about any of it. The federal government can't even enforce voting or civil rights laws. To add injury to insult, the federal government has to shut down Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, because all of these programs (along with food stamps, housing supports and any programs that help the middle class, the less fortunate or disabled) are “beyond the reach” of what the federal government can do. A few years ago, it would have been a thought experiment; now it's nearly reality. Billionaires and the groups they fund are working to rewrite our Constitution to provide corprations and the rich with more and more protections and benefits, and chop away at anything smelling of “socialism” like Social Security or child labor laws.  The fact is that they're just a few states away from meeting their goal, and have already held dress rehearsals in Washington D.C.—with representatives from all 50 states—for a Constitional Convention that would change America forever."

It Would Be a Lot Easier to Protect Important 'Regulations' from Trump's Onslaught If We Stopped Calling Them That @alternet

It Would Be a Lot Easier to Protect Important 'Regulations' from Trump's Onslaught If We Stopped Calling Them That @alternet:

"The term “regulation” is framed from the viewpoint of corporations and other businesses. From their viewpoint, “regulations” are limitations on their freedom to do whatever they want no matter who it harms. But from the public’s viewpoint, a regulation is a protection against harm done by unscrupulous corporations seeking to maximize profit at the cost of harm to the public."

Gutting EPA’s Budget and Staff Would Endanger the Health of Millions of Americans

http://billmoyers.com/story/gutting-epas-budget-staff-endanger-health-millions-americans/
"The EPA has made remarkable progress cleaning up air and water pollution since its inception in 1970, but there is still more work to do. In 2015 alone, polluters dumped more than 190 million tons of toxic chemicals into waterways nationwide; at least 5,000 community drinking-water systems violated federal lead regulations; and some 116 million Americans lived in counties with harmful levels of ozone or particle pollution, which have been linked to lung cancer, asthma, cardiovascular damage, reproductive problems and premature death."

Trump fuel economy rollback will kill jobs and cost each car buyer $1,650

https://thinkprogress.org/trump-fuel-economy-rollback-would-kill-jobs-and-cost-each-car-buyer-1-650-aa2da0479b7d#.o20cnu1ex
"Trump’s misguided move to appease the ever-myopic U.S. auto industry would undo efficiency gains that will provide consumers $98 billion in total net benefits, primarily from reduced fuel use. Individual car buyers would lose “a net savings of $1,650” (even after accounting for the higher vehicle cost) as the EPA concluded in its final January “Determination on the Appropriateness” of the standards. The savings from the new standards are so significant that the EPA calculates “consumers who finance their vehicle with a 5-year loan would see payback within the first year.” Rolling back the standards would also boost U.S. oil consumption by 1.2 billion gallons and increase U.S. carbon pollution by 540 billion tons over the lifetime of the model-year 2022–2025 cars."

Trump Rolls Back Fuel Efficiency Standards

Congressional Energy and Climate Committees Are Loaded with Ex-Fossil Fuel Lobbyists

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/09/congressional-energy-and-climate-committees-are-loaded-ex-fossil-fuel-lobbyists
"many Republican staff members on key committees are former fossil fuel industry lobbyists, which could help fast-track the industry's legislative agenda in the weeks and months ahead. In total, 15 staffers on the eight main energy and environment congressional committees previously worked as industry lobbyists on behalf of oil, gas, mining, coal, petrochemical, and electric utility interests."

These Programs Keep Toxic Algae out of Drinking Water—And Trump Wants to Gut Them

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/03/trumps-budget-cuts-foul-efforts-save-lake-erie-farms
"On the chopping block: a lab that helps city water officials figure out when a toxic bloom is headed to the parts of Lake Erie where they draw water."

Trump Plans To Slash Federal Funding That Preserves Our Coasts

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/03/-trump-is-gutting-program-that-keeps-our-coasts-safe
"The Trump administration reportedly plans to slash the budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and gut federal funding for NOAA's Sea Grant program. This time, Sea Grant's very existence is at stake."

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Congress has killed an Obama-era rule that gave communities more input on public lands

https://thinkprogress.org/blm-cra-senate-11b9b1288b8c#.geb8901ia
"The Senate voted Tuesday to block a rule that would have given Westerners more say in the use of public lands near their communities."

Office Of Science And Technology Taking Out The Science

Guess Which Word the EPA Just Deleted From Its Science Mission Statement

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/03/epa-science-technology-office-removed-science
"The EPA's Office of Science and Technology has historically been in charge of developing clean water standards for states. Before January 30 of this year, the website said those standards were "science-based," meaning they were based on what peer-reviewed science recommended as safe levels of pollutants for drinking, swimming, or fishing. Since January 30, though, the reference to "science-based" standards has disappeared. Now, the office, instead, says it develops "economically and technologically achievable standards" to address water pollution."

White House copies Exxon press release to praise Exxon because this is our life now

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/3/6/1640825/-White-House-copies-Exxon-press-release-to-praise-Exxon-because-this-is-our-lives-now
"If you think that sounds suspiciously like something Exxon would write itself, guess what? They did. That part was lifted almost word-for-word from Exxon's own corporate press release. Donald Trump's White House runs like a well-oiled machine, and they're not going to spend extra effort coming up with these things themselves when they can outsource the corporate praise to the corporation they're praising. They learned that one from now-EPA head Scott Pruitt!"

6 Ways President Trump Wants to Hamstring the EPA

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/03/trump-epa-budget-cuts
"Cleanup projects, scientific research, and the office responsible for enforcing air quality standards are all reportedly on the chopping block."

At Oil-Friendly States' Behest, Pruitt Cancels EPA Methane Emissions Inquiry

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/03/oil-friendly-states-behest-pruitt-cancels-epa-methane-emissions-inquiry
"Pruitt, who has deep ties to the fossil fuel industry and as Oklahoma attorney general sued the EPA no less than 14 times, swiftly acquiesced. "This appalling decision shows how quickly Pruitt is turning the EPA into an oil industry vending machine," Center for Biological Diversity attorney Vera Pardee said in a statement, according to Scientific American."

You Mean That 'Buy American' Promise Wasn't Honest?

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a53624/what-is-keystone-pipeline-made-of/
"In other words, the president* knew when he delivered his presidentialing speech last Tuesday that he'd already signed a directive that made what he told Congress and the nation a lie."

Fukushima 6 years later: radioactive boars and $188 billion in clean-up costs

https://thinkprogress.org/fukushima-has-radioactive-boars-8a1583b21856#.hrc1b05o7
"Perhaps more shocking is that six years after the meltdowns, Fukushima is still generating and dealing with unimaginable amounts of contaminated waste. Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) is still “pumping water nonstop through the three reactors to cool melted fuel that remains too hot and radioactive to remove,” as the New York Times explained Saturday. That generates some 400 tons of contaminated water each day. With more than 962,000 tons now stored on site, storage space is running out. Some officials have contemplated whether they could dilute the waste and dump it in the ocean. Unsurprisingly, “local fishermen are vehemently opposed.” There are also more than 3,500 shipping containers holding radioactive sludge left over from the initial efforts to decontaminate all that water. On top of that, every day, some 6,000 cleanup workers dispose of their protective hazmat suits and other gear, so far generating nearly 65,000 cubic meters of gear — enough to fill 17 million one-gallon containers. TEPCO plans to burn it all at some point."

Friday, March 10, 2017

Fukushima’s high nuclear reactor radiation a problem for melted fuel

Fukushima’s high nuclear reactor radiation a problem for melted fuel

"During recent investigations conducted using cameras and robots at the site of Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, after six years of the triple meltdown, it has likely identified melted fuel rods for the first time underneath the damaged reactor 2, Japan Times reported. Following a major earthquake on March 11, 2011, a 15-metre tsunami disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident."

Oops Nevermind: Keystone XL Doesn't Have To Buy American | Crooks and Liars

Oops Nevermind: Keystone XL Doesn't Have To Buy American | Crooks and Liars

"The Keystone XL Pipeline will not be subject to President Donald Trump's executive order requiring infrastructure projects to be built with American steel, a White House spokeswoman said today."

Crony Capitalism at Work? Trump Adviser Carl Icahn Strong-Arms Ethanol Lobby to Save His Company Millions

https://theintercept.com/2017/03/02/crony-capitalism-at-work-trump-adviser-carl-icahn-strong-arms-ethanol-lobby-to-save-his-company-millions/
"Icahn also was reportedly involved in vetting Trump’s choice of Scott Pruitt as Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Pruitt would have the ultimate authority to make the new rules Icahn seeks."

Goodbye, Environment – Trump Budget To Cut EPA By 30%

Study Shows Massive Global Permafrost Melt Underway While Trump Mentions Climate Not Once

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/03/01/study-shows-massive-global-permafrost-melt-underway-while-trump-mentions-climate-not
"A new study has discovered that tens of thousands of miles of permafrost in northwest Canada are rapidly melting, adding weight to recent research that shows an accelerating decline in permafrost in Alaska, Siberia, and Scandinavia. The disintegration of permafrost throughout the Arctic Circle portends a massive release of carbon, both into the surrounding environment in the form of sediment and into the atmosphere in the form of CO2. An unprecedented Arctic heat wave is accelerating its decay."

Republicans Take Aim at Public Lands

Republicans Take Aim at Public Lands:

"One reason for the sudden onslaught is that Republicans in Congress are rushing to take advantage of an obscure law, the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to expedite the repeal of any federal regulations by eliminating the possibility of a filibuster. Any agencies whose regulations are repealed using this act are then prohibited from putting forth any “substantially similar” rules in the future. That means no revisions, no going back to the drawing table. Congressional Republicans are in a hurry to wield this power to maximum effect against environmental regulations and other measures passed in the final six months of the Obama Administration. One of the first targets was the Methane and Waste Prevention Rule, which seeks to curb the nearly 3.3 million metric tons of methane released by oil and gas production each year — nearly half emitted from operations on federally managed lands. Methane is an exceptionally potent greenhouse gas, and when released through venting and flaring at drilling sites it’s often accompanied by an assortment of even more toxic chemicals. (In addition, the amount of natural gas “vented” into the atmosphere by operations on federally managed land has been estimated to be worth roughly $330 million at current prices, were these facilities operated more efficiently.) The bill to repeal easily passed the House, with only three Democrats voting in favor, and now waits for the Senate. Another target is the National Park Service’s update to its thirty-seven-year-old regulations on oil and gas drilling operations inside our National Parks."

Congressional Cannabis Caucus Demands Feds Butt Out of Legal Marijuana States @alternet

Congressional Cannabis Caucus Demands Feds Butt Out of Legal Marijuana States @alternet:

"National polls show that 60 percent of Americans support legalizing marijuana, but recent history shows that a majority of public opinion or even a majoity of registered voters at the polls does not mean that the will of the people will be followed by government bureaucrats."

11 Senators Call on Trump Team to Not Mess With Legal Marijuana @alternet

11 Senators Call on Trump Team to Not Mess With Legal Marijuana @alternet:

"Eleven senators asked the Trump administration Thursday to allow states to tax and sell recreational marijuana."

10 LIES You Were Told About Marijuana

Jeff Sessions Is an Alternative Facts Guy When It Comes to Marijuana @alternet

Jeff Sessions Is an Alternative Facts Guy When It Comes to Marijuana @alternet:

"Attorney General Jeff Sessions became the second member of the Trump administration in less than a week to provide “alternative facts” and backward analysis when it comes to marijuana."

China smashes solar energy records, as coal use and CO2 emissions fall once again

https://thinkprogress.org/with-millions-of-jobs-up-for-grabs-china-seizes-clean-tech-leadership-from-u-s-a37154d02d0#.brxochc5n
"We are witnessing a historic passing of the baton of global leadership on technology and climate from the United States to China. The new U.S. administration has said it will abandon climate action, gut clean energy funding, and embrace coal and oil — the dirty energy sources of the past that experts say can’t create a large number of sustainable new jobs. At the same time, China is slashing coal use and betting heavily on clean energy, which is clearly going to be the biggest new source of permanent high-wage jobs in the coming years."

Trump's War On Clean Air And Water

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Shell Knew, Too: Investigation Reveals Big Oil Co.'s Decades-Long Climate Lies

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/02/28/shell-knew-too-investigation-reveals-big-oil-cos-decades-long-climate-lies
"Oil giant Shell also knew of the dangers of climate change decades ago, while it continued to lobby against climate legislation and push for fossil fuel development, a joint investigation by the Guardian and the Dutch newspaper The Correspondent revealed Tuesday."

House Passes NRA-Backed Bill Legalizing the Killing of Bear Cubs in Wildlife Refuges

House Passes NRA-Backed Bill Legalizing the Killing of Bear Cubs in Wildlife Refuges:

"Environmental and animal rights groups have strongly condemned the bill. "Killing hibernating bears, shooting wolf pups in their dens, and chasing down grizzlies by aircraft and then shooting them on the ground is not the stuff of some depraved video game," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society. "It is exactly what Don Young is trying to restore on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska. No decent person should support this appalling, despicable treatment of wildlife"."

How Congress Could Allow More Toxic Pesticides Into America's Waterways @alternet

How Congress Could Allow More Toxic Pesticides Into America's Waterways @alternet:

"Nearly 2,000 U.S. waterways are already impaired by pesticide contamination. A new bill would make it even worse."

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Fukushima cleanup company baffled by robot-killing radiation

Fukushima cleanup company baffled by robot-killing radiation

"The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) has hit a new obstacle since being tasked with cleaning up the worst nuclear incident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Soviet Union. The exploratory robot, specially designed to navigate the underwater sections of the reactor, died last month after being exposed to "unimaginable" levels of radiation nearly nine times more potent than the previous highest dose recorded."

White House Planning DEEP Cuts To EPA

Another Trump Con – Keystone Pipeline Exempt From “Buy American” Order

Trump Lied About US Steel For Pipeline, Everything

Friday, March 3, 2017

Trump’s address to Congress was riddled with falsehoods about the energy industry

https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-address-to-congress-was-riddled-with-falsehoods-about-the-energy-industry-47d9b93d4b8d#.khy6v1ypl
"During his first joint address to Congress as president, Donald Trump did not linger on energy or the environment, but offered up falsehoods about the coal industry and tar sands oil pipelines. He also completely ignored the clean energy industry."

Congressman who wants to kill the EPA gets blasted at his town hall

https://thinkprogress.org/rep-who-wants-to-kill-epa-gets-blasted-79e95fe6cfa0#.1uxihxp4p
"Turns out, people really like clean air and water."

Trump Is Making Water Great Again, Signs Executive Order To Roll Back Clean Water Protections

Days After Pruitt Becomes EPA Head, Newly Released Emails Show His Ties to Koch Bros. & Energy Firms

What We Learned From Scott Pruitt's Emails to the Fossil Fuel Industry

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/39587-what-we-learned-from-scott-pruitt-s-emails-to-the-fossil-fuel-industry
"The emails verify that Pruitt worked hand in hand with the industry his state was supposed to regulate. In 2013, a coal lobbyist suggested Pruitt's office "cut and paste" talking points from an industry white paper when encouraging other states to file comments opposing new EPA air pollution requirements for states. The lobbyist, Rod Hastie, even met with Pruitt personally to discuss a white paper covering Pruitt's work on energy issues. Pruitt's office also discussed regulations with Devon Energy, major oil and gas producer, as well as various industry attorneys and lobbyists."

Email Dump Reveals EPA Chief Pruitt's Cozy Ties With Fossil Fuels Industry

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/02/22/email-dump-reveals-epa-chief-pruitts-cozy-ties-fossil-fuels-industry
"Thousands of pages of emails between newly confirmed EPA administrator Scott Pruitt and fossil fuel companies during his time as Oklahoma attorney general—released per court order on Tuesday night—confirm "a close and friendly relationship" between the man now charged with protecting the U.S. environment and entities seeking to hamper those efforts. The Oklahoma Attorney General's office on Tuesday released a batch of more than 7,500 pages of emails and other records, after a judge last week found Pruitt in violation of the state's Open Records Act for improperly withholding public records requested by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). The group made the documents public on Wednesday.  They show that Pruitt—who sued the EPA more than a dozen times as attorney general—"closely coordinated with major oil and gas producers, electric utilities, and political groups with ties to the libertarian billionaire brothers Charles G. and David H. Koch to roll back environmental regulations," according to the New York Times."

These Documents Are Damning, and the Senate Knows It

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a53329/scott-pruitt-epa-documents/
"The second-most preposterous thing about putting Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency was the fact that the Senate hustled to install him in the job, because they knew that a court-ordered document dump was coming this week that would make his appointment even more absurd than the most preposterous thing about putting him in charge—which is that Pruitt was suing the very agency he'd been picked to lead. Well, the other shoe dropped on Wednesday. According to The New York Times, the document dump was pretty much what everybody figured was coming."

Thousands of Scott Pruitt's Emails Just Hit the Internet. Here Are the Wildest, Scariest Bits.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/02/new-epa-head-scott-pruitts-emails-reveal-close-ties-fossil-fuel-interests
"The close relationship between Scott Pruitt, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, and fossil fuel interests including the billionaire Koch brothers has been highlighted in more than 7,500 emails and other records released by the Oklahoma attorney general's office on Wednesday. The documents show that Pruitt, while Oklahoma attorney general, acted in close concert with oil and gas companies to challenge environmental regulations, even putting his letterhead to a complaint filed by one firm, Devon Energy. This practice was first revealed in 2014, but it now appears that it occurred more than once. The emails also show that American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, an oil and gas lobby group, provided Pruitt's office with template language to oppose ozone limits and the renewable fuel standard program in 2013. AFPM encouraged Oklahoma to challenge the rules, noting: "This argument is more credible coming from a state." Later that year, Pruitt did file opposition to both of these regulations. The letters also show the cozy relationship between Pruitt and the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec), the influential US lobbying network of Republican politicians and big businesses, and other lobby groups sponsored by the Koch brothers, the billionaire energy investors who have spent decades fighting against environmental regulation."

Donald Trump’s Assault On Clean Water Laws Has Already Begun

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-stream-protection-rule-clean-water_us_58add04ee4b03d80af717914?evakpx0fuz6m3g14i
"Last week, Trump signed a resolution that voided the Stream Protection Rule, a Department of the Interior regulation finalized during the Obama administration. The rule would have required coal mining companies to avoid practices that pollute streams and threaten drinking water supplies, monitor and report any pollution, and return waterways to their previous condition after mining operations are completed. Both the Senate and House voted in favor of it. On the heels of the confirmation of new Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt, Trump is now expected to take executive action this week to undo the EPA’s Clean Water Rule."

Thursday, March 2, 2017

President Trump’s Coming War on Science: Environment Edition

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2017/02/21/426648/president-trumps-coming-war-on-science-environment-edition/
"On February 17, the U.S. Senate confirmed former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. Observers can now expect the Trump administration—with Congress providing the wind at Administrator Pruitt’s back—to charge ahead with an aggressive agenda to weaken or nullify a decade’s worth of progress on pollution reduction."