epa4 trump bak

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">619</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">SEE EPA 5 POST TRUMP</span>
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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">see DEREG 4</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">bak 120
</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">regulatory capture, swamp things, inside the wire, 5 amigos
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tisch maine see chronology/timeline:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://umaine.edu/soe/wp-content/uploads/sites/199/2020/03/Climate-Chronology-January-2020.pdf">https://umaine.edu/soe/wp-content/uploads/sites/199/2020/03/Climate-Chronology-January-2020.pdf</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>2016 </b>(December)</font></div><div><b>President Obama moves to protect Arctic waters and Atlantic coast from oil and gas leasing</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>President Obama announces that 98 percent of U.S.-controlled Arctic waters (115 million acres)</div><div>and 3.8 million acres of underwater canyon along the Atlantic coast will be permanently withheld</div><div>from any future oil and gas leasing under the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. President</div><div>Obama notes that “[These actions] reflect the scientific assessment that, even with the high safety</div><div>standards that both our countries have put in place, the risks of an oil spill in this region are</div><div>significant and our ability to clean up from a spill in the region’s harsh conditions is limited... By</div><div>contrast, it would take decades to fully develop the production infrastructure necessary for any&nbsp;</div><div>large-scale oil and gas leasing production in the region—at a time when we need to continue to</div><div>move decisively away from fossil fuels.” Simultaneously, the Canadian government announces</div><div>it will withdraw all oil and gas leases in Canadian Arctic waters.* The Wall Street Journal’s</div><div>editorial response: “This rule even purports to be ‘permanent,’ unchangeable by any future</div><div>President for all time. We’ll see about that, but in the meantime spare us the liberal panic about</div><div>Donald Trump’s supposed authoritarianism... No policy decisions are engraved in stone as if</div><div>through holy stenography, and they’re definitely not beyond democratic consent on the basis of</div><div>a 63-year-old law.” [see 2017 (April)]</div><div>Samantha Page, “Obama Permanently Protects Huge Portions of Arctic, Atlantic from Offshore Drilling,” ThinkProgress, December</div><div>20, 2016, https://thinkprogress.org/permanent-protections-arctic-atlantic-e6978298eae1#.xukkcm6dm</div><div>Editorial Board, “Obama’s ‘Permanent’ Drilling Freeze,” Wall Street Journal, December 21, 2016,</div><div>http://www.wsj.com/articles/obamas-permanent-drilling-freeze-1482364429</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (January)</b></div><div><b>Within two days of President Donald Trump’s swearing in, numerous references to</b></div><div><b>climate change disappear from the EPA website</b></div><div>The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI), a newly founded network of</div><div>academics, librarians, and technology professionals, goes to work rescuing and archiving</div><div>scientific data in numerous government agencies regarded as at risk in the new administration,</div><div>and monitoring website changes. Changes in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)</div><div>website are apparent within two days of the January 20 inauguration. For example, as EDGI</div><div>documents, EPA's page on "Federal Partner Collaboration" becomes "EPA Adaptation</div><div>Collaboration" sometime between Jan. 16 and Jan. 22, with new text highlighting adaptation</div><div>research as a core function of the EPA rather than climate change mitigation, preparedness or</div><div>resilience. When E&E News enquires about these changes, EPA transition team spokesman</div><div>Doug Ericksen denies responsibility and points to the "old administration:” “ ‘We did not direct</div><div>that,’ Ericksen says, noting that changes occurred over the Trump's first weekend in office,</div><div>when transition aides were just ‘meeting people and greeting people.’” * EDGI will continue its</div><div>work in the ensuing months and years, archiving public databases in “archive-a-thons”,</div><div>reviewing tens of millions of pages of websites from EPA, DOE, NASA, NOAA, and</div><div>Whitehouse.gov, as well as conducting confidential interviews of agency personnel, “to</div><div>illuminate the human sides of this versus earlier transitions.” EDGI’s May, 2017 report, The</div><div>EPA Under Seige: Trump’s Assault in History and Testimony, will present a compilation of</div><div>interview quotations, including the following: “(February) this is unlike any transition I've been</div><div>through…on so many different levels…Like do we have a president who really believes in</div><div>democracy? We have not had to deal with that before. Then on another level down, he said</div><div>nothing to say about EPA other than bad. So you are starting off with a lot of—there's a lot of</div><div>overt hostility which we've never had before. Obviously, by comparison the Bush 2 years were</div><div>sweetness and light.”</div><div>Hannah Hess, “Watchdogs report changes in website climate information,” E&E News, February 3, 2017,</div><div>https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/2017/02/03/stories/1060049539</div><div>Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, Introducing the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (n.p.:</div><div>Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, February 1, 2017), 1, https://envirodatagov.org/publication/introducing-edgi/</div><div>Christopher Sellers et al., The EPA Under Seige: Trump’s Assault in History and Testimony (n.p.: Environmental Data and</div><div>Governance Initiative, May, 2017), 1, https://100days.envirodatagov.org/epa-under-siege/</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (February)</b></div><div>A group of distinguished leaders of prior Republican administrations comes out with a</div><div>“conservative climate solution,” taxing carbon pollution</div><div>The group, the Climate Leadership Council, is led by former Secretary of State James A. Baker</div><div>III, with former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former secretary</div><div>of the Treasury, none particularly noted for environmental activism. The group visits the White</div><div>House to advocate for this approach as an alternative to the Clean Power Plan. They propose an</div><div>initial $40 a ton tax, which would raise $200 to $300 billion a year, and be adjusted upward over</div><div>time. The proceeds would be returned to the public, in what the group calls a “carbon dividend”</div><div>amounting to an estimated $2,000 a year for the average family of four. The proposal is similar</div><div>to legislation proposed by Maine Senator Susan Collins in 2009 [see 2009 (June)]. Baker is</div><div>quoted in the Washington Post as saying that the plan follows classic conservative principles of</div><div>free-market solutions and small government. He suggests that even former President Ronald</div><div>Reagan would have blessed the plan: “I’m not at all sure the Gipper wouldn’t have been very</div><div>happy with this.” He says he has no idea how the proposal would be received by the current White</div><div>House or Congress.* By June 20, 2017, the Council will announce a substantially expanded</div><div>roster of “founding” individual and corporate members committed to the carbon tax plan, in a full</div><div>page ad in the Wall Street Journal. Business members include Bp, ExxonMobil, Shell, GM,</div><div>Unilever; individual members include Michael Bloomberg, Steven Chu, Stephen Hawking, and</div><div>Rob Walton. </div><div>John Schwartz, “ ‘A Conservative Climate Solution’: Republican Group Calls for Carbon Tax,” New York Times, February 7, 2017,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/science/a-conservative-climate-solution-republican-group-calls-for-carbon-tax.html?r=0</div><div> Climate Leadership Council, accessed January 12, 2020, https://www.clcouncil.org/founding-members/</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (March)</b></div><div><b>The EPA cancels Obama era request for information about methane emissions from oil and</b></div><div><b>gas companies</b></div><div>In November, 2016, the Obama Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had sent a notice</div><div>requiring oil and gas producers to provide a broad range of information about their methane</div><div>emissions and equipment and the feasibility of controls designed to limit methane release. The</div><div>information was gathered as part of a project to regulate methane emissions in oil and gas</div><div>production, which grew out of an agreement between President Obama and Canadian Prime</div><div>Minister Justin Trudeau. A March 2, 2017 notice to the affected companies states, “EPA has</div><div>withdrawn the 2016 information request for the oil and gas industry, effective immediately. If</div><div>you received a letter requiring you to fill out a survey, you are no longer required to</div><div>respond.” The notice is issued one day after the new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt receives</div><div>a letter from nine state Attorneys General and the Governors of Mississippi and Kentucky,</div><div>expressing concern about the pending information request.</div><div>Suzanne Goldenberg, “US and Canada continue climate alliance with move to curb methane emissions,” Guardian, April 6, 2016,</div><div>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/06/us-canada-obama-trudeau-climate-change-methane-emissions</div><div>U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Background on the Information Request for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry,” March 2,</div><div>2017, https://www.epa.gov/controlling-air-pollution-oil-and-natural-gas-industry/background-information-request-oil-and</div><div>Rafi Letzter, “The EPA will no longer require oil and gas companies to report their methane emissions,” Business Insider, March</div><div>2, 2017, http://www.businessinsider.com/epa-requirement-methane-emissions-2017-3</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (March)</b></div><div><b>President Trump announces an Executive Order for review of the Obama Administration’s</b></div><div><b>fuel efficiency standards at a ceremony in Detroit.</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>As Reuters reports, “In a move widely seen as a preamble to loosening fuel standards, Trump told</div><div>an audience of cheering union workers, he would ‘ensure that any regulations we have protect</div><div>and defend your jobs, your factories,’ and promised he would encourage growth in the U.S. auto</div><div>sector. ‘The assault on the American auto industry is over,’ Trump said, standing in front of a</div><div>banner that read ‘Buy American-Hire American.’” When a member of the audience expressed</div><div>concern about environmental issues, Trump “said he agreed but did not want an "extra thimbleful</div><div>of fuel" to get in the way of growth.”</div><div>Nick Carey and David Shepardson, “Big win for automakers as Trump orders fuel economy standards review,” Reuters, March 16,</div><div>2017, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-autos-idUSKBN16M2C5</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (March)</b></div><div><b>President Trump approves the Keystone XL Pipeline</b></div><div>The pipeline will bring Alberta, Canada’s tar sands crude 1,200 miles to refineries in Texas.</div><div>President Obama had rejected the pipelines because of climate impacts [see November, 2015].</div><div>President Trump describes the project as “the first of many infrastructure projects” that will</div><div>put Americans back to work. Trump says that “government too often failed its citizens and</div><div>companies over the past long period of time. Today we begin to make things right.” The</div><div>pipeline still requires approval by the Nebraska Public Service Commission. *</div><div>Brady Dennis and Steven Mufson, “As Trump administration grants approval for Keystone XL pipeline, an old fight is reignited,”</div><div>Washington Post, March 24, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/24/trumpadministration-grants-approval-for-keystone-xl-pipeline/?utm_term=.8112262f2c99</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (March)</b></div><div><b>Arctic winter sea ice sets a record low for the third consecutive year </b>– measuring the least</div><div>extent in nearly four decades of satellite measurements</div><div>
</div><div>Mark Serreze, the director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center reports that “This is just</div><div>another exclamation point on the overall loss of Arctic sea ice coverage that we’ve been seeing.</div><div>We’re heading for summers with no sea ice coverage at all.” Much of the ice appears thinner</div><div>than normal as well.</div><div>Henry Fountain, “Arctic’s Winter Sea Ice Drops to Its Lowest Recorded Level,” New York Times, March 22, 2017,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/climate/arctic-winter-sea-ice-record-low-global-warming.html</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (March)</b></div><div><b>Study explores the link between climate change, changes in northern hemisphere wind</b></div><div><b>patterns like the jet stream, and extreme weather events</b></div><div>As Damian Carrington in The Guardian explains, “Planetary waves are a pattern of winds, of</div><div>which the jet stream is a part, that encircle the northern hemisphere in lines that undulate from</div><div>the tropics to the poles. Normally, the whole wave moves eastwards but, under certain</div><div>temperature conditions, the wave can halt its movement. This leaves whole regions under the</div><div>same weather for extended periods, which can turn hot spells into heatwaves and wet weather</div><div>into floods.” The study by Michael Mann, of Pennsylvania State University, finds new</div><div>scientific support for the conclusion that climate change increases the likelihood that these wind</div><div>patterns will be stalled. The wind patterns are affected by the temperature differences between</div><div>the poles and the tropics, and consequently are altered when the Arctic is heating up faster than</div><div>lower latitudes. One of the coauthors of the study, Stefan Rahmstorf, of the Potsdam Institute</div><div>for Climate Impact Research, states that the warming of the Arctic “is not just a problem of</div><div>nature conservation or polar bears, it is about a threat to human society that comes from these</div><div>rapid changes. This is because it hits us with increasing extreme events in the highly populated</div><div>centres in the mid-latitudes. It also affects us through sea level rise, which is hitting shores</div><div>globally. So these changes that are going on in the Arctic should concern everyone.”</div><div>Damian Carrington, “Climate change: ‘human fingerprint’ found on global extreme weather,” Guardian, March 27, 2017,</div><div>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/27/climate-change-human-fingerprint-found-on-global-extreme-weather;</div><div>Michael Mann et al., “Influence of Anthropogenic Climate Change on Planetary Wave Resonance and Extreme Weather Events,”</div><div>Scientific Reports 7, article number 45242 (March 27, 2017), https://www.nature.com/articles/srep45242</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (March)</b></div><div><b>President Trump issues an Executive Order “Promoting Energy Independence and</b></div><div><b>Economic Growth,</b>”<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> calling for review of Obama’s Clean Power Plan and rescinding</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">numerous other actions and policies related to climate change</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div>The order states that “ It is in the national interest to promote clean and safe development of</div><div>our Nation's vast energy resources, while at the same time avoiding regulatory burdens that</div><div>unnecessarily encumber energy production, constrain economic growth, and prevent job</div><div>creation….Accordingly, it is the policy of the United States that executive departments and</div><div>agencies (agencies) immediately review existing regulations that potentially burden the</div><div>development or use of domestically produced energy resources and appropriately suspend,</div><div>revise, or rescind those that unduly burden the development of domestic energy resources</div><div>beyond the degree necessary to protect the public interest or otherwise comply with the law.”</div><div>The order specifically repeals or rescinds seven actions of President Obama related to climate</div><div>change dating from 2013 to 2016, including an Executive Order “Preparing the United States</div><div>for the Impacts of Climate Change,” Presidential Memoranda on “Power Sector Carbon</div><div>Pollution Standards,” and “Climate Change and National Security,” and the Climate Action</div><div>Plan. It calls for the EPA Administrator to review the Clean Power Plan, including regulations</div><div>on greenhouse gas emissions from new and existing power plants, and regulations on methane</div><div>emissions from oil and gas production, and, “ if appropriate, shall, as soon as practicable,&nbsp;</div><div>suspend, revise, or rescind the guidance, or publish for notice and comment proposed rules</div><div>suspending, revising, or rescinding those rules.” It calls for review of the EPA estimates of the</div><div>social cost of carbon for regulatory impact analyses, to ensure that it is based “on the best</div><div>available science and economics,” “disbands” the Interagency Working Group on Social Cost</div><div>of Greenhouse Gases, which developed the social cost of carbon estimates, and “withdraw[s] as</div><div>no longer representative of governmental policy,” six technical support documents on the social</div><div>cost of carbon, dating from 2010 to 2016.&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>It directs the Secretary of the Interior to “lift any</div><div>and all moratoria on Federal land coal leasing activities,” and to review five regulations enacted</div><div>during the Obama presidency on hydraulic fracturing, oil and gas drilling rights, and methane</div><div>emissions on federal and Indian lands.* In his remarks at the signing ceremony, President</div><div>Trump says of the Clean Power Plan, “perhaps no single regulation threatens our miners, energy</div><div>workers and companies more than this crushing attack on American industry.” The Hill quotes</div><div>Jason Bordoff, director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and a former</div><div>aide in Obama’s White House, as saying that Trump was giving coal miners “false hope:” “</div><div>‘We’ve seen coal production and coal employment in decline for many years now, driven by</div><div>market forces. And those factors will still be there,’ he said. As for energy independence — which</div><div>mainly relates to using domestic oil instead of oil imported from unfriendly countries — Bordoff</div><div>said it isn’t much of a problem. ‘U.S. oil production nearly doubled under President Obama,’ he</div><div>said. ‘These regulations may have had some marginal costs to them, but regulation did not stand</div><div>in the way of a dramatic surge in U.S. oil production.’” Sierra Club Executive Director Michael</div><div>Brune says in a statement, “Donald Trump is attacking clean-energy jobs purely in order to boost</div><div>the profits of fossil fuel billionaires.” And an EPA employee expresses his or her opinion in a</div><div>creative way: at the top of an EPA press release highlighting praise the President has received</div><div>for the Executive Order is the following quote, attributed to Republican Senator Shelly Moore</div><div>Capito of West Virginia: “With this Executive Order, President Trump has chosen to recklessly</div><div>bury his head in the sand. Walking away from the Clean Power Plan and other climate initiatives,</div><div>including critical resiliency projects is not just irresponsible – it’s irrational. Today’s executive</div><div>order calls into question America’s credibility and our commitment to tackling the greatest</div><div>environmental challenge of our lifetime. With the world watching, President Trump and</div><div>Administrator Pruitt have chosen to shirk our responsibility, disregard clear science and undo the</div><div>significant progress our country has made to ensure we leave a better, more sustainable planet for</div><div>generations to come.” The press release is quickly corrected, the quote deleted. It is in fact a</div><div>quote by Senator Tom Carper of Delaware, a Democrat. Michael Brune’s comment: “That</div><div>quote is the first true thing Scott Pruitt’s office has put out yet.”</div><div>The White House, Presidential Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth, March 28, 2017,</div><div>https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/03/28/presidential-executive-order-promoting-energy-independence-and-economi1</div><div>Timothy Cama, “Trump signs order to roll back Obama’s climate moves,” The Hill, March 28, 2017,</div><div>http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/326124-trump-signs-order-to-roll-back-obamas-climate-moves</div><div>Rebecca Leber, “‘Irrational,’‘Reckless,’‘Irresponsible’: The EPA Just Accidentally Told the Truth About Trump’s Climate Plan,”Mother Jones,March</div><div>30, 2017, http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2017/03/pruitts-epa-capito-carper-lol</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (April)</b></div><div><b>Study finds that anthropogenic emissions need to peak within the next ten years in order</b></div><div><b>to achieve targets of the Paris Agreement</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>The Paris Agreement set a goal of keeping global temperatures “well below” 2 degrees Celsius</div><div>above preindustrial temperatures, and encouraged a more ambitious goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius.</div><div>The Agreement did not detail a strategy for achieving those goals, leaving those decisions to the</div><div>individual nations. A group of researchers led by Brian Walsh of the International Institute for</div><div>Applied Systems Analysis in Austria set about to plot through computer modeling a realistic</div><div>pathway to achieving those goals. Their conclusion: “We find that, barring unforeseen and</div><div>transformative technological advancement, anthropogenic emissions need to peak within the</div><div>next 10 years, to maintain realistic pathways to meeting the COP21 emissions and warming</div><div>targets. Fossil fuel consumption will probably need to be reduced below a quarter of primary</div><div>energy supply by 2100 and the allowable consumption rate drops even further if negative</div><div>emissions technologies remain technologically or economically unfeasible at the global</div><div>scale.” As Tim Radford of Climate News Network notes, fossil fuel consumption now</div><div>represents 95% of global energy supply. At the same time that we reduce fossil fuel</div><div>consumption to 25%, humans must stop clearing forests and restore them, to serve as carbon</div><div>sinks. “Once achieved, this would mean a 42% drop in cumulative emissions by the century’s</div><div>end – compared to the notorious “business as usual” scenario. But to make this happen would</div><div>require a global economy in which wind, solar and bio-energy output increase by 5% a year, and</div><div>carbon emissions peak by 2022. Unless humans find some way of actively taking carbon dioxide</div><div>out of the atmosphere, that would deliver a final temperature rise of 2.5°C, well above the Paris</div><div>target. If the peak comes at the end of the century, that commits the world to a 3.5°C rise.”</div><div>Brian Walsh et al., “Pathways for balancing CO2 emissions and sinks,” Nature Communications 8, Article no. 14856 (April 13,</div><div>2017), https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms14856</div><div>Tim Radford, “Next decade critical for climate targets,” Climate News Network, May 2, 2017, http://climatenewsnetwork.net/nextdecade-critical-climate-targets/</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (April)</b></div><div><b>Despite lack of leadership in government, the nation’s largest companies are maintaining</b></div><div><b>and somewhat expanding carbon reduction policies</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>A report from World Wildlife Fund, Calvert Investments, CDP and Ceres finds nearly half of</div><div>Fortune 500 companies—48 percent—have at least one climate or clean energy target, up five</div><div>percent from an earlier 2014 report. Key findings include: “Nearly 80,000 emission-reducing</div><div>projects by 190 Fortune 500 companies reporting data showed nearly $3.7 billion in savings in</div><div>2016 alone,” and “The annual emission reductions from these efforts are equivalent to taking</div><div>45 coal-fired power plants offline for one year.”</div><div>World Wildlife Fund, “Power Forward 3.0: How the largest US companies are capturing business value while addressing climate</div><div>change,” April 25, 2017, https://www.worldwildlife.org/publications/power-forward-3-0-how-the-largest-us-companies-are-capturingbusiness-value-while-addressing-climate-change</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (April)</b></div><div><b>President Trump Executive Order expands offshore drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>Oceans, and seeks to assess possible drilling in Pacific and Atlantic marine sanctuaries&nbsp;</div><div>The order, “Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy,” seeks, among other</div><div>actions, to rescind President Obama’s action in December permanently withholding areas of the</div><div>Arctic and the Atlantic from oil and gas development.[see 2016 (April)] In signing the Order,</div><div>Trump comments, “We can’t spend too much time talking about drilling in the Arctic, right? And</div><div>we’re opening it up.” Notes the Washington Post: “Still, even Trump administration officials said</div><div>it would take years to rewrite federal leasing plans and open up these areas to drilling. And global</div><div>energy prices may deter investors from moving ahead with additional drilling in the Arctic Ocean</div><div>in the near term, despite the effort to make more areas eligible for development.” The response</div><div>from Kristen Miller, interim executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League: “In no point in</div><div>history has a president challenged another administration’s permanent withdrawals. Trump’s</div><div>action could set a dangerous precedent, which will only undermine the powers of the office of the</div><div>president.” And from Jamie Williams, president of the Wilderness Society, regarding drilling in</div><div>the Arctic: “the chance of a tragic spill in those remote, icy waters is simply too high, and the</div><div>impacts to marine life and the pristine coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could</div><div>be devastating.”[see 2019 (March)]</div><div>* “Presidential Executive Order Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy”, The White House, April 28, 2017,</div><div>https://biotech.law.lsu.edu/blog/EO-America-First-Offshore-Energy-Strategy.pdf</div><div>Juliet Eilperin, “Trump signs executive order to expand drilling off America’s coasts: ‘We’re opening it up.’” Washington Post,</div><div>April 28, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/28/trump-signs-executive-order-to-expandoffshore-drilling-and-analyze-marine-sanctuaries-oil-and-gas-potential/</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (April)</b></div><div><b>Hours before the Climate March on Washington, the EPA removes its websites related to</b></div><div><b>climate science and policy</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>The Washington Post reports that “The change was approved by [EPA Administrator Scott]</div><div>Pruitt, according to an individual familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of</div><div>anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, to avoid a conflict between the site’s content and the</div><div>policies the administration is now pursuing.” Gone is the information related to the Clean Power</div><div>Plan, as well as sites explaining climate science and the impacts of climate change which have</div><div>been maintained by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for nearly two decades. Some</div><div>of the deleted language: “Recent climate changes, however, cannot be explained by natural</div><div>causes alone. Research indicates that natural causes do not explain most observed warming,</div><div>especially warming since the mid-20th century. Rather, it is extremely likely that human activities</div><div>have been the dominant cause of that warming.” On March 9, Pruitt had argued on CNBC that</div><div>“measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and</div><div>there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it’s a</div><div>primary contributor to the global warming that we see.”* In an op/ed in The Washington Post,</div><div>Jason Samenow, a meteorologist who had maintained the EPA’s climate science website for five</div><div>years, writes that the removal of the climate science website “signifies a declaration of war on</div><div>climate science by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt. There can be no other interpretation:” “Some</div><div>20 years in the making, the breadth and quality of the website’s content was remarkable. It lasted</div><div>through Democratic and Republican administrations, partly because its information mirrored the</div><div>findings of the mainstream scientific community, including the National Academy of Sciences…</div><div>In its heyday in the early 2000s, if you Googled ‘climate change’ or ‘global warming,’ the EPA’s&nbsp;</div><div>site was the first hit. The site not only presented climate science , it was also a portal to data on</div><div>warming’s effects and greenhouse gas emissions, along with guidance and tools to help people,</div><div>municipalities and states reduce their carbon footprints. It included a vibrant kids’ site treasured</div><div>by educators, featuring interactive teaching tools and videos, which was also taken down.”</div><div>Chris Mooney and Juliet Eilperin, “EPA website removes climate science site from public view after two decades,” Washington</div><div>Post, April 29, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/04/28/epa-website-removes-climatescience-site-from-public-view-after-two-decades/</div><div>Jason Samenow, “I worked on the EPA’s climate change website; its removal is a declaration of war,” Washington Post, June 22,</div><div>2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/i-worked-on-the-epas-climate-change-website-its-removal-is-a-declaration-ofwar/2017/06/22/735f0858-5697-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html; see also, Juliet Eilperin, “The EPA just buried its climate</div><div>change website for kids,” Washington Post, May 6, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energyenvironment/wp/2017/05/06/epa-buries-climate-change-site-for-kids/</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (May)</b></div><div><b>The EPA’s year 2018 budget proposal cuts science and technology spending by more</b></div><div><b>than $282 million, almost a 40 percent reduction</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is zeroed out; air and energy research are cut by 66</div><div>percent. Three Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrators from prior Republican</div><div>administrations, William D. Ruckelshaus, Lee M. Thomas and William K. Reilly, write an op/ed</div><div>in the Washington Post declaring that the Trump Administration budgetary proposal “is putting</div><div>us on a dangerous path.” After describing President Reagan’s successful efforts to address the</div><div>threats to the ozone layer through international lawmaking, the former administrators write,</div><div>“Today, presented with the undeniable warming of the planet, we are faced with a global</div><div>environmental threat whose potential harm to people and other living things exceeds any we have</div><div>seen before…Yet…this week’s final 2018 budget plan say[s] we should look the other way;</div><div>[President Trump] has chosen ignorance over knowledge. The need for extensive and accelerated</div><div>scientific research about the nature of the problem and its possible policy solutions should be</div><div>beyond question. Not to get more information is inexcusable. Trump’s budget proposals have</div><div>scrubbed every agency and department of expenditures that would provide us with vital</div><div>information about the pace and impacts of climate change. Among those severely cut or</div><div>eliminated altogether are programs in the departments of Energy, State, Interior and Homeland</div><div>Security, and at the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric</div><div>Administration, NASA, and EPA.”</div><div>* William D. Ruckelshaus, Lee M. Thomas and William K. Reilly, “Three Republican EPA administrators: Trump is putting us on a</div><div>dangerous path,” Washington Post, May 26, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/three-republican-epa-administratorstrump-is-putting-us-on-a-dangerous-path/2017/05/26/10060ad2-424b-11e7-9869-</div><div>bac8b446820a_story.html?utm_term=.990696c4d5e7</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (May)</b></div><div><b>The monthly average of carbon dioxide concentration measured in the atmosphere at</b></div><div><b>Mauna Loa Observatory reaches a record high of nearly 410 parts per million</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>As Joe Romm writes in ThinkProgress, “now CO2 levels have surpassed those seen not just during</div><div>modern civilization, but during all of human evolution. Indeed, current levels haven’t been seen</div><div>for many millions of years.” In addition to the impact of fossil fuel emissions on spiking CO2&nbsp;</div><div>levels, scientists suspect that warming and melting permafrost is releasing significant CO2. The</div><div>Earth’s permafrost “contains twice as much carbon as the atmosphere does today.” Romm adds,</div><div>“The last time the Earth sustained CO2 levels near the 400 ppm range, a few million years ago,</div><div>the Arctic was 14°F warmer, and ‘the West Antarctic Ice sheet did not exist,’ according to a 2013</div><div>study in the journal Science. Sea levels were about 80 feet higher.”</div><div>“That’s why,” Romm concludes, “a rational and moral society would be scrambling to strengthen</div><div>[the] Paris [Agreement], not destroy it.”</div><div>Joe Romm, “7 reasons to be alarmed by record-setting levels of CO2,” ThinkProgress, June 6, 2017, https://thinkprogress.org/recordsetting-levels-of-co2-3acbbddbf0a6 , quoting from Julie Brigham-Grette et al., “Pliocene Warmth, Polar Amplification, and Stepped</div><div>Pleistocene Cooling Recorded in NE Arctic Russia,” Science 340, no. 6139 (June 21, 2013): 1421-1427,</div><div>http://science.sciencemag.org/content/340/6139/1421</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (May)</b></div><div><b>In an unexpected setback for the fossil fuel industry, the Senate rejects a move to override</b></div><div><b>President Obama’s regulation on methane emissions from drilling on public lands</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to override any regulation by a federal agency</div><div>within sixty days of its going into effect, and, even more consequently, provides that any</div><div>regulation that is “substantially similar” may not be enacted any time in the future without</div><div>Congressional approval. This legislation had only been used once since its enactment in 1996,</div><div>until the election of Donald Trump with a Republican majority in both Houses of Congress.</div><div>Congress quickly proceeded to override more than a dozen Obama administration regulations,</div><div>but hit a roadblock on the regulation designed to reduce fugitive methane emissions from oil and</div><div>gas facilities on public lands [see 2016 (November)]. Override of the regulation which would</div><div>have prevented an estimated 180,000 tons of methane leaks annually from oil and gas facilities</div><div>on public lands was approved by the House, but fell three votes short in the Senate, with a vote</div><div>of 49 to 51. Republicans Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and John</div><div>McCain of Arizona vote against the measure, as does Independent Senator Angus King of Maine.</div><div>Senator McCain says that "While I am concerned that the BLM [Bureau of Land Management]</div><div>rule may be onerous, passage of the resolution would have prevented the federal government,</div><div>under any administration, from issuing a rule that is 'similar,' according to the plain reading of the</div><div>Congressional Review Act. I believe that the public interest is best served if the Interior</div><div>Department issues a new rule to revise and improve the BLM methane rule." Senator Collins</div><div>state that “Reducing harmful air pollutants— including emissions of methane, a major climate</div><div>driver — is important for public health and the environment…There is no doubt that climate</div><div>change poses a significant threat to public health as well as our state’s natural resources economy,</div><div>from our working forests, fishing, and agricultural industries, to tourism and recreation.”</div><div>Brian Naylor, “Republicans Are Using An Obscure Law To Repeal Some Obama-Era Regulations,” National Public Radio, April 9,</div><div>2017, http://www.npr.org/2017/04/09/523064408/republicans-are-using-an-obscure-law-to-repeal-some-obama-era-regulations</div><div>Georgina Gustin, “GOP Fails to Kill Methane Rule in a Capitol Hill Defeat for Oil and Gas Industry,” insideclimatenews, May 10,</div><div>2017, https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10052017/methane-climate-rule-oil-gas-flaring-congress-vote-rejec</div><div>* Editorial Board, “Three Republicans stopped a methane rule rollback. They must continue to buck Trump,” Bangor Daily News,</div><div>May 13, 2017, http://bangordailynews.com/2017/05/13/opinion/editorials/three-republicans-stopped-a-methane-rule-rollback-theymust-continue-to-buck-trump/</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (May)</b></div><div><b>A study finds that sea level is rising three times as fast as before 1990</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>As the Washington Post reports, the study, by Sonke Dangendorf of the University of Univesity</div><div>of Siegen and coauthors, published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences,</div><div>“isn’t the first to find that the rate of rising seas is itself increasing — but it finds a bigger rate of</div><div>increase than in past studies. The new paper concludes that before 1990, oceans were rising at</div><div>about 1.1 millimeters per year, or just 0.43 inches per decade. From 1993 through 2012, though,</div><div>it finds that they rose at 3.1 millimeters per year, or 1.22 inches per decade.” Dangendorf explains</div><div>that sea level rise for most of the 20th century was caused by the melting of glaciers and the</div><div>expansion of warming seawater, but in the 21st century sea level rise is accelerated by melting ice</div><div>sheets of Greenland and Antarctica.</div><div>Chris Mooney, “Scientists say the pace of sea level rise has nearly tripled since 1990,” The Washington Post, May 22, 2017,</div><div>https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/05/22/scientists-say-the-rate-of-sea-level-rise-has-nearlytripled-since-1990/; Sonke Dagendorf et al., “Reassessment of 20th century global mean sea level rise,” Proceedings of the National</div><div>Academies of Sciences 114, no. 23 (June 6, 2017): 5946-5951, http://www.pnas.org/content/114/23/5946</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (June)</b></div><div><b>President Trump announces that the United States will<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> withdraw from the Paris Climate</span></b></div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Agreement</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>Stephen Bannon and the anti-globalist,</b> climate denying contingent of White House advisors</div><div>trump the personal entreaties of Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, Pope Francis<b>, Ivanka Trump, Rex</b></div><div><b>Tillerson,</b> European Union heads of state and many others. Oblivious to the fact that the</div><div>emissions standards under the Agreement are voluntary, subject to revision, and entail no</div><div>penalties for noncompliance, the President calls the deal “draconian,” imposing unfair standards</div><div>on American companies and employees. “At what point does America get demeaned? At what</div><div>point do they start laughing at us as a country?” Trump says. “We don’t want other leaders and</div><div>other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won’t be.”&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div>The New York Times observes that</div><div>“Mr. Trump’s decision to abandon the agreement for environmental action signed by 195 nations</div><div>is a remarkable rebuke to heads of state, climate activists, corporate executives and members of</div><div>the president’s own staff, who all failed to change his mind with an intense, last-minute lobbying</div><div>blitz. The Paris agreement was intended to bind the world community into battling rising</div><div>temperatures in concert, and the departure of the Earth’s second-largest polluter is a major</div><div>blow,”* and its editorial board calls the withdrawal “disgraceful.” Wall Street Journal</div><div>headlines declare: “U.S. Climate Pivot Puts a Reluctant China in Driver’s Seat: Trump’s</div><div>withdrawal from Paris accord gives China a new opening to exert sway on a big global issue” </div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Some find a May 30 op/ed in the Wall Street Journal by presidential advisor<b>s H. R. McMaster</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">and Gary Cohn as illuminating on the withdrawal decision in: “The president embarked on his</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">first foreign trip with a cleareyed outlook that the<b> world is not a ‘global community’ but an arena</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>where nations, nongovernmental actors and businesses engage and compete for advantage.”</b></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Writes David Brooks in The New York Times: “That sentence is the epitome of the Trump project.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It asserts that selfishness is the sole driver of human affairs</span>.”* Al Gore’s statement on the&nbsp;</div><div>withdrawal declares that “Removing the United States from the Paris Agreement is a reckless and</div><div>indefensible action. It undermines America’s standing in the world and threatens to damage</div><div>humanity’s ability to solve the climate crisis in time. But make no mistake: if President Trump</div><div>won’t lead, the American people will. Civic leaders, mayors, governors, CEOs, investors and the</div><div>majority of the business community will take up this challenge. We are in the middle of a clean</div><div>energy revolution that no single person or group can stop. President Trump’s decision is</div><div>profoundly in conflict with what the majority of Americans want from our president; but no</div><div>matter what he does, we will ensure that our inevitable transition to a clean energy economy</div><div>continues.”&nbsp;</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers states that “We may have our</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">first post-rational president,” and that “It is possible that last week will be remembered as a</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">hinge in history — a moment when the United States and the world started moving on a</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">path away from the peace, prosperity and stability that have defined the past 75</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">years.”</span>* <b>The Yale Program on Climate Change Communication reports that US voters favor</b></div><div><b>staying in the Paris Agreement by a margin of 5 to 1, and that half of Trump voters support staying</b></div><div><b>in, with fewer than 3 in 10 saying we should not stay in</b>.* The formal process of</div><div>withdrawal will likely take four years, and not be final until after the 2020 presidential election.</div><div>[see 2015 (December)]</div><div>Michael Shear, “Trump Will Withdraw U.S. From Paris Climate Agreement,” New York Times, June 1, 2017,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/climate/trump-paris-climate-agreement.html</div><div>Editorial Board, “Our Disgraceful Exit From the Paris Accord,” New York Times, June 1, 2017,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/opinion/trump-paris-climate-change-agreement.html</div><div>Brian Spegele and Te-Ping Chen, “U.S. Climate Pivot Puts a Reluctant China in Driver’s Seat,” Wall Street Journal, June 2, 2017,</div><div>https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-climate-pivot-puts-a-reluctant-china-in-drivers-seat-1496380249</div><div>David Brooks, “Donald Trump Poisons the World,” New York Times, June 2, 2017,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/opinion/donald-trump-poisons-the-world.html</div><div>The Climate Reality Project, “Statement by Former Vice President Al Gore on Today’s Decision by the Trump Administration</div><div>to Withdraw from the Paris Agreement,” June 1, 2017, https://www.climaterealityproject.org/press/statement-al-gore-us-commitmentparis-agreement</div><div>Lawrence Summers, “After 75 years of progress, was last week a hinge in history?” Washington Post, June 4, 2017,</div><div>https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/after-75-years-of-progress-was-last-week-a-hinge-in-history/2017/06/04/2085b91e-47cf11e7-bcde-624ad94170ab_story.html?utm_term=.7ccf9ee984ec</div><div>Jennifer Marlon, Eric Fine, and Anthony Keiserowtiz, “Majorities of Americans in Every State Support Participation in the</div><div>Paris Agreement,” Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, May 8, 2017,</div><div>http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/paris_agreement_by_state/</div><div>
</div><div><b>2017 (June)</b></div><div><b>President Trump announces that the United States will “terminate” payments into the</b></div><div><b>Green Climate Fund</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>The former U.S. representative to the Fund, Matthew J. Kotchen, writes in The Washington Post</div><div>that “Nearly everything Trump said about the Green Climate Fund to justify his decision was</div><div>wrong or misleading.” Kotchen, a professor of economics at Yale University who served as the</div><div>deputy assistant secretary of energy and the environment at the U.S. Department of the Treasury</div><div>in 2013, writes that the President’s decision “reverses decades of bipartisan agreement on the</div><div>need for climate-related assistance to developing countries,” strongly supported by both</div><div>Presidents G.H.W. Bush and G.W. Bush. Professor Kotchen’s response to some of Trump’s</div><div>assertions: Trump: the Green Climate Fund “calls for developed countries to send $100 billion</div><div>to developing countries.” In fact, 37 developed countries plus the European Union agreed to&nbsp;</div><div>“mobilize” “a combined $100 billion in climate finance to developing countries by 2020. But that</div><div>money is intended to come from both the private and public sectors. The Green Climate Fund is</div><div>only one of many potential sources, most of which are aimed at using public money to leverage</div><div>much larger pools of private sector investment. In 2016, the combined flows from all the</div><div>developed countries were already at $66.8 billion.” Trump: the Fund is “costing the United States</div><div>a vast fortune.” In reality, “the United States has contributed to date $1 billion out of a total pledge</div><div>of $3 billion. Which is to say that what we’ve spent so far amounts to about .026 percent of the</div><div>annual federal budget…. [W] hile the United States is the largest contributor in absolute dollars,</div><div>on a per capita basis, the U.S. pledge ranks 11th among the 45 contributing countries, and as a</div><div>fraction of gross domestic product, the United States ranks 32nd. Every country with an official</div><div>pledge has made a contribution, and nearly all have already paid a larger share of their total pledge</div><div>than the United States.”</div><div>Matthew J. Kotchen, “Trump will stop paying into the Green Climate Fund. He has no idea what it is.” Washington Post, June 2,</div><div>2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/06/02/trump-will-stop-paying-into-the-green-climate-fund-he-hasno-idea-what-it-is/?utm_term=.b7be2b3a2d57</div><div>2017 (June)</div><div>World leaders respond with disapproval and resolve to President Trump’s announced</div><div>withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement</div><div>As Al Jazeera reports, “The leaders of Germany, France and Italy issued a joint statement,</div><div>saying the "Paris Agreement remains a cornerstone in the cooperation" between the three</div><div>countries. They also dismissed Trump's claim that the agreement could be renegotiated.</div><div>‘We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly</div><div>believe that the Paris Agreement cannot be renegotiated, since it is a vital instrument for our</div><div>planet, societies and economies,’ their statement added. French President Emmanuel</div><div>Macron also said in a televised statement that ‘there is no plan B’ on climate because ‘there is</div><div>no planet B’.” Macron also tweets, “Make our planet great again.”</div><div> “World reacts to Trump's Paris climate accord withdrawal,” Al Jazeera News, June 2, 2017,</div><div>http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/170602051722262.html</div><div>2017 (June)</div><div>The EPA issues a 90 day stay of the Obama administration’s standards for reducing fugitive</div><div>emissions of methane in the oil and gas sector</div><div>The stay is promptly vacated in environmentalists’ appeal to the D.C. Court of Appeals. The EPA</div><div>not only issues a 90 day stay of the regulations designed to control methane emissions from the</div><div>oil and gas sector [see 2016 (May)] on June 5, * but also announces that it “is proposing a twoyear stay of the fugitive emissions, pneumatic pump and professional engineer certification</div><div>requirements in the rule while the agency reconsiders them.” In a 2 to 1 ruling in a lawsuit</div><div>brought by the Clean Air Council and five other environmental organizations, the District of</div><div>Columbia Court of Appeals holds that the Trump administration can reconsider the Obama era</div><div>rules, but cannot stay them without following the procedures of the Administrative Procedures&nbsp;</div><div>Act for publishing notice of the proposed changes, the reasons for the changes and a regulatory</div><div>impact analysis, and soliciting and reviewing public comment on their proposal. The court holds</div><div>that the EPA’s decision to stay the methane rule is “arbitrary and capricious – that is, unlawful…”</div><div>The court concludes that each of the four reasons asserted by the EPA for justifying the stay, on</div><div>the grounds that the regulated industries did not have adequate notice and opportunity to comment</div><div>when the original Obama rules were developed, are “inaccurate and thus unreasonable.”* The</div><div>Washington Post quotes Harvard Law professor Richard Lazarus as opining that “The court’s</div><div>ruling is yet another reminder, now in the context of environmental protection, that the federal</div><div>judiciary remains a significant obstacle to the president’s desire to order immediate change… The</div><div>D.C. Circuit’s ruling today makes clear that neither the president nor his EPA administrator, Scott</div><div>Pruitt, can by fiat unilaterally and instantaneously repeal or otherwise stay the effectiveness of</div><div>the environmental protection rules put into place during the Obama administration… Changing</div><div>the rules midstream can occur only after a thorough administrative review, including public notice</div><div>and opportunity to comment, that ensures that there are good reasons for the change, backed up</div><div>by sound policy and science.” The Washington Post notes that “The ruling could affect myriad</div><div>agencies that have delayed the Obama administration’s regulations, some for long</div><div>periods.”</div><div>U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Oil and Natural Gas Sector: Emission Standards for New, Reconstructed, and Modified</div><div>Sources; Grant of Reconsideration and Partial Stay, proposed rule, Federal Register 82 (June 5, 2017): 25730,</div><div>https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/06/05/2017-11457/oil-and-natural-gas-sector-emission-standards-for-newreconstructed-and-modified-sources-grant-of</div><div> U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Actions and Notices about Oil and Natural Gas Air Pollution Standards, June 12, 2017,</div><div>https://www.epa.gov/controlling-air-pollution-oil-and-natural-gas-industry/actions-and-notices-about-oil-and-natural-gas</div><div>Clean Air Council v. E. Scott Pruitt, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 17-1145, On Emergency</div><div>Motion For A Stay Or, In the Alternative, Summary Vacatur, July 3, 2017,</div><div>https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/A86B20D79BEB893E85258152005CA1B2/$file/17-1145-1682465.pdf</div><div>Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson, “Federal court blocks Trump EPA on air pollution,” Washington Post, July 3, 2017,</div><div>https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal-court-blocks-trump-epa-on-air-pollution/2017/07/03/464a7344-601e-11e7-84a1-</div><div>a26b75ad39fe_story.html</div><div>2017 (June)</div><div>Senator Al Franken questions U.S. Secretary of Energy chief Rick Perry about climate</div><div>science in a Senate budget hearing</div><div>Perry is flabbergasted when Franken states that “humans are entirely the cause” of recent</div><div>warming. Perry’s response is “I don’t believe it” and “I don’t buy it.” And when Franken reminds</div><div>him this was the conclusion of a team of climate science skeptics funded by no less than the Koch</div><div>Brothers [see 2011 (October), 2013 (January)], Perry raises his voice and says: “To stand up and</div><div>say that 100 percent of global warming is because of human activity, I think on its face, is just</div><div>indefensible.” As Joe Romm of ThinkProgress responds: “Perry is so used to denying the</div><div>overwhelming consensus that humans are responsible for most recent warming, he</div><div>simply couldn’t get his head around the fact that scientists’ best estimate is humans are</div><div>actually responsible for all recent warming. Franken, I think, has hit on a winning</div><div>message—one that is also factually accurate, as the latest scientific literature makes</div><div>clear.”</div><div>Joe Romm, “Al Franken just set climate deniers’ last strawman on fire,” ThinkProgress, June 28, 2017, https://thinkprogress.org/al-franken-isright-humans-are-entirely-the-cause-of-recent-warming-ddda0077308a</div><div>2017 (June)</div><div>UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre releases a first global assessment of the threats to World</div><div>Heritage-designated coral reefs from climate change</div><div>The report finds “reefs likely to disappear by 2100 unless CO2 emissions drastically reduce.” As</div><div>the press release on the report explains, “Bleaching is a stress response that causes coral animals</div><div>to expel the microscopic algae (zooxanthellae) whose photosynthesis provides the energy needed</div><div>to build three-dimensional reef structures. Mass bleaching is caused by rising water temperatures</div><div>associated with climate change.” Over the last three years, record high ocean temperatures have</div><div>damaged 21 of the 29 World Heritage reefs, causing extensive bleaching across the globe, from</div><div>the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to the Papahānaumokuākea reefs in Hawaii. The conclusions</div><div>of the World Heritage Centre assessment are that “delivering on the Paris Agreement target of</div><div>‘holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial</div><div>levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C’ offers the only opportunity</div><div>to prevent coral reef decline globally, and across all 29 reef-containing natural World Heritage</div><div>sites.”* The report follows upon and is consistent with the conclusions of a study of bleaching of</div><div>the Great Barrier Reef in 2015-16, published in the journal Nature, by Terry Hughes of the</div><div>Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies and coauthors. The</div><div>study concludes that neither local measures to reduce fishing pressure or improve water quality,</div><div>nor the corals’ ability to adapt over time to increased ocean temperatures, are likely to save the</div><div>reefs: “Water quality and fishing pressure had minimal effect on the unprecedented bleaching in</div><div>2016, suggesting that local protection of reefs affords little or no resistance to extreme heat.</div><div>Similarly, past exposure to bleaching in 1998 and 2002 did not lessen the severity of bleaching</div><div>in 2016. Consequently, immediate global action to curb future warming is essential to secure a</div><div>future for coral reefs.”</div><div>* “Assessment: World Heritage coral reefs likely to disappear by 2100 unless CO2 emissions drastically reduce,” UNESCO, June 23,</div><div>2017, http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1676/</div><div>Terry Hughes et al., “Global warming and recurrent mass bleaching of corals” Nature 543 (March 16, 2017): 373-377,</div><div>https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v543/n7645/full/nature21707.html</div><div>2017 (June)</div><div>Analysis of satellite data measuring temperatures over time in the lower troposphere finds</div><div>warming dramatically faster than previous 2009 analysis</div><div>The study finds 36% faster warming since 1979 and nearly 140% faster warming since 1998</div><div>when compared to the previous analysis in 2009. The analysis is performed by scientists at</div><div>Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) in California, one of two groups producing satellite temperature</div><div>records globally, and is published in the Journal of Climate. In this analysis, the researchers make</div><div>adjustments to take into account the “drift” of satellites in their orbits over time, which results in</div><div>temperature readings not being taken at the same time each day. Adjusting results to compensate</div><div>for skewed readings from drift yields substantially higher temperature readings, particularly in&nbsp;</div><div>the period after 2000. These results refute denialist claims of a 15 year “hiatus” in surface air</div><div>temperature rise after 1998. As CarbonBrief explains, “Climate sceptics have long claimed that</div><div>satellite data shows global warming to be less pronounced than observational data collected on</div><div>the Earth’s surface. This new correction to the RSS data substantially undermines that argument.</div><div>The new data actually shows more warming than has been observed on the surface, though</div><div>still slightly less than projected in most climate models.” </div><div>Zeke Hausfather, “Major correction to satellite data shows 140% faster warming since 1998,” CarbonBrief, June 30, 2017,</div><div>https://www.carbonbrief.org/major-correction-to-satellite-data-shows-140-faster-warming-since-1998; Carl Mears and Frank Wenz,</div><div>“A satellite-derived lower tropospheric atmospheric temperature dataset using an optimized adjustment for diurnal effects,” American</div><div>Meteorological Society Journal of Climate 30 (June 26, 2017): 7695-7718, https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0768.1</div><div>2017 (June)</div><div>Researchers estimating the economic impacts of climate change in the United States</div><div>through the end of the century find dramatic disparities from region to region</div><div>The greatest impact is in the South, exposed to as much as a 20% decline in G.D.P.. Writing in</div><div>the journal Science, Solomon Hsiang of the University of California at Berkeley and coauthors</div><div>estimate, on a county by county basis, the combined value of market and nonmarket damage</div><div>across sectors of U.S. agriculture, crime, coastal storms, energy, human mortality, and labor, as</div><div>a function of increased temperature. They estimate that as a national average increasing</div><div>temperatures will cost “roughly 1.2% of gross domestic product per +1o C,” but that</div><div>“[i]mportantly risk is distributed unequally across locations, generating a large transfer of value</div><div>northward and westward that increases economic inequality. By the late 21st century, the poorest</div><div>third of counties are projected to experience damages between 2 and 20% of county</div><div>income…under business-as usual emissions [no carbon reduction policies].”* As summarized in</div><div>the New York Times, “The greatest economic impact would come from a projected increase in</div><div>heat wave deaths as temperatures soared, which is why states like Alabama and Georgia would</div><div>face higher risks while the cooler Northeast would not. If communities do not take preventative</div><div>measures, the projected increase in heat-related deaths by the end of this century would be roughly</div><div>equivalent to the number of Americans killed annually in auto accidents. Higher temperatures</div><div>could also lead to steep increases in energy costs in parts of the country, as utilities may need to</div><div>overbuild their grids to compensate for heavier air-conditioning use in hot months. Labor</div><div>productivity in many regions is projected to suffer, especially for outdoor workers in sweltering</div><div>summer heat. And higher sea levels along the coasts would make flooding from future hurricanes</div><div>far more destructive.”</div><div>Solomon Hsiang et al., “Estimating economic damage from climate change in the United States,” Science 356, no. 6345 (June 30,</div><div>2017):1362-1369, http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6345/1362.full</div><div>Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, “As Climate Changes, Southern States Will Suffer More Than Others,” New York Times, June</div><div>29, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/29/climate/southern-states-worse-climate-effects.html</div><div>2017 (July)</div><div>An iceberg the size of Delaware breaks off from the Antarctic Ice Sheet</div><div>The iceberg weighs an estimated trillion metric tons and is one of the largest icebergs ever</div><div>recorded. It results from a crack in the ice shelf 120 miles long. The remaining Antarctic ice shelf</div><div>“will be at its smallest ever known size,” according to Antarctic researcher Adrian Luckman.</div><div>Reports the New York Times: “Some climate scientists believe the warming in the region was at</div><div>least in part a consequence of human-caused climate change, while others have disputed that,</div><div>seeing a large role for natural variability — and noting that icebergs have been breaking away</div><div>from ice shelves for many millions of years. But the two camps agree that the breakup of ice</div><div>shelves in the peninsula region may be a preview of what is in store for the main part of Antarctica</div><div>as the world continues heating up as a result of human activity.”</div><div>Jugal K. Patel and Justin Gillis, “An Iceberg the Size of Delaware Just Broke Away from Antarctica,” New York Times, July 12,</div><div>2017, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/09/climate/antarctica-rift-update.html</div><div>2017 (August)</div><div>President Trump executive order: no consideration of climate change and rising sea levels</div><div>in infrastructure projects</div><div>President Trump signs an executive order rescinding President Obama’s requirement that</div><div>recipients of federal funds for infrastructure projects take climate change and rising sea levels</div><div>into consideration in planning construction. President Trump asserts that red tape in approving</div><div>federally funded projects is a “massive self-inflicted wound on our country” and that “no longer”</div><div>would there be “one job-killing delay after another.” The Obama rules sought to reduce the</div><div>burden on taxpayers when storms and rising sea levels damaged projects in flood prone regions.</div><div>Darryl Fears and Steven Mufson, “Trump to reverse Obama-era rule aimed at planning for climate change,” Washington Post, August</div><div>15, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/15/trump-to-reverse-obama-era-order-aimed-atplanning-for-climate-change/</div><div>2017 (August)</div><div>President Trump disbands the 15-person Advisory Committee for the Sustained National</div><div>Climate Assessment</div><div>This committee advised federal agencies, states, cities, and the private sector on concrete</div><div>responses to the impacts of climate change. The Washington Post quotes Seattle Mayor Ed</div><div>Murray as saying that the move to dissolve the climate advisory committee represents “an</div><div>example of the president not leading, and the president stepping away from reality.” [see 2019</div><div>(April)]</div><div>Juliet Eilperin, “The Trump Administration just disbanded a federal advisory committee on climate change,” Washington Post,</div><div>August 20, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/08/20/the-trump-administration-justdisbanded-a-federal-advisory-committee-on-climate-change/</div><div>2017 (August, September)</div><div>The United States and the Caribbean experience a hurricane season of unusual intensity</div><div>The New York Times quotes Bob Henson, a meteorologist for the forecasting service Weather</div><div>Underground, as saying (in mid-September) that “This season has been an overachiever by almost</div><div>every index… We’ve had more than a year’s worth of named storms when you look at the longterm average, and that’s being just past the midpoint of the season.” Four of those storms, Harvey,</div><div>Irma, Jose and Maria reach Category 3 or higher, the threshold for a major hurricane on the SaffirSimpson scale. The Times adds the caveat that “the phrase ‘above average’ loses some of its</div><div>significance when 10 of the 15 most active hurricane seasons since antebellum America have</div><div>occurred in the past two decades.” The National Weather Service tweets that Hurricane Harvey,</div><div>which dumped at least 20 inches of rain over an area of 29,000 square miles, and 60 inches in</div><div>some areas, is “unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything</div><div>experienced.”* President Trump tweets: “Wow - Now experts are calling #Harvey a once</div><div>in 500 year flood!” It is in fact classified as a once in 1000 year flood. Stamford</div><div>professor of earth science systems Noah Dieffenbaugh opines in the Times that “Hurricane</div><div>Harvey Was No Surprise:” “Climate science has repeatedly shown that global warming is</div><div>increasing the odds of extreme precipitation and storm surge flooding. Refusing to acknowledge</div><div>this impairs our ability to prepare for future extreme weather and endangers American lives and</div><div>property. .. Refusing to account for climate change is an expensive proposition. We won’t know</div><div>the full costs of Hurricane Harvey for some time. But extreme weather causes billions of dollars</div><div>of damage in the United States each year. The number of these events and their costs have been</div><div>increasing, with the toll over the last decade exceeding $250 billion. And that number doesn’t</div><div>include the full humanitarian and ecological destruction left in their wake.” * The 2017</div><div>hurricane season is the costliest in U.S. history, costing over $200 billion. An EPA</div><div>spokesperson accuses climate scientists of trying to “politicize” Hurricane Harvey, and EPA</div><div>chief Scott Pruitt states that it is “very, very insensitive to this people in Florida” to focus on</div><div>the [climate related] cause of Hurricane Irma. Washington Post opinion writer Eugene</div><div>Robinson responds: “No rational U.S. administration would look at the devastation from</div><div>Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and seek to deny climate change. At present, however, there is no</div><div>rational U.S. administration.”</div><div>Maggie Astor, “The 2017 Hurricane Season Really Is More Intense Than Normal,” New York Times, September 19, 2017,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/us/hurricanes-irma-harvey-maria.html</div><div>Jason Samenow, “60 inches of rain fell from Hurricane Harvey in Texas, shattering U.S. storm record,” Washington Post,</div><div>September 22, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/08/29/harvey-marks-the-most-extremerain-event-in-u-s-history/; Jason Samenow, “Harvey is a 1,000-year flood event unprecedented in scale,” Washington Post, August</div><div>31, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/08/31/harvey-is-a-1000-year-flood-eventunprecedented-in-scale/</div><div>* National Weather Service, Twitter Post, August 27, 2017, 11:44am,</div><div>https://twitter.com/NWS/status/901832717070983169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E90183271</div><div>7070983169&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vox.com%2F2017%2F8%2F27%2F16211428%2Fharvey-flooding-houston-nationalweather-service-tweet</div><div> Donald Trump, Twitter Post, August 27, 2017, 9:25am, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/901797906046439426</div><div>Noah S. Dieffenbaugh, “Hurricane Harvey Was No Surprise,” New York Times, August 28, 2017,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/opinion/hurricane-harvey-global-warming.html</div><div>Bryan K. Sullivan, “The Most Expensive U.S. Hurricane Season Ever: By the Numbers,” Bloomberg, November 26, 2017,</div><div>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-26/the-most-expensive-u-s-hurricane-season-ever-by-the-numbers</div><div>Valerie Volcovisi, “EPA says climate scientists trying to 'politicize' Texas storm,” Reuters, August 29, 2017,</div><div>https://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-harvey-climatechange/epa-says-climate-scientists-trying-to-politicize-texas-stormidUSKCN1B92V0; Lisa Friedman, “Hurricane Irma Linked to Climate Change? For Some, a Very ‘Insensitive’ Question,” New York</div><div>Times, September 11, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/climate/hurricane-irma-climate-change.html; Eugene Robinson,</div><div>“The cruelest insult to Harvey and Irma’s victims,” Washington Post, September 11, 2017,&nbsp;</div><div>https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-cruelest-insult-to-harvey-and-irmas-victims/2017/09/11/60e54caa-9715-11e7-82e4-</div><div>f1076f6d6152_story.html</div><div>2017 (October)</div><div>The EPA announces a proposed rule to repeal the Clean Power Plan greenhouse gas</div><div>emissions regulations for existing power plants</div><div>The EPA states that it has concluded that the Clean Power Plan (CPP) [see 2015 (August)]</div><div>“exceeds the EPA’s statutory authority.” It is not forthcoming on the content of any replacement</div><div>rulemaking: “EPA has not determined the scope of any potential rule…to regulate greenhouse</div><div>gas emissions from existing [power plants], and, if it will issue such a rule, when it will do so and</div><div>what form that rule will take.” The repeal is motivated by “substantial concerns that the CPP</div><div>would necessitate changes to a state’s energy policy, such as a grid-wide shift from coal-fired to</div><div>natural gas-fired generation, and from fossil fuel generation to renewable generation,” and the</div><div>interpretation that the EPA may only regulate on-site technologies under the Clean Air Act, not</div><div>the energy mix. In an important footnote to the proposed rule, the EPA states that it is not seeking</div><div>to rescind the Obama Administration’s 2009 “endangerment finding” determining that</div><div>greenhouse gas production “may be reasonably anticipated to endanger public health and welfare”</div><div>[see 2009 (December)]: “The substance of the 2009 Endangerment Finding is not at issue in this</div><div>proposed rulemaking, and we are not soliciting comment on the EPA’s assessment of the impacts</div><div>of GHGs with this proposal.”* In a follow-up action on December 18, 2017, the EPA issues an</div><div>Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) to “solicit information from the public about</div><div>a potential future rulemaking to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing electric utility</div><div>generating units.” An editorial in the Bangor Daily News comments: “Despite the outcry from</div><div>the fossil-fuel industry and the legal challenges, led by Pruitt when he was attorney general of</div><div>Oklahoma, the Clean Power Plan was far from draconian. Half the states are on track to surpass</div><div>the Clean Power Plan’s 2030 targets, according to an analysis by the Rhodium Group. Maine and</div><div>the eight other northeastern states that participate in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative…</div><div>are among them… [W]hile states like Maine could easily comply with the plan’s targets, it still</div><div>would be harmed by other states’ slow progress in reducing emissions. Gutting the Clean Power</div><div>Plan simply puts off action that is needed to avert much worse climate disasters than we are</div><div>already experiencing.”* [see 2018 (August)]</div><div>U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Repeal of Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources:</div><div>Electric Utility Generating Units, Proposed Rule,” Federal Register 82 (October 16, 2017): 48035,</div><div>https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/10/16/2017-22349/repeal-of-carbon-pollution-emission-guidelines-for-existingstationary-sources-electric-utility#footnote-3-p48037</div><div> U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: State Guidelines for Greenhouse Gas</div><div>Emissions from Existing Electric Utility Generating Units,” December 18, 2017, https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2017-</div><div>12/documents/anprm-state-guidelines-ghg-emissions-existing-egu.pdf</div><div>Editorial Board, “Gutting the Clean Power Plan puts off steps needed to avert climate disasters,” Bangor Daily News, October 16,</div><div>2017, http://bangordailynews.com/2017/10/16/opinion/gutting-the-clean-power-plan-puts-off-the-steps-needed-to-avert-climatedisasters/</div><div>2017 (October)</div><div>EPA purges its Scientific Advisory Board of scientists who receive EPA grants, substituting</div><div>industry representatives and regulators from conservative states</div><div>EPA administrator Scott Pruitt first announces his intentions to change the composition of the</div><div>agency’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) at a meeting of the conservative Heritage Foundation:</div><div>“What’s most important at the agency is to have scientific advisers that are objective,</div><div>independent-minded, providing transparent recommendations…If we have individuals who are</div><div>on those boards, sometimes receiving money from the agency . . . that to me causes questions on</div><div>the independence and the veracity and the transparency of those recommendations that are</div><div>coming our way.” He does not raise questions about the objectivity of the industry representatives</div><div>whom he substitutes on the committee. The Washington Post quotes Terry F. Yosie, who was</div><div>the advisory board’s director during the Reagan administration, as saying the changes “represent</div><div>a major purge of independent scientists and a decision to sideline the SAB from major EPA</div><div>decision-making in the future.”* In December, more than 1000 scientists will submit a letter to</div><div>Congress protesting the EPA’s assaults on science and scientists: “Congress has long recognized</div><div>that experts with the most relevant expertise who have no stake in regulatory outcomes are best</div><div>positioned to provide independent scientific advice. Advisors should be selected based on</div><div>scientific and technical expertise, not on the stakeholders they represent. Administrator Pruitt has</div><div>fundamentally rejected this principle, further endangering the independence of the EPA.</div><div>Scientists are therefore given a false choice: apply for EPA grant funding or serve your country</div><div>as a science advisor. Unfortunately, the decision to compromise the independence of science</div><div>advisory panels is just one example of how science has been sidelined and politicized at the EPA.</div><div>Former Republican and Democratic EPA Administrators have repeatedly expressed concern</div><div>about the impact of Administrator Pruitt’s actions on public health and safety.” In July, 2019,</div><div>an investigation by the Government Accountability Office will conclude that the restructuring of</div><div>the advisory committees violated federal ethics requirements, by failing to properly vet the</div><div>replacements.</div><div>Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis and Chris Mooney, “In unprecedented move, EPA to block scientists who get agency funding from</div><div>serving as advisers,” Washington Post, October 30, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energyenvironment/wp/2017/10/30/in-unprecedented-shift-epa-to-prohibit-scientists-who-receive-agency-funding-from-serving-as-advisers/</div><div>Letter to Chairs and Ranking Members, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and House Energy and Commerce</div><div>Committee, December 5, 2017, https://www.nrcm.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ScientistsLetterHouseSenateScienceAdvice.pdf</div><div>Lisa Friedman, “E.P.A. Broke Rules in Shake-Up of Science Panels, Federal Watchdog Says,” New York Times, July 15, 2019,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/climate/epa-advisory-panels-gao-report.html</div><div>2017 (October)</div><div>The New York Times publishes a list of 60 environmental regulations that the Trump</div><div>Administration has sought to roll back in its first nine months</div><div>The Trump Administration has overturned 29 environmental guidances, rules or regulatory</div><div>actions, is in the process of concluding another 24 rollbacks, and 7 proposed rollbacks are “in</div><div>limbo.” The list is compiled from Harvard Law School’s Environmental Regulation Rollback</div><div>Tracker, Columbia Law School’s Climate Tracker and other sources.</div><div>Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Ripka, Kendra Pierre-Louis, “60 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump,” New York</div><div>Times, October 5, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/05/climate/trump-environment-rules-reversed.html; see also</div><div>Environmental and Energy Law Program, Harvard Law School, Regulatory Rollback Tracker, https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/regulatoryrollback-tracker/; Sabin Center for Climate Law, Columbia Law School, Climate Deregulation Tracker,</div><div>https://climate.law.columbia.edu/climate-deregulation-tracker</div><div>2017 (November)</div><div>The Trump Administration releases the Fourth National Climate Assessment, with</div><div>scientific conclusions starkly at odds with administration actions and policies</div><div>Mandated by the Global Climate Research Act of 1990, the report is an “authoritative assessment</div><div>of the science of climate change, with a focus on the United States.” It reflects the work of</div><div>hundreds of scientists in government and academia, and is peer-reviewed by the National</div><div>Academy of Sciences. The Executive Summary states: “Global annually averaged surface air</div><div>temperature has increased by about 1.8°F (1.0°C) over the last 115 years (1901–2016). This</div><div>period is now the warmest in the history of modern civilization. The last few years have also</div><div>seen record-breaking, climate-related weather extremes, and the last three years have been the</div><div>warmest years on record for the globe. These trends are expected to continue over climate</div><div>timescales. This assessment concludes, based on extensive evidence, that it is extremely likely</div><div>that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of</div><div>the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warming over the last century, there</div><div>is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence. In</div><div>addition to warming, many other aspects of global climate are changing, primarily in response to</div><div>human activities. Thousands of studies conducted by researchers around the world have</div><div>documented changes in surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers;</div><div>diminishing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; and</div><div>increasing atmospheric water vapor…. The global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2)</div><div>concentration has now passed 400 parts per million (ppm), a level that last occurred about</div><div>3 million years ago, when both global average temperature and sea level were significantly</div><div>higher than today. Continued growth in CO2 emissions over this century and beyond would lead</div><div>to an atmospheric concentration not experienced in tens to hundreds of millions of years. There</div><div>is broad consensus that the further and the faster the Earth system is pushed towards warming,</div><div>the greater the risk of unanticipated changes and impacts, some of which are potentially large</div><div>and irreversible.” The New York Times quotes Philip B. Duffy, president of the Woods Hole</div><div>Research Center: “This report has some very powerful, hard-hitting statements that are totally at</div><div>odds with senior administration folks and at odds with their policies…It begs the question, where</div><div>are members of the administration getting their information from? They’re obviously not getting</div><div>it from their own scientists.” The Wall Street Journal publishes an assessment by Steven</div><div>Koonin, undersecretary of energy for science during President Obama’s first term, who argues</div><div>that “While much is right in the report, it is misleading in more than a few important places,”</div><div>including the characterization of historic trends in sea-level rise.</div><div>D.J. Wuebbles et al., Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I (U.S. Global Change</div><div>Research Program, Washington, D.C., 2017), 12-34, https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/executive-summary/ (emphasis in</div><div>original)</div><div>Lisa Friedman and Glenn Thrush, “U.S. Report Says Humans Cause Climate Change, Contradicting Top Trump Officials,” The</div><div>New York Times, November 3, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/climate/us-climate-report.html</div><div>Steven Koonin, “A Deceptive New Report On Climate,” Wall Street Journal, November 3, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/adeceptive-new-report-on-climate-1509660882</div><div>2017 (November)</div><div>The Global Carbon Project estimates that global carbon dioxide emissions will increase by</div><div>2% in 2017, after three years of almost no growth</div><div>The Project predicts a total of 10.0 gigatonnes carbon (36.8 GtCO2) emitted to the atmosphere, a</div><div>new high. In 2016 China accounted for 28% of these emissions; the United States for 15%.</div><div>Average global per capita CO2 emissions were 4.8 tonnes (T); China’s per capita emissions were</div><div>7 T; the United States’ were 16.5 T.</div><div>Global Carbon Project, “Global Carbon Budget, Summary Highlights 2017,” Earth System Science Data 10, no. 1 (2018): 405-448,</div><div>https://www.earth-syst-sci-data.net/10/405/2018/</div><div>2017 (November)</div><div>President Trump’s nominee to head the CEQ, Kathleen Hartnett White, has asserted that</div><div>carbon dioxide, the “gas for life,” is not a harmful pollutant</div><div>White, President Trump’s nominee to head the Council on Environmental Quality, is former head</div><div>of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and a fellow of the conservative Texas Public</div><div>Policy Foundation. She has written an article in The Federalist titled “Signing the Paris</div><div>Agreement is the Worst Way to Celebrate Earth Day.” White contends that the “Paris agreement</div><div>represents the first energy regression in mankind’s history,” where “accelerating a transition</div><div>from fossil fuels to renewables means subsidizing and mandating a return to pre-industrial energy</div><div>scarcity when the energy upon which fundamental human welfare depended was far more</div><div>expensive but less efficient, versatile, and reliable.” Amanda Lynch, a climate scientist at Brown</div><div>University and head of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, drafts a letter signed</div><div>by 300 scientists in opposition to the nomination. Brown explains: "The thing that tipped me</div><div>over the edge was her appearance before the Senate [Environment and Public Works Committee]</div><div>where she just couldn't answer fundamental questions about environmental science that would</div><div>affect her ability to do her job." As InsideClimate News reports on White’s Committee</div><div>confirmation hearing: “White seemed to question whether warm water expands, which is basic</div><div>physical science. When asked if the law of thermal expansion applies to sea water …, White</div><div>replied: ‘Again, I do not have any kind of expertise or even much layman study of the ocean</div><div>dynamics and the climate change issues.’ Asked about her understanding of fossil fuels' impact</div><div>on oceans, White said: ‘I have a very superficial understanding as far as that. Acidification issues</div><div>are one. I have not read widely or deeply.’ Asked about her previous statements that carbon</div><div>dioxide is not dangerous, White said at the hearing: ‘CO2 in the atmosphere has none of the</div><div>characteristics of a pollutant that contaminates and fouls and all of that that can have direct impact</div><div>on human health. As an atmospheric gas, it is a plant nutrient.’”In February, 2018, the White</div><div>House will withdraw White’s nomination.</div><div>Kathleen Hartnett White, “Signing the Paris Agreement is the Worst Way to Celebrate Earth Day,” The Federalist, April 22, 2016,</div><div>https://thefederalist.com/2016/04/22/signing-the-paris-agreement-is-the-worst-way-to-celebrate-earth-day/</div><div> “300 Scientists Oppose Trump Nominee: 'More Dangerous Than Climate Change is Lying'” InsideClimateNews, November 29,</div><div>2017, https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28112017/kathleen-harnett-white-senate-confirmation-ceq-vote-trump-climate-changecarbon-dioxide</div><div>Juliet Eilperin and Brady Davis, “White House withdraws controversial nominee to head Council on Environmental Quality,”</div><div>Washington Post, February 4, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/02/03/white-house-towithdraw-controversial-nominee-to-head-council-on-environmental-quality/</div><div>2017 (December)</div><div>The UNFCCC COP 23 meeting in Bonn faces grim realities: goals too modest to achieve</div><div>objectives, emissions not on track for meeting goals, and the United States bailing</div><div>The United States has a notably low profile at the United Nations Framework Convention on</div><div>Climate Change 23rd Conference of the Parties in Bonn. A New York Times interactive</div><div>demonstrates how far the commitments of the Paris Agreement are from greenhouse gas</div><div>emissions cuts necessary to keep global temperatures under 2o above preindustrial levels, and</div><div>notes that “no major industrialized country is currently on track to fulfill its pledge, according to</div><div>new data from the Climate Action Tracker.” * The Times reports that “the office of the official</div><div>American delegation at the international climate talks here is almost always closed. A sign taped</div><div>to the door informs the curious that entry is for authorized staff members only.” But Al Gore,</div><div>Jerry Brown, a handful of Democratic Senators, and Michael Bloomberg are on hand as a</div><div>“shadow delegation” at the American pavilion, funded largely by Bloomberg, to send the message</div><div>that “the U.S. has not gone dark on climate action.” Syria announces on the eve of the talks</div><div>that it will sign the Paris Agreement, meaning that every country in the world has signed or</div><div>signaled an intent to sign on, and only the U.S. has stated its intention to</div><div>withdraw. Accomplishments of the meeting include a new “Powering Past Coal Alliance” of</div><div>19 nations pledging to “quickly phase out coal,” which now accounts for 40% of global</div><div>electricity, and progress on developing a process for nations to regularly and publicly</div><div>disclose their progress toward their voluntary goals, and acknowledge failures. As The New York</div><div>Times aptly characterizes it, the Paris Agreement “is, in effect, a giant bet on the power of peer</div><div>pressure,” a bet with longer odds since the United States announced its withdrawal.</div><div>Brad Plumer and Nadja Popovich, “Here’s How Far the World Is From Meeting Its Climate Goals,” New York Times, November 6,</div><div>2017, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/06/climate/world-emissions-goals-far-off-course.html?r=0</div><div>Lisa Friedman, “A Shadow Delegation Stalks the Official U.S. Team at Climate Talks,” New York Times, November 11, 2017,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/11/climate/un-climate-talks-bonn.htm</div><div>Jonathan Ellis, “The Bonn Climate Conference: All Our Coverage in One Place,” New York Times, November 13, 2017</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/climate/bonn-climate-change-conference.html</div><div>Damian Carrington, “'Political watershed' as 19 countries pledge to phase out coal,” Guardian, November 6, 2017,</div><div>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/16/political-watershed-as-19-countries-pledge-to-phase-out-coal</div><div>Brad Plumer, “At Bonn Climate Talks, Stakes Get Higher in Gamble on Planet’s Future,” New York Times, November 19, 2017,</div><div>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/climate/un-bonn-climate-talks.html</div><div>2017 (December)</div><div>President Trump’s National Security Strategy does not characterize climate change as a</div><div>threat, and suggests rather that climate change mitigation efforts threaten U.S. dominance</div><div>In stark contrast to President Obama’s 2015 National Security Strategy, which stated that rising</div><div>global temperatures were an “urgent and growing threat to our national security, contributing to</div><div>increased natural disasters, refugee flows, and conflicts over basic resources like food and water,”</div><div>the Trump Administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS) eliminates any reference to climate</div><div>change as a threat to U.S. security.* As Breitbart News points out, the document instead suggests</div><div>that “efforts to push a climate change agenda [are] a potential threat to national security.” The</div><div>relevant passage of the NSS, with emphasis added by Breitbart, is: “Climate policies will continue</div><div>to shape the global energy system. U.S. leadership is indispensable to countering an antigrowth energy agenda that is detrimental to U.S. economic and energy security</div><div>interests. Given future global energy demand, much of the developing world will require fossil</div><div>fuels, as well as other forms of energy, to power their economies and lift their people out of</div><div>poverty.”</div><div>The White House, National Security Strategy of the United States, December, 2017, https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf; Lisa Friedman, “Planet Insecurity,” New York Times, December 20, 2017,</div><div>Cited in Sherri Goodman, “Planet Insecurity”, Linked In, December 21, 2017, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/planet-insecuritysherri-goodman</div><div>Joel B. Pollak, “Trump’s National Security Strategy Suggests Climate Change Lobby Is a Threat,” Breitbart News, December 18,</div><div>2017, http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/12/18/trump-national-security-strategy-doesnt-ignore-climate-change-namesclimate-change-lobby-threat/</div><div>2017 (December)</div><div>China announces a national emissions trading system, the “world’s biggest ever</div><div>mechanism to reduce carbon”</div><div>Years in the making, this plan will start by mandating emissions trading in the electric</div><div>generating sector, then expand to other parts of the Chinese economy. The Guardian describes</div><div>it as the “world’s biggest ever mechanism to reduce carbon.” Nathaniel Keohane, vice</div><div>president at the Environmental Defense Fund, describes the plan as “a game-changer:”</div><div>“This shows global leadership on the part of the Chinese government.” He suggests that</div><div>this plan could allow China’s still growing emissions to peak years before its goal under the</div><div>Paris Agreement of 2030.</div><div>Fiona Harvey, “China aims to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions through trading scheme,” Guardian, December 19, 2017,</div><div>https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/19/china-aims-to-drastically-cut-greenhouse-gas-emissions-through-tradingscheme</div><div>2017 (December)</div><div>More than 700 employees have left the EPA under the Trump Administration, 200 of</div><div>them scientists</div><div>Few of those employees have been replaced. The Trump Administration is nearly a quarter of</div><div>the way toward its goal of achieving a 20% reduction in the EPA workforce, a cut of 3,200</div><div>positions. This is after substantial cuts during the Obama Administration, due to Republican</div><div>led budget cuts. During his campaign, President Trump pledged to whittle the EPA down to</div><div>“little tidbits.”</div><div>*Lisa Friedman, Marina Affo, and Derek Kravitz, “E.P.A. Officials, Disheartened by Agency’s Direction, Are Leaving in Droves,”</div><div>New York Times, December 22, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/22/climate/epa-buyouts-pruitt.html</div><div>2018 (January)</div><div>NOAA releases its updated historical table of disasters costing more than $1 billion since</div><div>1980, with 2017 a record-breaking year</div><div>NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/08/19/formaldehyde-leukemia-epa-trump-suppressed/">https://theintercept.com/2021/08/19/formaldehyde-leukemia-epa-trump-suppressed/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div>all_pending_report_20170831.xlsx</div><div><a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-09/all_pending_report_20170831.xlsx">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-09/all_pending_report_20170831.xlsx</a></div><div>=</div><div>Seeking all communications (emails, letters, PowerPoint presentations, etc.) sent by EPA and received at EPA to and from both the Trump transition team and the Trump "landing team" of select staff from Nov. 15, 2016, to Dec. 14, 2016. The transition team is the one with the website greatagain.gov. The "landing team" is the Trump transition team officials that are working directly with EPA: Myron Ebell, David Schnare, David Kreutzer, Austin Lipari, David Stevenson, and George Sugiyama. EPA is aware of the members of its own transition team, but to cover all the bases, the head of EPA's transition effort is Shannon Kenny. EPA has made minimal information about the transition available to the public, and the communications between EPA and the landing/transition team are impossible to obtain unless through FOIA. To make clear: this request includes all materials generated by EPA as well as all materials generated by the transition and/or landing team and sent to EPA.</div><div>
</div><div>lacey ant inside epa</div><div>cnn bracewell cpi cent publ integrity</div><div>bogardus e&e, sierra</div><div>
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</div><div>e&e</div><div>I request copies of all emails containing at least one or more of the following search terms — “Russia,” "Russian," "Putin," "Kislyak," "kompromat," "Wikileaks," "Assange," "CIA," "FBI," "NSA," "Comey," and "Podesta" — resulting from an electronic automated search of the email accounts associated with the following listed EPA employees since Jan. 20, 2017 to the date that this FOIA request is processed. Those EPA employees are: Layne Bangerter, Don Benton, Patrick Davis, Doug Ericksen, Holly Greaves, John Konkus, David Kreutzer, Charles Munoz, David Schnare, Justin Schwab and George Sugiyama. I agree to accept the results of an electronic search for these records. EPA may consider news articles containing the identified search terms that have been emailed as non-responsive to my request unless those news articles have been forwarded with commentary.</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>2/17</div><div>I request copies of all emails containing at least one or more of the following search terms — “Trump,” "Make America Great Again," "MAGA," "Build The Wall," "Lock Her Up," "Drain The Swamp" and "DTS" — resulting from an electronic automated search of the email accounts associated with the following listed EPA employees since Jan. 20, 2017 to the date that this FOIA request is processed. Those EPA employees are: Layne Bangerter, Don Benton, Patrick Davis, Doug Ericksen, Holly Greaves, John Konkus, David Kreutzer, Charles Munoz, David Schnare, Justin Schwab and George Sugiyama. I agree to accept the results of an electronic search for these records. EPA may consider news articles containing the identified search terms that have been emailed as non-responsive to my request unless those news articles have been forwarded with commentary.</div><div></div><div>e&e news</div><div>
</div><div>access violation shut down?!&nbsp; too big cut?</div><div></div><div>NW envir advocates Nina Bell<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Northwest Environmental Advocates</div><div>
</div><div></div><div>an bridge 21c</div><div>Tuesday, January 24, 2017 Attn: FOIA Officer Environmental Protection Agency To Whom It May Concern, The following request is being made in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. § 552). I am requesting copies of the following: Incoming-And-Outgoing Email Correspondence Between The Environmental Protection Agency And The Individuals Listed Below From November 9, 2016 Through The Present. I am requesting incoming-and-outgoing email correspondence between the Environmental Protection Agency and the individuals listed below from November 9, 2016 through the present. The search within the Environmental Protection Agency should be confined to the following offices: Office of Acquisition Management, Office of the Administrator, and the Office of General Counsel. The following individuals should be searched for correspondence with the Environmental Protection Agency: • Myron Ebell • Scott Pruitt • Stephen “Steve” Bannon • Jared Kushner • Michael Catanzaro • Ron Nicol • Rob Gordon I realize that certain costs may be applicable to this request. Please contact me when you can provide a payment amount for my requests. In the meantime, I authorize an initial expense cap of $100 to be accrued. To help assess my status for copying and mailing fees, please note that I am gathering information for research purposes and not for commercial activities. I also request that you state the specific legal and factual grounds for withholding any documents or portions of documents, should you withhold any. Please identify each document that falls within the scope of this request but is withheld from release. If requested documents are located in, or originated in, another installation or bureau, I would request that you please refer this request, or any relevant portion of this request, to the appropriated installation or bureau. To the extent that the information is available in electronic format, I would prefer</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>alex g politico</div><div>I am requesting any email or other communication that include the words “Pruitt” or “vote” that were sent on Feb. 17, 2017, to or from the following EPA employees: Don Benton; Charles Munoz; Doug Ericksen; Layne Bangerter; John Konkus; Patrick Davis; Holly Greaves; David Kreutzer; David Schnare; Justin Schwab; George Sugiyama. If you deny all or any part of this request, please cite each specific exemption you think justifies your withholding of information. Please notify me of appeal procedures available under the law. If you have any questions about handling this request, you may telephone me at 703-341-4619 or 571-839-6243.</div><div>
</div><div>----</div><div>kothari ucs</div><div>
</div><div>All communications from January 20, 2017 to present, between EPA staff and members of the EPA beachhead team. In particular, we request access to and copies of all communications between the following EPA staff:x000D</div><div>1. Catherine McCabe_x000D</div><div>2. Mike Flynn_x000D</div><div>3. Donna Vizian_x000D</div><div>4. Sarah Dunham_x000D</div><div>5. Wendy Cleland-Hamnett_x000D</div><div>6. David Bloom_x000D</div><div>7. Lawrence Starfield_x000D</div><div>8. Steven Fine_x000D</div><div>9. Kevin S. Minoli_x000D</div><div>10. Arthur A. Elkins, Jr.x000D</div><div>11. Jane Nishida_x000D</div><div>12. Barry Breen_x000D</div><div>13. Robert Kavlock_x000D</div><div>14. Michael Shapiro_x000D</div><div>15. David Kling_x000D</div><div>16. Shannon Kenny_x000D</div><div>17. George Hull_x000D</div><div>18. Tom Brennan_x000D</div><div>19. Robin Richardson_x000D</div><div>20. John Reeder_x000D</div><div>21. Lilian Dorka_x000D</div><div>22. Christopher Zarba_x000D</div><div>23. Brian Hope_x000D</div><div>24. Denise Benjamin-Sirmons_x000D</div><div>x000D</div><div>And the following members of the beachhead and landing teams:x000D</div><div>1. Layne Bangerter_x000D</div><div>2. Don Benton_x000D</div><div>3. Patrick Davis_x000D</div><div>4. Doug Ericksen_x000D</div><div>5. Holly Greaves_x000D</div><div>6. David Kreutzer_x000D</div><div>7. Charles Munoz_x000D</div><div>8. David Schnare_x000D</div><div>9. Justin Schwab_x000D</div><div>10. George Sugiyama_x000D</div><div>11. Chris Horner_x000D</div><div>12. Myron EbellAll communications from January 20, 2017 to present, between EPA staff and members of the EPA beachhead team. In particular, we request access to and copies of all communications between the following EPA staff:x000D</div><div>1. Catherine McCabe_x000D</div><div>2. Mike Flynn_x000D</div><div>3. Donna Vizian_x000D</div><div>4. Sarah Dunham_x000D</div><div>5. Wendy Cleland-Hamnett_x000D</div><div>6. David Bloom_x000D</div><div>7. Lawrence Starfield_x000D</div><div>8. Steven Fine_x000D</div><div>9. Kevin S. Minoli_x000D</div><div>10. Arthur A. Elkins, Jr.x000D</div><div>11. Jane Nishida_x000D</div><div>12. Barry Breen_x000D</div><div>13. Robert Kavlock_x000D</div><div>14. Michael Shapiro_x000D</div><div>15. David Kling_x000D</div><div>16. Shannon Kenny_x000D</div><div>17. George Hull_x000D</div><div>18. Tom Brennan_x000D</div><div>19. Robin Richardson_x000D</div><div>20. John Reeder_x000D</div><div>21. Lilian Dorka_x000D</div><div>22. Christopher Zarba_x000D</div><div>23. Brian Hope_x000D</div><div>24. Denise Benjamin-Sirmons_x000D</div><div>x000D</div><div>And the following members of the beachhead and landing teams:x000D</div><div>1. Layne Bangerter_x000D</div><div>2. Don Benton_x000D</div><div>3. Patrick Davis_x000D</div><div>4. Doug Ericksen_x000D</div><div>5. Holly Greaves_x000D</div><div>6. David Kreutzer_x000D</div><div>7. Charles Munoz_x000D</div><div>8. David Schnare_x000D</div><div>9. Justin Schwab_x000D</div><div>10. George Sugiyama_x000D</div><div>11. Chris Horner_x000D</div><div>12. Myron EbellAll communications from January 20, 2017 to present, between EPA staff and members of the EPA beachhead team. In particular, we request access to and copies of all communications between the following EPA staff:x000D</div><div>1. Catherine McCabe_x000D</div><div>2. Mike Flynn_x000D</div><div>3. Donna Vizian_x000D</div><div>4. Sarah Dunham_x000D</div><div>5. Wendy Cleland-Hamnett_x000D</div><div>6. David Bloom_x000D</div><div>7. Lawrence Starfield_x000D</div><div>8. Steven Fine_x000D</div><div>9. Kevin S. Minoli_x000D</div><div>10. Arthur A. Elkins, Jr.x000D</div><div>11. Jane Nishida_x000D</div><div>12. Barry Breen_x000D</div><div>13. Robert Kavlock_x000D</div><div>14. Michael Shapiro_x000D</div><div>15. David Kling_x000D</div><div>16. Shannon Kenny_x000D</div><div>17. George Hull_x000D</div><div>18. Tom Brennan_x000D</div><div>19. Robin Richardson_x000D</div><div>20. John Reeder_x000D</div><div>21. Lilian Dorka_x000D</div><div>22. Christopher Zarba_x000D</div><div>23. Brian Hope_x000D</div><div>24. Denise Benjamin-Sirmons_x000D</div><div>x000D</div><div>And the following members of the beachhead and landing teams:x000D</div><div>1. Layne Bangerter_x000D</div><div>2. Don Benton_x000D</div><div>3. Patrick Davis_x000D</div><div>4. Doug Ericksen_x000D</div><div>5. Holly Greaves_x000D</div><div>6. David Kreutzer_x000D</div><div>7. Charles Munoz_x000D</div><div>8. David Schnare_x000D</div><div>9. Justin Schwab_x000D</div><div>10. George Sugiyama_x000D</div><div>11. Chris Horner_x000D</div><div>12. Myron Ebell</div><div>=</div><div>Judicial Watch</div><div>kate bailey</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>crew, edf, pro pub, nrdc,</div><div>=</div><div>Dear Sir or Madam: Please see attached letter. Pursuant to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552 and the regulations promulgated thereunder, we respectfully request copies of the following records in the possession, custody, or control of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Land and Emergency Management (“OLEM”): all documents, communications, records, files, drafts, and reports related to the development of the Provisional Peer Reviewed Toxicity Value (“PPRTV”) for p-Chlorobenzenesulfonic Acid (“p-CBSA” or “pCBSA”). I understand that in order to fulfill this request there may be fees associated with duplication and research. Please be advised that I agree to pay reasonable fees to secure the records requested. Thank you in advance for your anticipated prompt response and professional courtesy. Please do not hesitate to contact me at (858) 509-8451 or francesca.bochner@lw.com if you require additional information. Best regards, Francesca F. Bochner of LATHAM & WATKINS LLP</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>bill kovacs CoC FOIA request to EPA on citizen suit complaints and notices of intent to sue filed under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2015.</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div>CU! John T. Mastranadi</div><div>
</div><div>In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request all emails and other records of communication sent or received by any employees of the Environmental Protection Agency, to or from employees in the office of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, including but not limited to, the email domain “@schumer.senate.gov”. The time period for this request is January 1, 2015 – January 20, 2017.</div><div>
</div><div>=</div><div>Per FOIA regulations, please provide the complete and unredacted text and contents of the "Action Plan" for the Environmental Protection Agency created by EPA Transition Team Leader, Myron Ebell- Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.</div><div></div><div>ann land FTI</div><div>Site: Curtiss Wright Corp., 1 Passaic Street, Wood-Ridge, NJ Request is to review records from (1) Emergency and Remedial Response including preliminary assessment and site inspections; (2) Clean Water Div. (NJPDES permit No., any records including records prior to NJDEP certification of NPDES program); (3) Div. of Enforcement and Compliance (RCRA inspections/corrective actions) and TSCA records; and (4) any releasable records maintained by Regional Counsel. Please include any records being held in the FRC.</div><div>
</div><div>=</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>intercept 921</div><div><a href="https://theintercept.com/2021/08/24/chlorpyrifos-epa-ban-pesticides/">https://theintercept.com/2021/08/24/chlorpyrifos-epa-ban-pesticides/</a></div><div>
</div><div>&nbsp;EPA’s Rationale for Banning Chlorpyrifos May Make it Harder to Eliminate Other Brain-Harming Pesticides</div><div>Sharon Lerner</div><div>=</div><div>
</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 721 no lnx</font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/biden-science/">https://www.alternet.org/2021/07/biden-science/</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Four scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency are alleging that the "war on science" is continuing under the Biden administration, with managers at the agency altering reports about the risks posed by chemicals and retaliating against employees who report the misconduct.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>The government watchdog Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) filed a formal complaint Friday on behalf of the scientists with the EPA's Office of the Inspector General, calling for an investigation into reports that high-level employees routinely delete crucial information from chemical risk assessments or change the documents' conclusions to give the impression that the chemicals in question are not toxic.</div><div>
</div><div>The group also wrote to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform's Subcommittee on Environment, calling on lawmakers to work with the inspector general to investigate the allegations.</div><div>
</div><div>The report follows outrage about officials in the Trump administration covering up scientific facts by deleting the EPA's climate change website, but PEER emphasized that the problem is persisting at the agency six months into President Joe Biden's term.</div><div>
</div><div>"These alterations of risk assessments are not just artifacts of the Trump administration; they are continuing on a weekly basis," said Kyla Bennett, science policy director at PEER who formerly worked at the EPA.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the agency is responsible for evaluating the risks of existing chemicals as well as those slated to be manufactured in or imported to the United States.</b></div><div>
</div><div>The four employees said in the complaint that they've observed "numerous instances" in which significant changes were made to their own assessments, including:</div><div>
</div><div><b>The removal of language identifying possible adverse effects of chemicals, including developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, mutagenicity, and/or carcinogenicity;</b></div><div><b>Changes to report conclusions to indicate that there are no signs of toxicity "despite significant data to the contrar</b>y"; and</div><div>Risk assessments being reassigned to inexperienced employees "to secure their agreement to remove issues whose inclusion would be protective of human health."</div><div>"The resulting Material Safety Data Sheets lack information vital to prevent harmful exposures, such as proper handling procedures, personal protection needed, accidental release measures, first aid, and firefighting measures," said PEER.</div><div>
</div><div>In one case, managers increased the dose considered safe for consumption for a certain chemical by nearly 10,000-fold, according to The Hill.</div><div>
</div><div>"All of these altered assessments need to be pulled back and corrected in order to protect both workers handling chemicals and the American public," said Bennett.</div><div>
</div><div>According to PEER, staff scientists at EPA have spent months raising concerns internally and filing a formal complaint on their own—only to face "harassment from managers named in the complaints."</div><div>
</div><div>Hours after PEER filed the complaint on Friday, the organization said, the four whistleblowers' names were released internally at the EPA in "a troubling move" by someone at the agency.</div><div>
</div><div>"Whistleblowers help protect us all—we must protect them," PEER said.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>The organization called on the inspector general to "identify all the alterations and restore the correct risk information," and to dismiss the civil service managers found responsible for the misconduct in the investigation.</div><div>
</div><div>"EPA's lack of accountability for scientific misconduct poses a direct danger to public health," said Bennett. "Inside EPA, scientific integrity has become an oxymoron and a cure will require a complete overhaul."</div><div>
</div><div>FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</div><div>Is Joe Biden ready for the urgency of the climate crisis? - Alternet.org ›</div><div>Joe Biden's blitz on climate policy is impressive. Here's what it ... ›</div><div>'Like drinking bleach': Former Obama adviser derails Fox News ... ›</div><div>RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</div><div>Biden Elevates Science in Week One Actions - Scientific American ›</div><div>Biden pursues giant boost for science spending ›</div><div>Biden seeks big increases for science budgets | Science | AAAS ›</div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/trump-report">https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/trump-report</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">raw story gettys</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Trump administration delayed the first-ever report from the Environmental Protection Agency blaming humans for climate change.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The EPA acknowledged in a 2017 report that human activity was, at least in part, to blame for glaciers shrinking, sea levels rising, coastal flooding and other threats, but the agency's climate change indicators website was not updated under former president Donald Trump,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57095347" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">reported the BBC</a>.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Combating climate change - it's not optional. It's essential at EPA," said the agency's administrator Michael Regan, who was appointed by President Joe Biden. "We will move with a sense of urgency because we know what's at stake."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The EPA had never before attributed global warming to human activity, even during Barack Obama's administration, but the agency neglected to release its findings under Trump, who had called climate change a "hoax."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The report shows data from dozens of federal agencies to show the damage already caused by climate change, including coastal flooding and wildfires, and attributed rising temperatures to increased energy consumption -- which has nearly doubled in summer months since 1973.</font></p></div></div><div><p class="print-title"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></span></p><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 25px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.alternet.org/2021/05/chlorpyrifos-pesticide/" aria-label="A pesticide linked to brain damage in children could finally be banned" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; word-break: break-word; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 25px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">pesticide linked to brain damage in children could finally be banned</font></a></h1><div class="social-author clearfix" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/reynard_loki" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative;">Reynard Loki</a>&nbsp;<a class="social-authorname" href="https://www.alternet.org/author/independent-media-institute" data-type="text" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.4; display: inline; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; position: relative;">Independent Media Institute</a></font></div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2652875588" style="margin-top: 10px; -webkit-box-orient: vertical; margin-bottom: 15px; display: -webkit-box; text-overflow: ellipsis; line-height: 23px; -webkit-line-clamp: 3; overflow: hidden; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A federal appeals court has ruled that unless the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can prove that the pesticide chlorpyrifos is safe, it must be banned. The chemi...</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see superfund</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">icn 1020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">t<a href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=9fdcf67c06&e=6b22ffb724" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0%26id%3D9fdcf67c06%26e%3D6b22ffb724&source=gmail&ust=1602957362630000&usg=AFQjCNEFf1_ixGejyPU45BgRC2iNn38MPQ" style="text-decoration-line: none;">rump's EPA Claimed 'Success' in Superfund Cleanups—But Climate Change Dangers Went Unaddressed</a></font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">BY: DAVID HASEMYER, INSIDECLIMATE NEWS AND LISE OLSEN, TEXAS OBSERVER</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As work stalled on hardening Superfund sites against climate-related weather extremes, budget cuts continued and a backlog of sites awaiting cleanup ballooned.</span></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-rollbacks-covid-2648440328.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-rollbacks-covid-2648440328.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">s the days tick down to next month's presidential election, debate rages over the U.S. government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic with critics of President Donald Trump calling for his ouster due to his failure to protect the American public.</span></font></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-rollbacks-covid-2648440328.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-basename="particle-1" data-post-id="2648440328" data-published-at="1603370672" data-use-pagination="False"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And yet as mass media runs daily tallies of COVID-related cases and deaths, a more sinister threat to public health looms as the Trump administration rolls back regulations that govern the quality of our air, land and water. And though these actions are garnering little public outcry now, they pose grave danger to our children and their children for decades to come. It's a simple truth — a poisoned environment means poisoned people.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In recent months the Trump administration&nbsp;<a href="https://news.osu.edu/a-watershed-moment-for-us-water-quality/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">has stripped protections</a>&nbsp;from wetlands in ways that allow for the dumping of pesticides and other pollutants directly into millions of miles of streams and other waterways;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/climate/epa-mercury-coal.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">relaxed rules on power plants</a>&nbsp;designed to curb air emissions containing brain-damaging heavy metals&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mercury-and-health" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">such as mercury</a>; altered automobile fuel efficiency standards to be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/regulations-emissions-vehicles-and-engines/regulations-greenhouse-gas-emissions-passenger-cars-and" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">"less stringent,"</a>&nbsp;allowed more emissions of climate-damaging carbon dioxide; and rolled back requirements governing how coal-fired power plants&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-finalizes-power-plant-effluent-limitation-guidelines-save-money-and-reduce" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">dispose of toxic wastewater</a>, a move&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/31/climate/trump-coal-plants.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">praised by coal industry executives</a>&nbsp;but expected to add increased levels of lead, arsenic and other harmful contaminants to the environment.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If there was any doubt about how little Trump cares for the health of our children, that was made clear last month when the Environmental Protection Agency&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/pesticides/epa-takes-next-step-review-process-insecticide-chlorpyrifos-making-draft-risk-assessments" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">(EPA) announced</a>&nbsp;it would continue to allow&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/08/california-pesticide-ban-chlorpyrifos-agriculture" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">the neurotoxic chemical chlorpyrifos</a>&nbsp;to be used to grow food despite years of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/public-health-now/news/prenatal-exposure-insecticide-chlorpyrifos-linked-alterations-brain-structure" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">scientific research</a>&nbsp;showing the pesticide damages babies' brain development. Residues of chlorpyrifos are commonly found in food consumed by young children. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/2018PDPAnnualSummary.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">USDA report</a>&nbsp;released last year documented chlorpyrifos residues in raisins, peaches, mangoes and asparagus, among other foods.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-rollbacks-covid-2648440328.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="particle-2" data-post-id="2648440328" data-published-at="1603370672" data-use-pagination="False"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Amid the rush to ease regulations before the end of Trump's term, the EPA is also working to appoint new&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/521044-shuffle-of-epas-science-advisors-elevates-those-with-industry-tries" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">industry-friendly individuals</a>&nbsp;to its scientific advisory board.&nbsp;</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In an October 14 announcement, the agency said the new vice chair of the board would be&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Dr. Barbara Beck, who works for an industry&nbsp;<a href="https://gradientcorp.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">consulting company</a>&nbsp;with a history of defending controversial chemicals and other substances. Beck has&nbsp;<a href="https://gradientcorp.com/alerts/pdf/Testimony_040711.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">advocated</a>&nbsp;for loosened restrictions on lead despite the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/health-effects.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">says lead exposure</a>&nbsp;damages a child's brain and nervous system and can cause learning and behavior problems.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"Trump is burning down the house," Tim Whitehouse, a former senior attorney with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)</b>, told me. Whitehouse now heads an organization representing thousands of government employees called Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), and says government scientists are being ignored as the administration pushes through favors for influential industries.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"I think it's beyond a difference in policy. It is a feeling that the people who are put in charge are robbing the house," Whitehouse said. "We're in a period of massive biodiversity loss and increasing chemical and toxic burdens on individuals, and the EPA is not responding to the crises at hand."</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-rollbacks-covid-2648440328.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-basename="particle-3" data-post-id="2648440328" data-published-at="1603370672" data-use-pagination="False" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>PEER has joined with other groups in suing the EPA over its elimination of clean water protections,</b>&nbsp;charging in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.peer.org/epa-political-appointees-violate-science-integrity-rules/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">formal complaint</a>&nbsp;that Trump's political appointees are ignoring scientific evidence of the harms certain to be wrought by the rule changes.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To be sure, the EPA's fealty to industry is not unique to the Trump Administration. Indeed, the agency's loyalty to companies over consumers seems to be a longstanding bipartisan tradition. Trump's predecessor President Barack Obama also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.peer.org/epa-posts-pathetically-weak-scientific-integrity-proposal/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">faced criticism</a>&nbsp;for actions – and inaction – by his EPA.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And numerous administrations are to blame for allowing the broad spread of toxic chemicals known&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/collections/bad-chemistry/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">as PFAS</a>&nbsp;(short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) that are linked to an array of serious health problems.</font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-rollbacks-covid-2648440328.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-basename="particle-4" data-post-id="2648440328" data-published-at="1603370672" data-use-pagination="False"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: initial;">But we simply cannot afford this political bargaining with our health anymore. In taking more than 200,000 lives in less than a year, t</span>he COVID-19 virus has underscored the already fragile condition of our health. People suffering from cancer, chronic kidney disease, obesity, and other problems are at increased risk of becoming seriously ill or dying if stricken with COVID-19,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/need-extra-precautions/people-with-medical-conditions.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">according to the CDC.</a>&nbsp;Scientists&nbsp;<span style="background-color: initial;">have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004896972032221X" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">rightly pointed out</a></span>&nbsp;that&nbsp;<span style="background-color: initial;">environmental pollution is a contributing factor to the vulnerability of many people to the COVID-19 virus.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Adding more toxins into the air we breathe and water we drink only ensures more vulnerability and more deaths.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We already are facing frightening levels of neurodevelopmental disorders, cancer and disease in our population: Autism spectrum disorder is now effecting roughly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/ss/ss6904a1.htm?s_cid=ss6904a1_w" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">1 in every 54 children</a>, far more prevalent than 20 years ago.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;The rate at which children are diagnosed with cancer has&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cancerfreeeconomy.org/childhood_cancer_prevention/?fbclid=IwAR2GKNud8wrvPjqvkeyDy03bJsDQK2z0wDVYHwyuQDmz_WgqfLyPosIVgs8" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">increased 34 percent</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;since 1975; in 2020 more than 16,800 kids are expected to be newly diagnosed. Overall,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics#:_{:text=Approximately%252039.5%2525%2520of%2520men%2520and,will%2520die%2520of%2520the%2520disease.}" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">close to 40 percent</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;of men and women in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetimes. More than 600,000 people are&nbsp;</span><a href="https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/common.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">dying every year</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;from cancer and more than 1.7 million are diagnosed with new cancers each year.</span></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-rollbacks-covid-2648440328.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-basename="particle-5" data-post-id="2648440328" data-published-at="1603370672" data-use-pagination="False" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As an environmental journalist, I am astonished at the brazenness with which this administration has made clear that corporate well-being is more valuable than the health and well-being of citizens.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And as a mother, I agonize over the suffering, sickness and struggles I know lie ahead for our future generations.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Years from now, when our children tell their children about this time, when they try to explain how much was lost, how cavalierly we allowed their health to be traded for the health of corporate profits, they will be right to blame us. They will also be right to not forgive us.</font></p></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="post-pager js-listicle-pager" data-listicle-style="" data-async_load_parameters="platform=desktop&display_ads=1&settings=%7B%22enter_url%22%3A+null%2C+%22no_post_section%22%3A+null%2C+%22ads_breaks%22%3A+%5B2%2C+2%5D%2C+%22prevent_last_break_repetition%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_numeration%22%3A+false%2C+%22show_columns_on_mobile%22%3A+null%2C+%22ads_order%22%3A+%5B2%5D%2C+%22turn_into_posts%22%3A+null%2C+%22list_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22reorder_voting%22%3A+null%2C+%22cooldown_in_seconds%22%3A+null%2C+%22pagination_order%22%3A+null%2C+%22source%22%3A+%22engine_settings%22%2C+%22next_post_url%22%3A+null%2C+%22up_down_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22allow_url_change%22%3A+null%2C+%22numeration_sort%22%3A+-1%2C+%22allow_url_update%22%3A+null%2C+%22use_pagination%22%3A+false%2C+%22body_text_above%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_ads%22%3A+true%2C+%22items_as_posts%22%3A+false%2C+%22multiple_answers%22%3A+null%2C+%22no_redirect%22%3A+null%2C+%22is_guest_voting_allowed%22%3A+null%2C+%22layout_type%22%3A+null%2C+%22voting_extra_fields%22%3A+null%7D" style="display: table; width: 620px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="around-the-web" style="margin-top: 5px !important;"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; visibility: hidden !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-air-pollution-rollback-2647890190.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-drinking-water-chemical-children-2646004798.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></font></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/states-sue-trump-epa-suspending-regulations-coronavirus-2646004668.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></font></font></li></ul><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="visibility: hidden; margin-top: 20px !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/03/epa-chief-trump-will-roll-back-more-environmental-rules-if-re-elected.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></font></font></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/03/how-trump-is-changing-science-environment/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></font></font></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a></font></font></font></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=090565f9e1&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" arial="arial" verdana="verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" /></a></font></font></font></font></font></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
<span helvetica="helvetica" neue="neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" /></font></font></font></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font></font></div></div><div><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;==</font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/19/wildfires-trump-election-epa-environment/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://theintercept.com/<b>2020/09</b>/19/wildfires-trump-election-epa-environment/</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sharon lerner</font></font></font></font></font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></p><p times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">as<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; letter-spacing: 0.1em; box-shadow: white 0px 1px 0px, rgb(17, 17, 17) 0px 4px 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">&nbsp;WILDFIRES DESTROY</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">millions of acres in California, Oregon, and Washington, and an unprecedented</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/video/unprecedented-hurricane-season-continues-with-hurricane-sally/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">series of hurricanes</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">cause historic&nbsp;flooding in the South,&nbsp;leaving parts of the region</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/opinion/lake-charles-louisianna-hurricane-laura.html" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">uninhabitable,</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">the Trump administration has been racing to reverse rules designed to prevent exactly these kinds of climate disasters.</span></font></font></font></font></font></p><div class="PostContent" data-reactid="216" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" margin-bottom="margin-bottom" px="px" line-height="line-height"><div data-reactid="217" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has presided over the rollback of more environmental rules and regulations than any other president.</b>&nbsp;The result has been that, even as climate change is on track to soon force&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/09/15/magazine/climate-crisis-migration-america.html?searchResultPosition=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">millions of Americans</a>&nbsp;from their homes and eventually heat the Earth to temperatures not seen for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/climatewire/2020/09/11/stories/1063713437?utm_medium=email&utm_source=eenews%3Aclimatewire&utm_campaign=edition%2BiZ%2B%2FftFV%2B2LxUfHtN5bxJQ%3D%3D" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">34 million years</a>, the leader of the country that bears&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/24/18512804/climate-change-united-states-china-emissions" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">more responsibility</a>&nbsp;for the climate change than any other has doubled down on the decimation of efforts meant to combat both pollution and the climate crisis.</font></span></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“The Trump administration is the first in the history of the agency to devote itself so relentlessly to a rollback agenda without even a pretense of meaningfully reducing environmental pollution,”</b>&nbsp;said John Walke, an attorney and senior adviser to the NRDC Action Fund.</font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">starting with his&nbsp;choice&nbsp;of</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/07/06/epa-scott-pruitt-resignation-andrew-wheeler/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Scott Pruitt</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">,&nbsp;a climate denier whose rise through Oklahoma politics was fueled by the oil and gas industry, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Trump has has signaled his disregard for the climate&nbsp;and public health throughout his time in office. While Trump has called climate change a “</span><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/12/trump-climate-timeline/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Chinese hoax</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">” and a “con,” federal agencies under him have taken countless actions&nbsp;— from&nbsp;the</span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://time.com/5075265/epa-website-climate-change-censorship/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">removal of information about climate change</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;on the EPA website to the&nbsp;decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement;<b>&nbsp;the</b></span><b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/the-trump-team-has-a-plan-to-not-fight-climate-change/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">retooling of models</a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;">&nbsp;</span></b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><b>used by the U.S. Geological Survey;</b>&nbsp;and the<b>&nbsp;</b></span><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6389/586.full" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;"><b>cancellation&nbsp;</b></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><b>of NASA’s carbon monitoring program</b>&nbsp;— that set back the effort to address the climate crisis, and ultimately endanger&nbsp;the environment.</span></font></span></font></font></font></font></p></div><div data-reactid="228" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In recent months, the pace of these assaults has quickened. The frenzied efforts of federal agencies during the last months before a presidential election are often referred to as “midnight regulation.” But the work the Trump administration has recently been hurrying to complete would be more accurately described as “midnight deregulation.”</span><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></font></font></font></font></font></p></div><div class="img-wrap align-center width-fixed" data-reactid="229" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px 2.25em; line-height: 1; max-width: none; width: 1000px;"><div data-reactid="230" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font></font><p class="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; word-spacing: -0.25em; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A sign with the words “Trump Digs Coal” can be seen on a factory building in a coal mining area in Hazleton, Penn., on Feb. 2, 2017.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font>

Photo: Maren Hennemuth/Picture Alliance/Getty Images</p></div></div><div data-reactid="231" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 kern="kern" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 1em 0px; font-kerning: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protections Obliterated</font></font></font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">As soon as he entered office, Trump began the environmental&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">reversals</a>&nbsp;that will likely be the most enduring legacy of his administration</span>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;In March 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency signaled that it would not complete the planned ban of a&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/01/14/dow-chemical-wants-farmers-to-keep-using-a-pesticide-linked-to-autism-and-adhd/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">neurotoxic pesticide</a>&nbsp;called chlorpyrifos. The decision came after&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/08/18/epa-welcomed-industry-feedback-before-reversing-chlorpyrifos-pesticide-ban-ignoring-health-concerns/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">consulting closely</a>&nbsp;with industry groups and after the Dow Chemical Company, which makes the pesticide,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/opinion/sunday/protect-our-childrens-brains.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">donated $1 million</a>&nbsp;to the Trump inaugural committee. The Trump EPA has since completed dozens of other environmental rollbacks, including&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/12/07/epas-new-water-rule-will-gut-the-clean-water-act/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">gutting the Clean Water Act</a>;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/1/26/16936104/epa-trump-toxic-air-pollution" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">weakening restrictions</a>&nbsp;on facilities that emit toxic air pollution;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/dec/17/donald-trump-epa-mining-pollution-rules" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">scrapping</a>&nbsp;a rule that required mining companies to set aside money to cover the costs of cleaning up pollution; rewriting the&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/507536-trump-finalizes-rollback-of-bedrock-environmental-law-nepa" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">National Environmental Policy Act</a>&nbsp;so that it no longer requires government to consider the&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/08/08/coronavirus-pollution-environmental-justice-racism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">cumulative environmental impacts</a>&nbsp;of major federal projects on communities; and ensuring that the coal industry is now able to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/business/energy-environment/senate-coal-regulations.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">dump mining waste</a>&nbsp;in streams.</span></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Among the recently finalized actions that will have devastating and long-lasting climate consequences are the rescinding of limits on&nbsp;<b>methane</b>&nbsp;emissions during oil and gas production and processing.</span>&nbsp;Methane is a climate pollutant that traps&nbsp;over 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide in a 20-year period, and the U.S. is already releasing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edf.org/climate/methane-studies" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">way too much</a>&nbsp;of it. The rollback of methane rules, which was finalized in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/controlling-air-pollution-oil-and-natural-gas-industry/actions-and-notices-about-oil-and-natural-gas" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">August</a>&nbsp;— and&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/512097-oil-majors-oppose-epa-methane-rollback" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">opposed</a>&nbsp;by many of the major oil companies that will be affected by it — is specifically designed to ignore climate considerations and is expected to increase the amount of the greenhouse gas released each year by 4.5 million metric tons. The additional&nbsp;pollution released will have the same impact as 100 coal-fired power plants each year, according to the Environmental Defense Fund, which is suing the administration over the rule.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The EPA’s weakening of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-03-31/trump-rolls-back-fuel-economy-standards" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">fuel economy standards</a>&nbsp;for cars and light trucks, which was finalized in March while most people were focused on the coronavirus pandemic, will also speed climate change and lead to more catastrophic weather events and wildfires</b>. The change, which reduces fuel efficiency for these vehicles by 27 percent, is expected to result in at least 867 million metric tons&nbsp;of&nbsp;additional carbon dioxide pollution,&nbsp;the equivalent of the annual emissions from 216 coal plants.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The EPA has also reversed its policy of requiring businesses to inspect for leaks from refrigerators and air conditioners</b>. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/section608/revised-section-608-refrigerant-management-regulations" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">revision to the regulations</a>, which was finalized in February, affects the release of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/opinion/climate-change-refrigerators-air-conditioners.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">hydrofluorocarbons</a>, chemicals that can cause hundreds of times more warming than carbon dioxide and often leak from cooling equipment. According to the agency’s own science, the new rule<b>&nbsp;will result in an increase of greenhouse gas emissions that has the same warming potential as 2.9 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year.</b></font></span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Meanwhile, the Department of Interior finalized its plan to open up Alaska’s&nbsp;<b>Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling,</b>&nbsp;a move that environmentalists expect to not only be devastating to the&nbsp;<a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2017/12/06/arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-drilling-oil-impact-wildlife/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">700 species of plants and animals</a>&nbsp;that live there but also greatly increase carbon emissions</span>. In 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/eenewspm/stories/1060082141" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">limited</a>&nbsp;its consideration of greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas projects. And, through an&nbsp;<a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/30/executive-order-establishing-federal-flood-risk-management-standard-and-" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">executive order</a>, Trump weakened regulations that were put in place to mitigate flooding from sea-level rise.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps most devastating is the loss of the Clean Power Plan. That Obama-era plan was designed to reduce climate pollution by more than 400 million tons by 2030. Instead, Trump replaced it with the far weaker&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/affordable-clean-energy-rule" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Affordable Clean Energy Rule</a>&nbsp;in 2019.</font></span></font></font></p></div><div data-reactid="234" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 kern="kern" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 1em 0px; font-kerning: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Deadly Consequences</font></font></font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In&nbsp;many cases, this deregulation&nbsp;will have&nbsp;a measurable human toll. Changes to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/mats/regulatory-actions-final-mercury-and-air-toxics-standards-mats-power-plants" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Mercury and Air Toxics Standards</a>, which the EPA&nbsp;made in April, undermined&nbsp;<b>limits on mercury and other toxic air pollution coming from coal-fired power plants&nbsp;that were put in place in&nbsp;2011.&nbsp;Those regulations had prevented between 4,000 and 11,000&nbsp;premature deaths each year, according to the agency’s own calculations</b>.&nbsp;But under Trump, the&nbsp;EPA has decided that it is no longer necessary to regulate this pollutant, which causes brain damage in developing fetuses and increases heart attacks in adults.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">If it stands, the methane rollback, which is being&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/08/it-cannot-survive-why-trump-s-rollback-methane-rule-might-lose-court" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">challenged by environmentalists</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, will also result in illness and death.</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;In addition to hastening climate change,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">methane turns into ozone,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;which causes chronic diseases, including respiratory damage, cancer, asthma, and heart disease. Fence-line communities, which are disproportionately made up of people of color, including the more than 1 million African Americans who live</span><a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/08/13/exxon-mobil-is-still-pumping-toxins-into-black-community-in-texas-17-years-after-civil-rights-complaint/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;within a half-mile of an oil and gas facility</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, will be among the hardest hit by the pollution. And the replacement of the Clean Power Plan is expected to lead to&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/8/21/17763916/epa-clean-power-plan-affordable-clean-energy" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">thousands of deaths</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.</span></b></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With less than seven weeks until the election, and the wildfires and flooding continuing to spread along with the recognition that they are part of a larger&nbsp;<a href="https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/newsletter/2020-09-14/climate-change-wildfires-california-oregon-washington-todays-headlines" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">climate apocalypse</a>, the Trump administration is still scrambling to finish the deadly destruction of some of the rules and processes that were put in place to protect human health.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Among other hugely consequential rules still hanging in the balance are the standards for particulate matter and ozone, both of which stem from power plants.</b>&nbsp;Since 1977, the law has required that a Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, or<b>&nbsp;CASAC</b>, made up of independent scientists help set the standards. While the committee still exists, the Trump EPA has gutted it, removing many of the independent scientists from it and all of the epidemiologists, and instead&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1062289617" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">stacked it</a>&nbsp;with industry-friendly experts. CASAC is now headed by<b>&nbsp;Louis Anthony “Tony” Cox Jr., an industry consultant who disputes well-established&nbsp;<a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/integration/research/newsalert/pdf/378na5_en.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">science</a>&nbsp;showing that particulate matter kills by increasing rates of heart and lung disease.</b>&nbsp;He has worked for Exxon Mobil, the American Chemistry Council, and the American Petroleum Institute.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/10/trump-s-epa-scraps-air-pollution-science-review-panels" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">fired</a>&nbsp;a panel of scientists that historically advised CASAC on particulate matter — which includes dust, dirt, soot, and smoke — and dispensed with&nbsp;a panel of ozone experts in what he claimed was an effort to “streamline” the standard-setting process</span>. The result is that the EPA is now trying to finalize the current standards for both particulate matter and ozone, which independent scientists say are not protective of health. Although weather affects ozone levels, the&nbsp;proposed standard doesn’t consider the effects of&nbsp;climate change.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Maintaining the standards&nbsp;for the air pollutants, both of which result from power plant emissions, is a “sop to the oil and gas industry” that will prove deadly, according to Bernie Goldstein, a physician who served as chair of CASAC and a&nbsp;Reagan-appointed EPA assistant administrator who is now a member of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.environmentalprotectionnetwork.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Environmental Protection Network</a>.<b>&nbsp;Already more than 100,000 people in the U.S. die because of air pollution, including particulate matter and ozone. “More people will die because the pollutant standards aren’t high enough,” said Goldstein.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Goldstein is particularly concerned about the increased vulnerability to these air pollutants during the coronavirus pandemic — something the&nbsp;EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/504908-epa-must-consider-covid-19-when-setting-air-pollutant-standards" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">did not factor</a>&nbsp;into its&nbsp;standard-setting process</span>, even though it issued its proposal after the pandemic began. “The idea that something that violently attacks the heart and lungs the way Covid-19 does will interact with air pollutants that also attack the heart and lungs is a no-brainer,” he said.</font></font></font></p></div><div data-reactid="237" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump is working with the Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/trump-pushes-to-allow-new-logging-in-alaskas-tongass-national-forest/2019/08/27/b4ca78d6-c832-11e9-be05-f76ac4ec618c_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">expand logging</a>&nbsp;in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, removing decades-old protections from the 10 million acres that absorb more carbon than any other national forest</b>. And the administration is attempting, through the Department of the Interior, to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/cb443d7b291f62ae649ba2acd80fe9b7" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">fast-track</a>&nbsp;the environmental reviews of oil and gas drilling projects, including the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline and a natural gas terminal in Oregon.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Also among the unfinished business at EPA is the rollback of 2015 protections that protect farm workers and agricultural communities from pesticide exposure.</b>&nbsp;If the Trump administration succeeds with its change, farm workers — who are overwhelmingly Latino and already dozens of times more likely to be poisoned by pesticides than non-farm workers — will face even greater exposure.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And the EPA is taking&nbsp;the last steps to finalize its&nbsp;“<a href="https://www.epa.gov/osa/strengthening-transparency-regulatory-science" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science</a>”&nbsp;rule, which would limit the use of independent science in the agency’s decision-making by employing a strategy first devised by&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/02/05/republicans-want-to-make-the-epa-great-again-by-gutting-health-regulations/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">tobacco companies</a>. The proposal was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1063713753/search?keyword=transparency" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">sent</a>&nbsp;to the White House regulatory review office earlier this week, and Wheeler said he hopes to finalize it by the end of the year.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Meanwhile, the administration is still at work on two proposed rules affecting the Endangered Species Act:</b>&nbsp;One will open up designation of&nbsp;<a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-administration-proposes-new-limits-protecting-endangered-species-habitat-2020-07-31/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">critical habitat</a>&nbsp;to challenges by industry, and the other will institute&nbsp;<a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-administration-proposes-rule-solidify-its-policy-allowing-widespread-bird-killing-industrial-sites-2020-01-30/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">changes</a>&nbsp;in the interpretation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, pushed by the oil and gas industry, that “will result in the deaths of many birds,” according to Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity.</font></span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump administration has already been “devastating for endangered species,” according to Greenwald. “It’s been a terrible waste of four years at a time when we don’t have four years,” he said. “While scientists around the world have been raising alarms about the extinction crisis, they’re rushing to finalize these rules.”<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></font></font></font></p></div><div class="img-wrap align-bleed large-bleed width-auto" data-reactid="238" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px; line-height: 1; position: relative; transition: opacity 300ms linear 200ms; opacity: 1; width: auto;"><div data-reactid="239" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; height: auto; margin-right: auto; width: 1160px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><p class="caption overlayed" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.01em; word-spacing: -0.25em; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A melted pro-Trump sign remains at a burned residence during the Bear fire, in the Berry Creek area of unincorporated Butte County, Calif., on Sept. 14, 2020.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p>&nbsp;<span style="letter-spacing: 0.14625px; word-spacing: -3.65625px;">]]</span></span></font></font></div></div><div data-reactid="240" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 kern="kern" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 1em 0px; font-kerning: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reversing the Damage</font></font></font></h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Center for Biological Diversity is just one of the environmental organizations that have been&nbsp;<a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-administration-sued-failing-protect-green-sea-turtle-habitat-2020-01-08/#:_{:text=Trump%20Administration%20Sued%20for%20Failing,Habitat%20%2D%20Center%20for%20Biological%20Diversity&text=ST.,plastic%20pollution%20and%20global%20warming.}" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">using the courts</a>&nbsp;to challenge the Trump rollbacks</span>.<b>&nbsp;Overwhelmingly, these suits have succeeded. Only 12 out of 81 lawsuits related to environment, energy, and natural resources deregulation were decided in the Trump administration’s favor&nbsp;</b>as of August 31, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://policyintegrity.org/trump-court-roundup" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Institute of Policy Integrity</a>&nbsp;at New York University School of Law.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>If Trump loses the election,&nbsp;a Democratic administration could fairly easily resolve many of the suits that are still pending. “Biden could quickly signal that he won’t defend Trump rollbacks in court,”&nbsp;</b>said William Buzbee, a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. “Administrative law is flexible and always gives a future president the ability to reverse the damage of his predecessor.” A Biden administration could also simply reverse the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement — a move that won’t be finalized until a day after the election and will take a new president 30 days to reenter.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Depending on the date of the rollback, if Biden is elected and there is also a Democratic majority in both the House and Senate, some of the changes could be reversed through a law called the Congressional Review Act.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But other damage inflicted by the Trump administration on environmental protections will take longer to reverse. Some finalized rules will require years of formal rule-making to change. And there will be no way to revive the Clean Power Plan. “It is pretty close to dead,”</span>&nbsp;Thomas McGarity, professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, said of the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s climate initiative.&nbsp;<b>“If the next administration wants to do something on climate change and they try to do it administratively they’re going to have to start over.”</b></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of the harm that Trump has inflicted by disputing established climate science and rolling back desperately needed climate protections is irreparable. “It will be impossible make up for the four years spent ignoring and worsening the climate crisis,” said Buzbee. “The amount of additional CO2 and methane in the atmosphere will linger for decades if not centuries. That loading into the Earth’s atmosphere cannot be recovered and that time cannot be recovered.”</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The climate reversals have irrevocably undercut the international effort to address the most pressing issue of our time. “Climate change is in the end a trust game,” said Buzbee. “Nations constraining their own polluters have to trust that others will step up and also do their part. But by stepping back, the U.S. has lost credibility.”</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Buzbee, who judges Trump as already “the worst president for the environment in U.S history,” predicts that the environmental impact of a second Trump term would be immeasurably more destructive.</b>&nbsp;“They’d have the time to finish and defend all the first-term rollbacks,” he said. “I’m not sure the EPA and the major environmental statutes could withstand the onslaught.”</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the administration is racing to complete its rollbacks, the&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/08/sunrise-movement-ed-markey-election/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">Sunrise Movement</a>&nbsp;has sent its members door-to-door to convey the stakes of the election to voters. “Our movement is talking to hundreds of thousands of young people in swing states across the country to communicate the opportunity we have to organize and mobilize under a Biden admin,” said Stephen O’Hanlon, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement. “Biden wasn’t the first choice of many young people, but he is the clear choice.”</font></span></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Activist and writer Bill McKibben has put a finer point on the environmental consequences of unseating Trump. “This is going to be the most important election for the next few million years,” McKibben&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/billmckibben/status/1305585709424807936" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">tweeted</a>&nbsp;on Tuesday, sending out a video of the president once again&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/09/14/trump-scoffs-plea-take-climate-change-seriously-amid-wildfires-mocks-science" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">denying climate science</a>&nbsp;even while being briefed on the fires that have killed dozens of people and destroyed millions of acres of land.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>EPA Spokesperson James Hewitt&nbsp;</b>provided the following comment in response to an inquiry from The Intercept:</font></font></font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic; margin-left: 0px; padding-left: 1em; box-shadow: rgb(204, 204, 204) -6px 0px 0px -5px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This story is pushing a false narrative that isn’t rooted in fact. Under this EPA, air pollution in this country has fallen 7 percent, we’ve delisted 61 Superfund sites, invested $40 billion in water infrastructure, collected more in criminal and civil penalties than the Obama Administration did in their first term, and are finalizing a final Lead & Copper rule. All regulatory decisions are grounded in science and our legal statutes unlike the last administration.</font></span></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Environmental experts took issue with all of the claims in the EPA’s response.&nbsp;</span>Asked about the air pollution reductions, Elena Craft, senior director of climate and health at the&nbsp;<b>Environmental Defense Fund, said she was unclear of any measure by which air pollution has fallen by 7 percent and added that “I can’t think of a single action that this administration has done that would result in a reduction of emissions.”</b></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>While the EPA has delisted many Superfund sites, it also has the&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/476604-trump-epa-has-largest-backlog-up-toxic-waste-cleanups-in-15-years" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">largest backlog</a>&nbsp;of unfunded construction projects at Superfund sites in 15 years.</b>&nbsp;According to Betsy Southerland, who retired after 30 years of working for the EPA, the agency is trying to take credit for work done under previous administrations.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;“Delisting is just a paperwork exercise documenting that a project was completed in previous years,” she said. “This administration has the worst record of any previous in terms of the number of projects that were ready for construction that they did not fund. Rather than request the funding needed for these sites, they actually asked for cuts in the Superfund budget every year.”</span></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Southerland also said that the agency’s touting of the lead and copper rule was disingenuous: “The proposed lead rule did not lower the concentration that would trigger lead pipe replacement. And they slowed the required rate of replacing lead pipes.”</font></b></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 1em; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As for the penalties, EPA’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2020-02/documents/fy19-enforcement-annual-results-data-graphs.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">own data</a>&nbsp;shows that in fiscal 2019, the agency conducted the smallest number of inspections of polluters in at least 18 years<i style="box-sizing: border-box;">,&nbsp;</i>with about half the number of inspections conducted a decade earlier<i style="box-sizing: border-box;">.&nbsp;</i>A 2019&nbsp;<a href="https://environmentalintegrity.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/EIP-Enforcement-Report.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">report</a>&nbsp;from The Environmental Integrity Project documents these trends&nbsp;and shows that&nbsp;the number of criminal environmental cases opened and polluters charged fell sharply under Trump.</font></span></font></font></p></div></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 920</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/the-epa-allows-continued-use-of-a-neurotoxin-found-to-harm-kids-brains/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">&nbsp;EPA allows continued use of a neurotoxin found to harm kids’ brains</font></a></font></font></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/brettwilkins/" title="Posts by Brett Wilkins" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Brett Wilkins</a>&nbsp;/&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/common-dreams/" title="Posts by Common Dreams" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Common Dreams</a></font></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dismissing extensive scientific evidence showing that even low levels of chlorpyrifos damage children’s brains, the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday released a risk assessment calling the toxic pesticide’s effects “unresolved”…</font></font></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ends 2018? pruitt</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">820</font></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html</font></a></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">toxic 10 epa rollbacks ewg</font></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2647067465" style="margin-top: -15px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From the beginning, the Trump administration has aggressively slashed environmental regulations. A New York Times analysis identified&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">100 environmental protections</a>&nbsp;that have been reversed or are in the process of getting rolled back.&nbsp;<b>The administration's record on chemical safety has been especially hazardous for the health of Americans,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/02/report-after-three-years-trump-kids-are-not-alright" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">especially children</a>.</b></font></span></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2018/01/trump-s-toxic-wake-8-ways-president-made-chemicals-less-safe-2017" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">One year into President Trump's term,</a>&nbsp;EWG detailed how the Trump administration has stacked the Environmental Protection Agency with industry lawyers and lobbyists, undermined worker safety and cooked the books on chemical safety assessments.</b>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/05/13-ways-pruitt-s-epa-has-made-your-life-more-toxic" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Midway through his second year,</a>&nbsp;we reported how the EPA reversed a ban on a brain-damaging pesticide, delayed chemical bans and killed a rule to protect kids from toxic PCBs in schools.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2019/08/10-ways-trump-has-undermined-chemical-safety" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Last year,</a>&nbsp;we reported that the EPA had rescinded safety rules at chemical plants, rubber-stamped untested new chemicals and silenced researchers.</span></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Trump's first term nears its end, things are even worse. Here are 10 more ways the Trump administration has continued to make life more toxic for Americans.</font></span></font></font></p><p /><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-basename="1-failed-to-aggressively-regulate-toxic-forever-chemicals" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Failed to Aggressively Regulate Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’</font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS contaminate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">more than 2,200 sites</a>&nbsp;across the nation. Because they never break down in the environment, PFAS are often called "<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/these-toxic-chemicals-are-everywhere-and-they-wont-ever-go-away/2018/01/02/82e7e48a-e4ee-11e7-a65d-1ac0fd7f097e_story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">forever chemicals</a>."&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">They build up in our bodies and are&nbsp;<b>linked to cancer</b>, reproductive and developmental harms and reduced effectiveness of vaccines</span>. Even though the EPA has known about the risks from PFAS chemicals&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/epa-pfas-timeline/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">since at least 1998</a>, they remain virtually unregulated.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In February 2019, the EPA released a toothless PFAS "action plan" that lacked deadlines for action and failed to address the use of PFAS in everyday products, contamination from PFAS air emissions or disposal of PFAS waste, among other concerns. A year and a half later, key goals from the plan, including regulating PFAS under the Superfund law and setting drinking water standards, remain unfulfilled.</font></span></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Congress stepped in and sought to designate PFOA and PFOS – the two most notorious and well-studied PFAS – as "hazardous substances" and to set deadlines for agency action, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/SAP_HR-535.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">threatened a veto</a>. Trump's EPA also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/07/27/2020-13738/long-chain-perfluoroalkyl-carboxylate-and-perfluoroalkyl-sulfonate-chemical-substances-significant" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">weakened a rule</a>&nbsp;designed to regulate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2020/06/final-decision-epa-fails-protect-public-toxic-forever-chemicals-consumer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">PFAS in consumer products</a>.</font></font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="2-allowed-a-rocket-fuel-chemical-to-stay-in-drinking-water" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. Allowed a Rocket Fuel Chemical to Stay in Drinking Water</font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perchlorate is a component of rocket fuel that also frequently contaminates drinking water sources. Perchlorate can interfere with thyroid function, which can also harm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2017/11/kids-still-risk-rocket-fuel-chemical-food-and-water" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">childhood brain development</a>.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-02-11/html/2011-2603.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Almost a decade ago,</a>&nbsp;the EPA determined that these harms warranted regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The agency then dragged its feet for years. In 2016, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2016/160218" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Natural Resources Defense Council sued</a>&nbsp;to force the EPA to finally set a legal limit for perchlorate in drinking water. In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.freshlawblog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2016/12/Doc-38-Consent-Decree.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">court-approved consent decree</a>, the EPA agreed to propose a standard by October 2018 and finalize it by 2019. However, the EPA sought extensions and failed to meet these deadlines.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/06/26/2019-12773/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations-perchlorate" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EPA finally proposed a drinking water standard</a>&nbsp;in June 2019 but also suggested that it might not regulate perchlorate after all.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/07/21/2020-13462/drinking-water-final-action-on-perchlorate" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">A year later,&nbsp;</a>the EPA withdrew its decision to regulate perchlorate in drinking water.</font></font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-basename="3-allowed-scores-of-new-chemicals-including-new-toxic-pfas-onto-the-market-without-adequate-oversight" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. Allowed Scores of New Chemicals, Including New Toxic PFAS, Onto the Market Without Adequate Oversight</font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2016, Congress substantially changed the way new chemicals are approved under the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/enviroblog/2016/05/new-tsca-bill-falls-short-protecting-americans-toxic-chemicals#.WwLUddMvwWo" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Toxic Substances Control Act</a>, or TSCA.</font></span></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Under the old law, chemicals were frequently approved by default, often&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/off-the-books-ii-more-secret-chemicals/new-chemicals" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">without any health and safety information</a>. As a result, unsafe chemicals were allowed to be used for years or decades before the health and environmental hazards came to light. Inadequate oversight of new chemicals can also lead to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/harmful-chemicals-removed-from-products-often-replaced-with-something-as-bad-or-worse/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">regrettable substitution</a>&nbsp;– when chemicals are finally found to be unsafe, they are often replaced by unstudied chemicals that may be just as or even more toxic.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The 2016 update was supposed to fix the new chemicals program by requiring the EPA to make an affirmative safety finding on new chemicals and restrict use if industry failed to provide sufficient safety data.</span>&nbsp;Nonetheless, the Trump EPA has approved scores of new chemicals in a process that&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2019/12/09/when-will-epa-fully-explain-and-legally-justify-its-reviews-of-new-chemicals-under-tsca/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">lacks transparency</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/20200317_comms_pc_tsca_english_final.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">contravenes the 2016 law</a>.<b>&nbsp;The EPA has also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edf.org/blog/2018/09/05/trumps-epa-flouting-law-when-approving-new-chemicals-here-are-3-examples" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">ignored known health concerns</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2019/02/21/the-trump-epa-is-throwing-workers-facing-risks-from-new-tsca-chemicals-under-the-bus/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">limited its consideration of worker risks</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2019/06/03/the-trump-epa-is-illegally-denying-requests-for-public-files-on-new-chemicals/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">denied requests for public files</a>&nbsp;in the new chemicals program.</b></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The EPA has also exploited loopholes in the new law to quickly approve new chemicals, including toxic PFAS.</span>&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2020/07/28/greasing-the-skids-the-trump-epa-is-green-lighting-dozens-of-new-pfas-under-tsca/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">A recent investigation</a>&nbsp;found that the EPA has been quietly approving new PFAS chemicals, through a provision known as the low volume exemption in the new chemicals program. As a result, the EPA is greenlighting new PFAS chemicals on an expedited basis, without public scrutiny. One PFAS,&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edf.org/health/2020/01/27/what-connects-cross-country-skiing-and-chemical-safety/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">used in ski wax</a>, was approved despite a finding that the chemical could "waterproof the lungs," resulting in severe health impacts.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since the law was updated in 2016, the EPA has reviewed more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/reviewing-new-chemicals-under-toxic-substances-control-act-tsca/statistics-new-chemicals-review" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">3,000 new chemicals</a>&nbsp;submissions. More than 1,000 of these chemicals have been approved through the low volume exemption, and since 2016, manufacturers have begun producing at least 900 new chemicals, many without adequate safety data. Environmental groups have&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/final_filed_complaint.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">sued the EPA</a>&nbsp;over its failures to protect the public and the environment from risks from new chemicals.</font></font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-basename="4-failed-to-protect-workers-from-a-deadly-paint-stripping-chemical" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4. Failed to Protect Workers From a Deadly Paint-Stripping Chemical</font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Methylene chloride is a highly toxic chemical used in paint strippers that is responsible for&nbsp;<a href="https://saferchemicals.org/us-deaths-from-methylene-chloride/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">more than 60 deaths</a>&nbsp;since 1980. In the final days of the Obama administration, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0231-0001" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EPA proposed a ban</a>&nbsp;on "methylene chloride for consumer and most types of commercial paint and coating removal."</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After significant pressure from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/epa-reconsiders-ban-on-potentially-lethal-paint-stripper-chemical-methylene-chloride/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">families who lost loved ones</a>&nbsp;due to methylene chloride exposure, the Trump EPA eventually issued a final rule in 2019. However, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-bans-consumer-sales-methylene-chloride-paint-removers-protecting-public" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EPA narrowed the rule</a>&nbsp;so that it would apply only to consumer<em>&nbsp;uses</em>&nbsp;of methylene chloride, not commercial uses. That means workers are not protected, even though a&nbsp;<a href="https://publicintegrity.org/inequality-poverty-opportunity/workers-rights/epa-restricts-sales-of-deadly-paint-strippers-after-years-of-delays/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Center for Public Integrity investigation</a>&nbsp;found that most deaths from methylene chloride take place at work.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/final-risk-evaluation-methylene-chloride" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">separate EPA evaluation</a>&nbsp;of methylene chloride found that manufacturing, disposal and several other uses of methylene chloride pose no "unreasonable risk." Environmental groups have filed lawsuits challenging&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/trump-s-epa-sued-for-leaving-workers-exposed-to-deadly-chemical-in-paint-strippers" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">the rule</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/trumps-epa-sued-over-understating-risks-of-deadly-chemical" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">recent evaluation</a>.</font></font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-basename="5-cooked-the-books-on-the-civil-action-chemical" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5. Cooked the Books on the “Civil Action” Chemical</font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trichloroethylene is a chemical solvent made infamous by the book and movie "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3PHjIly2N0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">A Civil Action</a>." The EPA considers it to be a&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">known carcinogen,</span>&nbsp;and it is one of the primary contaminants that sickened scores of veterans who served at&nbsp;<a href="https://psmag.com/environment/what-happened-at-camp-lejeune" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Camp Lejeune</a>, in North Carolina.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As with methylene chloride, in the final days of the Obama administration, the EPA proposed banning three uses of TCE:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0163-0001" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">spot cleaning, aerosol degreasing</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=EPA-HQ-OPPT-2016-0387-0001" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">vapor degreasing</a>. In December 2017, the Trump EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/trump-epa-indefinitely-delays-bans-deadly-chemicals" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">shelved these proposed bans</a>, claiming that it would study those uses in a separate ongoing risk evaluation of TCE.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, the EPA dramatically rewrote the accepted science on<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&nbsp;TCE&nbsp;</span>in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/draft-risk-evaluation-trichloroethylene" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">draft risk evaluation</a>&nbsp;released in February. As&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/news-and-analysis/2018/06/industry-s-behest-epa-caves-banning-civil-action-carcinogen-lays-ground" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EWG warned</a>&nbsp;in 2018, the solvents industry aggressively lobbied the EPA to ignore a key&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1241384/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">2003 study</a>&nbsp;finding that TCE causes heart deformities in developing fetuses. TCE's connection with fetal heart defects was an important basis for the Obama EPA's decision to ban three uses of TCE. An&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890623816303240#bib0190" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">independent review</a>&nbsp;of the EPA's science found that "prenatal exposure to TCE can cause human cardiac defects" and that the study "remains a valid choice" for assessing risk.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The lobbyists succeeded. The EPA's draft risk evaluation questioned the study's design and minimized its significance. An&nbsp;<a href="https://www.revealnews.org/article/epa-scientists-found-a-toxic-chemical-damages-fetal-hearts-the-trump-white-house-rewrote-their-assessment/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">investigation by Reveal News</a>&nbsp;compared the draft risk evaluation with a leaked earlier draft. It found that the earlier draft had relied extensively on the 2003 study and used it as a benchmark for the risk calculations. Reveal also reported that then-EPA chemicals safety chief Nancy Beck – "<a href="https://www.ewg.org/planet-trump/2017/05/scariest-trump-appointee-you-ve-never-heard" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">the scariest Trump appointee you've never heard of</a>" – ordered that the risk evaluation be rewritten to downplay the risks of TCE. With the EPA giving significantly less weight to risks from fetal heart deformities, it's unlikely the agency will finalize the proposed bans.</font></font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem6" data-id="6" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6" data-basename="6-pressured-epa-scientists-to-drop-evaluations-of-toxic-chemicals-including-formaldehyde" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6. Pressured EPA Scientists to Drop Evaluations of Toxic Chemicals – Including&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Formaldehyde</span></font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Trump EPA is undermining the work of independent scientists within the Integrated Risk Information System program, known as IRIS. The program's work is supposed to be impartial and non-political. Its scientific assessments are intended to support the work of other EPA program offices and regional offices. IRIS is a&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/02/03/epa-iris-toxic-chemicals/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">frequent target of chemical industry attacks</a>&nbsp;because its independent safety assessments often don't align with industry objectives.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2018, the Trump EPA tried to&nbsp;<a href="https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3534381/Combined.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">defund</a>&nbsp;the IRIS program</span>. EPA leadership also pressured IRIS to drop critical health assessments. In March 2019,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/697212.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">a Government Accountability Office report</a>&nbsp;disclosed that EPA leadership directed agency offices to limit the number of chemicals they wanted IRIS to review, and cut in half the number of IRIS's ongoing or upcoming assessments.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the halted assessments was IRIS's decades-long review of formaldehyde, a widely used chemical and&nbsp;<a href="https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/content/profiles/formaldehyde.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">known human carcinogen</a>. This is surprising because former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt indicated to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in January 2018 that the report was complete and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Pruitt%20Letter%20formaldehyde%20assessment.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">ready for release</a>. However, answering&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2019/01/29/document_pm_02.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">questions for the record</a>&nbsp;following a 2019 Senate hearing, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said formaldehyde was "not a top priority."</font></span></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead of releasing the IRIS study on formaldehyde to the public, the EPA has instead decided that the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention – under the leadership of Nancy Beck – should&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-finalizes-list-next-20-chemicals-undergo-risk-evaluation-under-tsca" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">conduct its own assessment</a>&nbsp;of formaldehyde. As with TCE, this action will give the agency an opportunity to distort the science and minimize risks. Because these reviews take years, it will also significantly delay any EPA regulatory action on formaldehyde.</font></font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem7" data-id="7" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=7#rebelltitem7" data-basename="7-rolled-back-clean-water-protections" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7. Rolled Back Clean Water Protections</font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Industrial chemical pollutants are often discharged into drinking water supplies</b>. But the Trump administration has made it a priority to roll back the<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2015/06/29/2015-13435/clean-water-rule-definition-of-waters-of-the-united-states" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">&nbsp;Clean Water Rule,</a>&nbsp;which more clearly defined which kinds of bodies of water are subject to the Clean Water Act. EWG's analysis found that the Clean Water Rule, if implemented as proposed by the Obama administration, would have protected drinking water sources for more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/trump-plan-gut-stream-protections-imperils-tap-water-117-million-americans" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">117 million Americans</a>.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/31/politics/epa-science-board/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">EPA's own science advisors</a>&nbsp;have opposed the rollback of the Clean Water Rule, but the Trump administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/trump-completes-repeal-clean-water-rule-imperiling-drinking-water-sources-117m-people" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">repealed</a>&nbsp;it in 2019,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/trump-administration-finalizes-repeal-pollution-rule-threatening-drinking-water-sources-117" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">proposed its own rule</a>&nbsp;in January and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/04/21/2020-02500/the-navigable-waters-protection-rule-definition-of-waters-of-the-united-states" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">finalized it</a>&nbsp;in April. The new rule covers far fewer bodies of water and would leave 234,000 miles of small streams unprotected<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">. EWG estimates that at least 72 million Americans draw at least half their drinking water from small streams.</span></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Because of the repeal, those bodies of water will no longer be subject to pollution limits. Protection for small and seasonal streams and wetlands is important because they often flow into larger bodies of water, including sources of drinking water.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Polluted drinking water sources&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/money/agriculture/2017/03/17/judge-dismisses-water-works-nitrates-lawsuit/99327928/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">strain municipal water utilities</a>&nbsp;tasked with filtering out contaminants regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and risk exposing the public to more&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/tapwater/state-of-american-drinking-water.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">contaminants that aren't regulated</a>&nbsp;under the act.</span></font></font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem8" data-id="8" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=8#rebelltitem8" data-basename="8-cooked-the-books-on-asbestos" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">8. Cooked the Books on Asbestos</font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Asbestos is a highly toxic, naturally occurring&nbsp;<b>chemical linked to a particularly deadly form of cancer called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mesothelioma/symptoms-causes/syc-20375022" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">mesothelioma</a>.&nbsp;</b>An estimated&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/search?authors=Jukka%20Takala&orcid=0000-0001-5722-7052" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">40,000 Americans</a>&nbsp;die every year from asbestos-related diseas</span>es. Although the toxicity of asbestos is well understood, the EPA has never actually banned most uses. The EPA attempted a ban in 1989, but most of the rule was overturned by&nbsp;<a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6165892895625819539&q=corrosion+proof+fittings+v+epa&hl=en&as_sdt=20006" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991.</a></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Congress reformed TSCA in 2016, the EPA announced that asbestos would be one of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/research/under-new-safety-law-epa-picks-first-10-chemicals-review" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">first 10 chemicals</a>&nbsp;reviewed under the new law. Many hoped that this time, the EPA would finally ban asbestos.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead, when the EPA released its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/draft-risk-evaluation-asbestos" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">draft risk evaluation</a>&nbsp;in May, it found that several uses of asbestos, including import of asbestos and asbestos-containing products and distribution of asbestos-containing products, did not pose an unreasonable risk. The EPA made its risk determinations by ignoring exposure from "legacy" uses of asbestos, such as old insulation and building tiles. Although in November the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/court-trump-epa-acted-unlawfully-refusing-consider-legacy-use-asbestos-lead" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals</a>&nbsp;ordered the EPA to fix this error, it has yet to do so.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead of banning asbestos, in April 2019 the EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/04/25/2019-08154/restrictions-on-discontinued-uses-of-asbestos-significant-new-use-rule" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">published a rule</a>&nbsp;requiring notice and approval before manufacturers could resume using it in some applications the agency considered abandoned. However,&nbsp;<a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/815-e-p-a-memos-on-asbestos/12c87a96be998db10048/optimized/full.pdf#page=1" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">leaked documents</a>&nbsp;show that more than a dozen EPA staffers urged an outright ban on asbestos instead.</font></font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem9" data-id="9" data-reload-ads="true" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=9#rebelltitem9" data-basename="9-proposed-a-loophole-for-toxic-air-pollution" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">9. Proposed a Loophole for Toxic Air Pollution</font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In July 2019, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/07/26/2019-14252/reclassification-of-major-sources-as-area-sources-under-section-112-of-the-clean-air-act" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">Trump EPA proposed to reverse</a>&nbsp;a longstanding policy requiring large power plants, refineries and other industrial polluters to always meet certain strict controls, even after reducing emissions.&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">The new rule creates a loophole in the Clean Air Act regulations that would allow large industrial facilities to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2018-02/documents/reclassification_of_major_sources_as_area_sources_under_section_112_of_the_clean_air_act.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">reclassify themselves</a>, from "major sources" of air pollution to "area sources."</span></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That change would allow them to opt out of strict pollution control standards, called "maximum achievable control technology," and substantially increase their emissions of dangerous air pollutants. EPA's own data shows that more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2019-07-26/pdf/2019-14252.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">3,900 large facilities</a>&nbsp;that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/haps/initial-list-hazardous-air-pollutants-modifications" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">emit pollutants like mercury and&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">benzene</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&nbsp;</span>could take advantage of this loophole.&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2020/02/19/epa-data-emphasizes-danger-of-trump-administrations-air-toxics-loophole/?conversion_pg=www.momscleanairforce.org%2Fthe-racism-of-the-epa-agenda%2F" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">The Environmental Defense Fund</a>&nbsp;estimates the loophole could increase toxic air emissions by as much as 480 percent, or almost 50 million pounds per year.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This rollback is especially alarming in the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic. Studies have found that people who live in areas with&nbsp;<a href="https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2020/07/17/why-air-pollution-is-linked-to-severe-cases-of-covid-19/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">high levels of air pollution</a>&nbsp;are at greater risk for severe cases of COVID-19.</font></font></font></p></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" id="rebelltitem10" data-id="10" data-reload-ads="false" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-epa-2647067465.html?rebelltitem=10#rebelltitem10" data-basename="10-continuing-its-quest-to-censor-science" data-post-id="2647067465" data-published-at="1598221956" data-use-pagination="False"><h3 data-role="headline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10. Continuing Its Quest to Censor Science</font></font></font></h3><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2018, the EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/04/30/2018-09078/strengthening-transparency-in-regulatory-science" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">proposed a disastrous rule</a>&nbsp;significantly limiting the kinds of science the agency can rely on to justify environmental regulations. The rule would have prohibited the agency from using studies that don't make their underlying data publicly available or whose results can't be replicated. That change would prevent the EPA from including in its future risk assessments most&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aaas.org/news/scientific-medical-academic-groups-urge-epa-drop-transparency-rule" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">human health studies</a>, because personal medical data must remain confidential. The rule would undermine studies that are foundational to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/11/climate/epa-science-trump.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">clean air regulations</a>.</font></span></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal sparked enormous opposition from scientists, academics and environmental health advocates. More than 600,000 public comments were submitted to the agency, the vast majority in opposition. In September 2019, the EPA dropped the proposal from its regulatory agenda.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the Trump EPA is at it again. In March, the agency issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2020-03/documents/supplemental_notice_of_strengthening_transparency_in_regulatory_science.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">supplemental proposal</a>&nbsp;that is actually&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/testimony-official-correspondence/ewg-comments-epa-strengthening-transparency-regulatory-science" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70);">worse than</a>&nbsp;the original proposal. The 2018 proposal applied to all "dose response" studies, but the new proposal applies to all studies. The new proposal also applies retroactively, which means the EPA could use it to gut existing regulations.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As these actions – and dozens of others – show, the Trump EPA has aggressively worked to erode and eliminate vital environmental and public health protections. The public needs an EPA that will prioritize people and planet over polluters and profit.</font></font></font></p></div></div></div></div></div><div><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></font></font></p></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/trump-epa-plan-to-gut-emission-rules-for-oil-and-gas-industry-denounced-as-beyond-comprehension/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/trump-epa-plan-to-gut-emission-rules-for-oil-and-gas-industry-denounced-as-beyond-comprehension/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twt</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>trump EPA plan to gut emission rules for oil and gas industry denounced as ‘beyond comprehension’</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Julia Conley / Common Dreams August 12, 2020</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a move one green group said shows the Trump EPA’s approach is “manifestly inconsistent with the agency’s legal obligations” and with science, the agency is under fire for preparations to roll back methane rules for U.S. oil and gas producers.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Before Friday, the New York Times reported, the EPA is expected to unveil two new rules regarding methane, a greenhouse gas with 80 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide in the first two decades after emission.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>One would eliminate federal regulation of methane emissions from oil and gas wells across the country and would prevent future regulation at sites built before 2015, and another would weaken remaining requirements for companies, including one directing them to locate and fix leaks in wells.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">With the new rules in place, meteorologist and climate reporter Eric Holthaus said, voting Trump out of office in November will be imperative to protect communities across the country from methane emissions, which the EPA itself has said are linked to premature death, stroke, chronic bronchitis, and low birth weight as well as the warming of the planet.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“If Trump is reelected and this rule sticks, it is probably the single most consequential near-term climate decision of his presidency,” wrote Holthaus on social media. “A U.S. oil and gas industry unconcerned with methane would produce a surge in global warming with essentially irreversible consequences.</span>”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding denounced the expected rules as “sickening.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>About 10% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are made up of methane, and according to the Environmental Defense Fund, the EPA’s new rules could result in an additional five million metric tons of methane pollution to the atmosphere per year.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The expected rollback follows other significant EPA decisions to weaken environmental protections, including ones targeting the release of toxins from coal plants and tailpipe emissions.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Our federal methane safeguards have been in place since 2016, protecting Americans from unhealthy and climate-damaging pollution. The Trump administration’s decision to reverse course is deeply and fundamentally flawed,” said Peter Zalzal, lead attorney for EDF, in a statement. “Eliminating these safeguards would ignore the overwhelming body of scientific evidence documenting the urgent need to reduce methane pollution.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>With public support for coal extraction waning significantly, t<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">he fossil fuel industry has in recent years promoted natural gas as a “cleaner” alternative and is concerned that methane leaks from gas wells will “undermine that marketing message and hurt demand,” the Times reported.&nbsp;</span></b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, advocates for climate action are focused on promoting solar, wind, and other sustainable energy sources that don’t involve fossil fuel extraction at all.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Minneapolis-based meteorologist Sven Sundgaard called the planned rollback “yet another destructive and stupid act of this administration.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Rather than trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect this planet for our children and grandchildren, this administration is now easing regulations on polluters,” tweeted&nbsp;<b>Sen. Angus King (I-Maine). “Let’s call this what it is: environmental sabotage.”</b></font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://cen.acs.org/environment/pesticides/Atrazine-renewal-moves-forward-US/97/web/2019/12" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://cen.acs.org/environment/pesticides/Atrazine-renewal-moves-forward-US/97/web/2019/12</font></a></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">industry</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Atrazine renewal moves forward in the US</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Regulators propose slight changes to widely used herbicide</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Britt E. Erickson</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DECEMBER 20, 2019</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The US Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to renew approval of the herbicide atrazine, with a few modifications. The agency claims that the changes will reduce exposure to the chemical, which has been linked to developmental and reproductive toxicity in aquatic organisms and people. Environmental groups, however, argue that the proposed changes will weaken protections for aquatic organisms and human children.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Atrazine is a chlorotriazine herbicide widely used on corn, sorghum, and sugarcane in the US to control grasses and broadleaf weeds. The EPA concluded in a draft assessment in 2016 that the pesticide poses reproductive risks to aquatic plants, fish, amphibians, mammals, birds, and reptiles. In a 2018 draft assessment, the agency concluded that cumulative exposure to atrazine from food, drinking water, and residential uses poses reproductive and developmental risks to humans, particularly children.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>To mitigate the risks to humans, the EPA proposes mandatory spray drift controls and a reduction in the amount of atrazine that can be applied to residential lawns and turf.</b>&nbsp;Environmental groups say that will not be enough to protect children. Instead, they are urging the EPA to ban all residential uses of atrazine.</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Environmental groups also point out that the EPA’s proposal will allow more atrazine to enter US waterways by increasing the level of concern for aquatic organisms from 10 ppb to 15 ppb. “It’s absolutely shameful that while other countries are banning atrazine, the Trump administration is opening up the tap,” Nathan Donley, a scientist with the advocacy group<b>&nbsp;Center for Biological Diversity, says in a statement. “This disgusting backward step ignores decades of research and will inflict untold damage on people, wildlife and waters across the country</b></span>.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In contrast, farm groups welcome the proposed changes. “We appreciate the EPA’s proposal to re-register atrazine,” Gary Marshall, CEO of the Missouri Corn Growers Association and chair of the Triazine Network, says in a statement released by the EPA. “This product is tremendously important to farmers across the country, especially for weed control in conservation practices.”</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chemical & Engineering News</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ISSN 0009-2347</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Copyright © 2020&nbsp;<b>American Chemical Society</b></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mofo ew 720</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url css-listicle-body-2646418035" data-elid="2646418035" data-post-url="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-nepa-rollback-2646418035.html" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="Trump Announces Final Rollback of Law That Gives Communities a Say in Fossil Fuel Projects" style="margin-top: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;"><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word;">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;announced the final rollback of the "Magna Carta" of U.S. environmental laws on Wednesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/15/climate/trump-environment-nepa.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word;">The New York Times reported</a>.</font></font></font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; opacity: 0;"><div class="widgetshow-more with-primary-color js-keep-reading js-page-view-and-reload-embeds" style="cursor: pointer; line-height: 33px; margin: 20px 0px; width: 120px; padding: 0px 15px; border-radius: 3px; background-color: rgb(240, 240, 240); text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="show-more js-expand" /></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="tags" style="margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; padding: 6px 11px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232);">donald trump</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; padding: 6px 11px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232);">fossil fuels</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; padding: 6px 11px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232);">pipelines</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/environmental-racism" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; padding: 6px 11px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232);">environmental racism</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; padding: 6px 11px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232);">climate crisis</a></font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/05/01/epa-wheeler-fossil-fuels-clean-power-plan-senators-court"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/05/01/epa-wheeler-fossil-fuels-clean-power-plan-senators-court</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see below</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/federal-court-urged-to-hold-rogue-trump-epa-head-in-contempt-for-blatant-defiance-of-ban-on-toxic-weed-killer/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/06/federal-court-urged-to-hold-rogue-trump-epa-head-in-contempt-for-blatant-defiance-of-ban-on-toxic-weed-killer/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">common dreams</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">a&nbsp;&nbsp;coalition of farming and conservation groups is calling on a federal appeals court to hold EPA chief Andrew Wheeler in contempt for defying an order to immediately suspend use of dicamba, a poisonous weed-killer that is notorious for its tendency to drift and destroy nearby crops.</font></font></font></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Trump’s EPA is so rogue it thinks it can blow off a federal court ruling that stops the damaging dicamba spraying in an administrative order,” George Kimbrell of the Center for Food Safety, lead counsel in the case, said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2020/06/11/emergency-legal-motion-seeks-contempt-epa-administrator-wheeler-defying-court" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">statement</a>&nbsp;late Thursday night. “EPA needs a lesson in separation of powers and we’re asking the court to give it to them.”</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Monday, the EPA issued&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-offers-clarity-farmers-light-recent-court-vacatur-dicamba-registrations" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">guidance</a>&nbsp;greenlighting the use of dicamba through July 31 despite a June 3 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the agency’s approval of XtendiMax, Engenia, and FeXapan—dicamba-based herbicides sold by chemical giants Bayer (formerly Monsanto), BASF, and Corteva, respectively.</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In its 56-page&nbsp;<a href="https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/files/125--dicamba-opinion_35970.pdf" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">ruling</a>&nbsp;(pdf), the Ninth Circuit said the EPA “entirely failed to recognize the enormous social cost to farming communities where use of dicamba herbicides had turned farmer against farmer, and neighbor against neighbor.”</font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></font></font></p><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/05/01/epa-wheeler-fossil-fuels-clean-power-plan-senators-court"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/05/01/epa-wheeler-fossil-fuels-clean-power-plan-senators-court</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>EPA Has Been Captured by Fossil Fuel Interests, Democratic Senators Tell Court</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Dana Drugmand • Friday, May 1, 2020 - 14:40</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Trump administration is run by fossil fuel allies determined to do polluters’ bidding, U.S. senators are telling the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. The group of Democratic senators calls out this extensive fossil fuel industry influence in a recent friend-of-the-court brief filed in a lawsuit challenging the Trump EPA’s replacement of the Clean Power Plan meant to regulate carbon emissions from power plants.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s EPA replaced the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with what it calls the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which requires only minimal emissions reductions by individual power plants rather than a systemic approach to cleaning up climate pollution from the power sector. The American Lung Association, which recently reported nearly half of Americans are breathing unhealthy air, is leading the legal challenge to the rule, with support from a coalition of states and cities, environmental and public health organizations, and over 70 Democratic members of Congress.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Five Democratic senators — Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — submitted a legal brief that specifically points to the fossil fuel industry’s role in infiltrating the EPA and dictating the agency’s policymaking. The senators describe top EPA officials’ ties to the industry it is tasked with regulating and explain how fossil fuel interests have captured the agency. Within this context, the senators argue that no court could possibly conclude that EPA is engaged in reasoned, unbiased decision-making.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“With former fossil-fuel industry lobbyists and lawyers at the helm, EPA has decided to do nothing about [greenhouse gas] emissions,” the senators write. “The ACE Rule is not the product of reasoned decision-making by EPA that in any serious way grapples with the evidence of harms from climate change.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fossil Fuel Ties at EPA</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The senators’ brief points out how former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, former top EPA official Bill Wehrum, and current EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler are all closely connected to the fossil fuel industry.&nbsp;</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before he was head of the EPA (Feb. 2017 — July 2018), Pruitt was the attorney general for Oklahoma, a state heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry. “Pruitt’s political career was largely underwritten by the fossil-fuel industry,” the senators’ brief notes — the fossil fuel sector poured over $1.25 million in donations to his political campaigns.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt took up fossil fuel companies’ campaigns against environmental regulations and sued the EPA, the agency he would later lead, 14 times, which included suing to stop the Clean Power Plan. In nearly all of these lawsuits there was at least one industry co-litigator that contributed to Pruitt’s campaign or political action committee (PAC).</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to suing EPA, Pruitt sent barely edited form letters to federal regulators that came to him directly from oil and gas lobbyists. The senators’ brief mentions one example where a lobbyist from Devon Energy drafted a letter saying EPA was overestimating air pollution caused by natural gas drilling and sent it to Pruitt, who then copy and pasted it verbatim onto official letterhead and sent it to Washington.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before coming to EPA, Pruitt also served as chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). Fossil fuel interests contributed more than $5 million to RAGA’s political arm during the 2014 and 2016 election cycles, the senators’ brief notes. And as DeSmog previously reported, Republican attorneys general fighting the Clean Power Plan (including Pruitt) took in over $2.4 million from polluting interests in those election cycles. Republican attorneys general even met privately with fossil fuel companies like Murray Energy and Southern Company at a 2015 RAGA summit, just one week before 27 Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Clean Power Plan.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The process of repealing and replacing the Clean Power Plan began under Pruitt’s leadership at EPA, and continued with his successor Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler was a top lobbyist for dirty energy interests, including coal company Murray Energy. In lobbying for Murray, Wheeler earned nearly $3 million for his lobbying firm. Repealing the Clean Power Plan was at the top of Murray CEO Bob Murray’s wish list that he circulated among the new Trump administration.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another chief architect of the Clean Power Plan replacement was Bill Wehrum, former head of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. He resigned in June 2019 amid a congressional investigation into his contact with former industry clients. Prior to assuming his EPA position, Wehrum was an attorney representing fossil fuel companies and trade groups. His clients included big names like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Duke Energy, Dominion Resources, and Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG). “Wehrum met with UARG and several electric utilities to discuss replacing the [Clean Power Plan] just weeks after he assumed his duties as Assistant Administrator,” the senators’ brief points out.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Furthermore, the brief notes that Pruitt, Wheeler, and Wehrum have all questioned the well-accepted influence of human activity on climate, a view that aligns with the interests of the fossil fuel industry.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'Rampant cronyism, conflicts of interest, and corruption'?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The senators argue that the ACE rule is “arbitrary and capricious” as EPA “rejected well-established scientific and economic research” and “instead embraced self-serving proposals from the fossil fuel industry that will not significantly reduce emissions.” EPA’s obligation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions stems from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling and subsequent 2009 “endangerment finding” where the agency itself concluded (based on thorough scientific input) that these greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health and welfare.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ACE rule likely illegally ignores this endangerment finding. “Given its 2009 endangerment finding, the agency needs to explain how a rule that results in essentially zero [greenhouse gas] emission reductions comports with the direction given to it by Congress,” the senators write.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They also argue that EPA is essentially “captured” or run by fossil fuel interests, meaning the agency has “effectively delegated its authority to the fossil fuel industry.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EPA declined to comment. “EPA does not comment on pending litigation,” an agency spokesperson said.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The senators conclude by questioning EPA’s ability to make unbiased decisions when polluting interests are involved: “The record of this case, and of other regulatory matters of which this Court may take notice, indeed raise the question whether this EPA is even capable of fair decision-making in matters involving the interests of the fossil fuel industry, or whether rampant cronyism, conflicts of interest, and corruption leave EPA under present leadership unable to conform itself to the strictures of [federal administrative law].”</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/05/01/epa-wheeler-fossil-fuels-clean-power-plan-senators-court"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/05/01/epa-wheeler-fossil-fuels-clean-power-plan-senators-court</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PA Has Been Captured by Fossil Fuel Interests, Democratic Senators Tell Court</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read time: 6 mins</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Dana Drugmand • Friday, May 1, 2020 - 14:40</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Trump administration is run by fossil fuel allies determined to do polluters’ bidding, U.S. senators are telling the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. The group of Democratic senators calls out this extensive fossil fuel industry influence in a recent friend-of-the-court brief filed in a lawsuit challenging the Trump EPA’s replacement of the Clean Power Plan meant to regulate carbon emissions from power plants.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s EPA replaced the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with what it calls the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which requires only minimal emissions reductions by individual power plants rather than a systemic approach to cleaning up climate pollution from the power sector. The American Lung Association, which recently reported nearly half of Americans are breathing unhealthy air, is leading the legal challenge to the rule, with support from a coalition of states and cities, environmental and public health organizations, and over 70 Democratic members of Congress.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Five Democratic senators — Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — submitted a legal brief that specifically points to the fossil fuel industry’s role in infiltrating the EPA and dictating the agency’s policymaking. The senators describe top EPA officials’ ties to the industry it is tasked with regulating and explain how fossil fuel interests have captured the agency. Within this context, the senators argue that no court could possibly conclude that EPA is engaged in reasoned, unbiased decision-making.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“With former fossil-fuel industry lobbyists and lawyers at the helm, EPA has decided to do nothing about [greenhouse gas] emissions,” the senators write. “The ACE Rule is not the product of reasoned decision-making by EPA that in any serious way grapples with the evidence of harms from climate change.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fossil Fuel Ties at EPA</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The senators’ brief points out how former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, former top EPA official Bill Wehrum, and current EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler are all closely connected to the fossil fuel industry.&nbsp;</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before he was head of the EPA (Feb. 2017 — July 2018), Pruitt was the attorney general for Oklahoma, a state heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry. “Pruitt’s political career was largely underwritten by the fossil-fuel industry,” the senators’ brief notes — the fossil fuel sector poured over $1.25 million in donations to his political campaigns.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Oklahoma attorney general, Pruitt took up fossil fuel companies’ campaigns against environmental regulations and sued the EPA, the agency he would later lead, 14 times, which included suing to stop the Clean Power Plan. In nearly all of these lawsuits there was at least one industry co-litigator that contributed to Pruitt’s campaign or political action committee (PAC).</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition to suing EPA, Pruitt sent barely edited form letters to federal regulators that came to him directly from oil and gas lobbyists. The senators’ brief mentions one example where a lobbyist from Devon Energy drafted a letter saying EPA was overestimating air pollution caused by natural gas drilling and sent it to Pruitt, who then copy and pasted it verbatim onto official letterhead and sent it to Washington.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Before coming to EPA, Pruitt also served as chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). Fossil fuel interests contributed more than $5 million to RAGA’s political arm during the 2014 and 2016 election cycles, the senators’ brief notes. And as DeSmog previously reported, Republican attorneys general fighting the Clean Power Plan (including Pruitt) took in over $2.4 million from polluting interests in those election cycles. Republican attorneys general even met privately with fossil fuel companies like Murray Energy and Southern Company at a 2015 RAGA summit, just one week before 27 Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Clean Power Plan.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The process of repealing and replacing the Clean Power Plan began under Pruitt’s leadership at EPA, and continued with his successor Andrew Wheeler. Wheeler was a top lobbyist for dirty energy interests, including coal company Murray Energy. In lobbying for Murray, Wheeler earned nearly $3 million for his lobbying firm. Repealing the Clean Power Plan was at the top of Murray CEO Bob Murray’s wish list that he circulated among the new Trump administration.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another chief architect of the Clean Power Plan replacement was Bill Wehrum, former head of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. He resigned in June 2019 amid a congressional investigation into his contact with former industry clients. Prior to assuming his EPA position, Wehrum was an attorney representing fossil fuel companies and trade groups. His clients included big names like ExxonMobil, Chevron, Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Duke Energy, Dominion Resources, and Utility Air Regulatory Group (UARG). “Wehrum met with UARG and several electric utilities to discuss replacing the [Clean Power Plan] just weeks after he assumed his duties as Assistant Administrator,” the senators’ brief points out.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Furthermore, the brief notes that Pruitt, Wheeler, and Wehrum have all questioned the well-accepted influence of human activity on climate, a view that aligns with the interests of the fossil fuel industry.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'Rampant cronyism, conflicts of interest, and corruption'?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The senators argue that the ACE rule is “arbitrary and capricious” as EPA “rejected well-established scientific and economic research” and “instead embraced self-serving proposals from the fossil fuel industry that will not significantly reduce emissions.” EPA’s obligation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions stems from a 2007 Supreme Court ruling and subsequent 2009 “endangerment finding” where the agency itself concluded (based on thorough scientific input) that these greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health and welfare.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ACE rule likely illegally ignores this endangerment finding. “Given its 2009 endangerment finding, the agency needs to explain how a rule that results in essentially zero [greenhouse gas] emission reductions comports with the direction given to it by Congress,” the senators write.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They also argue that EPA is essentially “captured” or run by fossil fuel interests, meaning the agency has “effectively delegated its authority to the fossil fuel industry.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">EPA declined to comment. “EPA does not comment on pending litigation,” an agency spokesperson said.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The senators conclude by questioning EPA’s ability to make unbiased decisions when polluting interests are involved: “The record of this case, and of other regulatory matters of which this Court may take notice, indeed raise the question whether this EPA is even capable of fair decision-making in matters involving the interests of the fossil fuel industry, or whether rampant cronyism, conflicts of interest, and corruption leave EPA under present leadership unable to conform itself to the strictures of [federal administrative law].”</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">CAFE smash crisis</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/trump-to-announce-his-most-disastrous-environmental-policy-so-far/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/trump-to-announce-his-most-disastrous-environmental-policy-so-far/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">secret sci BS jammed thru</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23032020/trump-epa-health-secret-science-coronavirus"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23032020/trump-epa-health-secret-science-coronavirus</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/holy-crap-this-is-insane-citing-coronavirus-pandemic-epa-indefinitely-suspends-environmental-rules/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/holy-crap-this-is-insane-citing-coronavirus-pandemic-epa-indefinitely-suspends-environmental-rules/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>‘Holy crap this is insane’: Citing coronavirus pandemic, EPA indefinitely suspends environmental rules</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Royalty-free stock photo ID: 1417570841 Washington, DC/USA - June 3, 2019: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler speaks at the&nbsp;<b>National Press Club.]</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Common Dreams March 28, 2020</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The EPA uses this global pandemic to create loopholes for destroying the environment. This is a schoolbook example for what we need to start looking out for.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Environmental Protection Agency, headed by former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, announced on Thursday a sweeping and indefinite suspension of environmental rules amid the worsening coronavirus pandemic, a move green groups warned gives the fossil fuel industry a “green light to pollute with impunity.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Under the new policy (pdf), which the EPA insisted is temporary while providing no timeframe, big polluters will effectively be trusted to regulate themselves and will not be punished for failing to comply with reporting rules and other requirements. The order—applied retroactively beginning March 13, 2020—requests that companies “act responsibly” to avoid violations.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Outrageous. Suspending all environmental regulations indefinitely? This has nothing to do with coronavirus. This has everything to do with protecting Big Business.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">—Rep. Mark Pocan</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“EPA is committed to protecting human health and the environment, but recognizes challenges resulting from efforts to protect workers and the public from COVID-19 may directly impact the ability of regulated facilities to meet all federal regulatory requirements,” Wheeler said in a statement. “This temporary policy is designed to provide enforcement discretion under the current, extraordinary conditions, while ensuring facility operations continue to protect human health and the environment.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Critics, such as youth climate leader&nbsp;<b>Greta Thunberg, accused the Trump administration of exploiting the coronavirus crisis to advance its longstanding goal of drastically rolling back environmental protections.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The EPA uses this global pandemic to create loopholes for destroying the environment,” tweeted Thunberg. “This is a schoolbook example for what we need to start looking out for.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cynthia Giles, former head of the EPA’s Office of Enforcement under the Obama administration, told The Hill that the new policy is “essentially a nationwide waiver of environmental rules for the indefinite future.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“It tells companies across the country that they will not face enforcement even if they emit unlawful air and water pollution in violation of environmental laws, so long as they claim that those failures are in some way ’caused’ by the virus pandemic,”&nbsp;</b>said Giles. “And it allows them an out on monitoring too, so we may never know how bad the violating pollution was.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Holy crap this is insane: The Trump administration just waived enforcement of the EPA’s environmental rules during the coronavirus pandemic for the indefinite future. Obama’s EPA enforcement chief strongly condemned it as an abdication of duty https://t.co/5JLDjeZb5K pic.twitter.com/mTgoiCDyxP</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Stephen Wolf (@PoliticsWolf) March 27, 2020</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The EPA’s order, for which the oil industry aggressively lobbied, represents the latest effort by the Trump administration to use the coronavirus pandemic to advance right-wing policies that would likely not be permitted—or would at least face greater scrutiny—under normal circumstances.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>As Common Dreams reported last week, the White House is advancing an assault on public-sector unions, xenophobic border policies, and other objectives amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has officially infected more than 85,000 people in the United States as of Friday morning.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Outrageous,” tweeted Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, in response to the EPA’s new policy. “Suspending all environmental regulations indefinitely? This has nothing to do with coronavirus. This has everything to do with protecting Big Business.”</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">320</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemicals-information-lawsuit-2645530774.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemicals-information-lawsuit-2645530774.html</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2645530774" style="margin-top: -15px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When Congress updated the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in 2016 for the first time in 40 years, public health and environmental advocates hoped it would be a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/asbestos-us-epa-trump-2597804155.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">game-changer</a>&nbsp;for protecting Americans from dangerous&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">chemicals</a>, enabling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">EPA</a>) to finally ban harmful substances like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/asbestos" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">asbestos</a>.</font></font></font></p><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-1" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemicals-information-lawsuit-2645530774.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem1"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>But under President&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Donald Trump</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">EPA</a>&nbsp;has consistently failed to take advantage of the new law. It has declined to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-asbestos-ban-2636681458.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">ban asbestos</a>, and has even violated requirements that it keep the public informed about the approval of new chemicals, an&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/20200317_comms_pc_tsca_english_final.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">investigation</a>&nbsp;by&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Earthjustice</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.edf.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Environmental Defense Fund</a>&nbsp;(EDF) revealed.</b>&nbsp;That's why Earthjustice is representing five environmental groups in a&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/final_filed_complaint.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;filed Wednesday&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/final_filed_complaint.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">against the EPA</a>.</font></font></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-2" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemicals-information-lawsuit-2645530774.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Congress reformed TSCA just a few years ago to protect people's health from new chemicals. It said, unequivocally, that the public has a right to know about these chemicals before they are put out on the market," Earthjustice attorney Tosh Sagar said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/report-trumps-epa-sued-for-concealing-health-studies-violating-its-chemical-laws" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">press release</a>. "Trump's EPA instead hides health and safety studies and other key information, just so that industry can have it easier. Ignoring TSCA's transparency requirements makes it more likely that dangerous chemicals are reaching our homes and workplaces."</font></font></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-3" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemicals-information-lawsuit-2645530774.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem3"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Earthjustice and EDF investigation, also published Wednesday, reviewed 204 out of around 1,100 chemical applications the EPA had received between August 2016 and April 2019. It also examined all the public notices that the agency issued for around 1,700 new applications through early 2020. It found that the EPA had routinely violated a stipulation of the new TSCA amendment that the public be informed of the approval process for new chemicals so that it could weigh in before the chemical was put on the market.</font></font></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-4" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemicals-information-lawsuit-2645530774.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem4"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The agency concealed information in three key ways, the investigation found.</b></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>1. It did not inform the public of new applications in a timely manner:</b>&nbsp;The EPA is supposed to notify the public within five days of receiving a new chemical application. However, the investigation found that the average notice was published 87 days after the application was received, even though the EPA has 90 days to approve a chemical. One in six notices were published after the chemical was already approved.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>2. The EPA has withheld key safety information:&nbsp;</b>The agency is supposed to publish all applications online, but instead forces the public to request them via a labyrinthine process. Further, it allows companies to redact or withhold health and safety studies as confidential business information (CBI) despite a legal requirement to publicize all health and safety information.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>3. The EPA doesn't evaluate CBI claims:</b>&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The agency is required by law to audit 25 percent of CBI claims to make sure companies are not abusing the designation to withhold important information. It is then supposed to publish its decision. But the EPA has not published any reviews of CBI claims, and has only completed reviews of claims in 27 applications, far below 25 percent of the 1,250 it has completed safety reviews for.</span></font></font></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-5" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemicals-information-lawsuit-2645530774.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem5"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In one case, this secrecy involved a new type of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pfas" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">PFAS</a>, a class of chemical already contaminating U.S. drinking water.&nbsp;</span>The EPA's career scientists found that the new substance could cause respiratory illnesses like asthma and alter DNA, leading to cancer. Nevertheless, it was approved in April 2019 and almost all of the documents provided by the company were never shared with the public.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"When it comes to toxic chemicals and Trump's EPA, this secrecy is the norm. It's not just illegal, it puts workers and families across the country at risk," the investigators wrote.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earthjustice, acting on behalf of EDF,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ourhealthyfuture.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Environmental Health Strategy Center</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ceh.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Center for Environmental Health</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Natural Resources Defense Council</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Sierra Club,</a>&nbsp;threatened to sue the EPA over the violations in September 2019. The agency promised to improve the application vetting process, but the coalition considered its changes inadequate.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Unleashing chemicals into the market without proper vetting is like opening Pandora's box," the coalition said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. "EPA must stop hiding key information about the chemicals it is reviewing and put public health above the desires of the chemical industry."</font></font></font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The EPA did not comment on a story in&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/488331-epa-sued-for-allegedly-violating-laws-for-approving-new-chemicals" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Hill</a>&nbsp;about the lawsuit, saying it did not weigh in on ongoing litigation.</font></font></font></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-5" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-chemicals-information-lawsuit-2645530774.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem5"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" padding="padding">epa</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pfas" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" padding="padding">pfas</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" padding="padding">public health</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">&nbsp;</span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" padding="padding">chemicals</a></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/war-on-science-epa-2645458348.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/war-on-science-epa-2645458348.html</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2645458348" style="margin-top: -15px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/taralohan/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Tara Lohan</font></a></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><a href="https://therevelator.org/author/taralohan/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The New York Times keeps a&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">running list</a>&nbsp;of all the environmental regulations that the Trump administration has worked to trash since taking office more than three years ago.</b></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It's at nearly 100.</b></font></font></font></p><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-1" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/war-on-science-epa-2645458348.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem1"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>That's just the start. The administration's anti-environmental agenda has also involved undermining and unraveling key government agencies, most especially the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).</b></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">There it's been death by a thousand cuts, with&nbsp;<a href="https://therevelator.org/resistance-trump-epa/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">EPA staff</a>&nbsp;facing untenable contracts, positions left unfilled and budget cuts across the board — not mention an appointed leadership that's opposed to the agency's own mission.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>As bad as all this sounds, there's some important historical context to remember: It's been bad for a while, according to a new book,&nbsp;<a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781538131503/The-War-on-the-EPA-America's-Endangered-Environmental-Protections" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;"><em>The War on the EPA: America's Endangered Environmental Protections</em></a>, which tracks the "systematic propaganda campaign to discredit science" that began decades ago.</b></font></font></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-2" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/war-on-science-epa-2645458348.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The book comes from the keyboards of husband-and-wife writing team William and Rosemary Alley, also the authors of&nbsp;<a href="http://www.alleyandalley.com/the-books.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">two other environmental books</a>&nbsp;on nuclear waste and groundwater.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We wanted to write a good, readable book giving people more understanding of why this agency is important, what they do, and the difficulties involved in doing their job," says Rosemary.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They realized that in order to save the EPA, people need to know what it does — and a lot of people don't.</font></font></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-3" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/war-on-science-epa-2645458348.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem3"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We are trying to get people to understand how this matters to them in their daily lives," says William, who is also the director of science and technology for the National Ground Water Association and headed the office of groundwater for the U.S. Geological Survey for nearly two decades. "There's a lot that EPA does, like when we drink water from the tap, we're dependent on EPA."</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unfortunately, when people do talk about the EPA, it's usually misguided complaints.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There's been a long demonizing of the EPA for over-regulating things, but the reality is that it's extremely difficult for EPA to regulate anything," Rosemary says.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Case in point: Despite a slew of new chemicals in our daily lives, it's been two decades since a new regulation addressed a drinking-water contaminant.</b></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Alleys also write about the complicated and time-consuming processes behind lots of other regulations — tracking how they were first established and what happened afterward. In many cases environmental regulations were loosened to accommodate industry after political pushback or legal challenges.</font></font></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-4" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/war-on-science-epa-2645458348.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem4"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This plays out time and time again throughout the Alleys' book. Among the cases they cover: why feedlots continue to pollute waterways; what went wrong in Flint, Michigan; the long battle to remove lead from gasoline and continuing efforts to make cars cleaner; the continuing fight over what constitutes "waters of the United States"; President Obama's work to reduce mercury from coal plants and methane emissions from oil and gas operations — and Trump's push to undo those and many other regulations.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It's clear from the book that enacting protections to safeguard human health and the environment has always been an uphill battle — and that narrative runs alongside the agency's own successful creation story, as the Alleys also explain.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 1970s saw the establishment of the EPA with bipartisan support from Congress (after a veto by Nixon) and the creation of bedrock environmental laws including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.</font></font></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-5" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/war-on-science-epa-2645458348.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem5"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And for the first 10 years things went pretty well.</b></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Part of the early success of the EPA came from strong public involvement,&nbsp;</b>the Alleys say. In those days many environmental problems were incredibly visible — gray clouds of smog and trash dumped along riverbanks — and there was public pushback to fix them.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But in 1981 President Ronald Reagan appointed Anne Gorsuch to lead the agency, and she threw down every speed bump and roadblock she could to impede the agency's work. Budgets were slashed, positions were cut and industry leaders were put in charge of environmental programs.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It's nearly identical to the tactics the Trump administration has used in recent years.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Things improved slightly after William Ruckelshaus, the agency's first administrator, was brought back in 1983. But when Newt Gingrich took control of the House of Representatives a decade later, the anti-science work began again and has continued ever since.</font></font></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-6" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/war-on-science-epa-2645458348.html?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6" data-id="6" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem6"><p /><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With Trump's election it kicked into high gear.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We could have just as easily titled the book&nbsp;<em>The War on Science,</em>&nbsp;because science is just the absolute critical underpinnings of everything the EPA does, and that of course has been just tremendously damaged under the current administration," says Rosemary. "The war on science, of course, didn't start with Trump, but it's been exacerbated tremendously."</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After detailing how this anti-science agenda influences making and enforcing environmental regulations, the Alleys' book ends with a look at why it will be critical to rebuild the EPA and the importance of scientific integrity.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"A lot of talent has been lost from the agency and that will be impossible to turn around overnight," says William. "If we have four more years of this, I have no idea how we'll get past that. [The Trump administration] is still rushing to try to get as much as they possibly can done. Or undone, as it seems."</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rosemary says she hopes that their book will provide an important jumpstart to conversations about the critical role of the EPA and efforts to fortify it.</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If you don't see what the agency does, it's hard to communicate the risk when it's damaged," she says. "We want people to understand why we need a strong EPA as much today as we did 50 years ago."</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reposted with permission from&nbsp;<a href="https://therevelator.org/war-on-science-epa/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Revelator</a>.</font></font></font></p><p /></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /></font></font><div class="post-pager js-listicle-pager" data-listicle-style="" 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face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-war-on-science-congress-2620047990.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;" 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class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump--environmental-attack-on-kids-health-2609998643.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;" /></li></ul><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="visibility: hidden; margin-top: 20px !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/12/13/how-trumps-war-science-is-borrowing-tobacco-industry-playbook/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;" /></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/13/epas-war-science-continues" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;" /></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="tags" style="margin: 20px 0px;"><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">epa</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/science" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">science</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-science" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">climate science</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">climate crisis</a></div></div><div></div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-limits-science-public-health-2645395622.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-limits-science-public-health-2645395622.html</a></div><div>
</div><div><b>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">EPA</a>) used the cover of Super Tuesday to put out an update to its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-rules-science-polluters-2641315671.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">plans to limit scientific research</a>&nbsp;in its decision-making on Tuesday evening, as the mass media world had its eyes focused on the election results trickling in.</b></div><div>
</div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2645395622" style="margin-top: -15px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;"><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-1" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-limits-science-public-health-2645395622.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem1"><p /><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The proposal, called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2020-03/documents/supplemental_notice_of_strengthening_transparency_in_regulatory_science.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science</a>, is part of the agency's ongoing push to rewrite "the foundation on which public health and environmental rules are crafted," as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/trump-administration-expands-reach-epa-secret-science-proposal" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">E&E News</a>&nbsp;reported.</font></p><p>As&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/04/super-tuesday-news-dump-epa-expands-rule-limiting-science-agency-can-use-make-public" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Common Dreams</a>&nbsp;reported, the timing of the release was curious. In a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/rebleber/status/1234996734578683904" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">tweet</a>, Rebecca Leber from Mother Jones wrote, "an incredible news dump by EPA this evening. After delays, EPA just moved forward its most controversial proposal of the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Trump</a>&nbsp;administration, limiting&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">science</a>&nbsp;and medical data that can be used by the agency. Still far from a final rule but inching closer."</p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-2" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-limits-science-public-health-2645395622.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2"><p /><p>Experts say the move, which would restrict the type of research that can be considered in public health and environmental regulations, is one of the government's most far-reaching restrictions on science, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/climate/trump-science-epa.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The New York Times</a>.</p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The proposal, which was first put forth in&nbsp;<b>April 2018 by former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt,</b>&nbsp;looked to exclude research where all the underlying data was not publicly available, even if that meant data was not shared because it would have violated medical privacy laws.<b>&nbsp;The so-called "secret science</b>" proposal received more than 600,000 comments during the public comment period. Most of them were critical of a proposal that would stop the agency from considering landmark public health research, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/485811-epa-revamp-of-secret-science-rule-will-still-limit-research" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Hill</a>. For example, under the proposal, the EPA would downplay studies that "definitively linked&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">air pollution</a>&nbsp;to premature deaths but relied on the personal health information of thousands of study subjects who had been guaranteed confidentiality," according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/climate/trump-science-epa.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The New York Times</a>.</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-3" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-limits-science-public-health-2645395622.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem3"><p /><p>"They're putting in nonscientific criteria to decide what science the agency can use," said Andrew Rosenberg, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/climate/trump-science-epa.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The New York Times</a>&nbsp;reported. "Now the most important thing is whether the data is public, not the strength of the scientific evidence."</p><p>The new proposal makes a slight alteration. It would not flatly reject studies without publicly available information. Instead, it would create a tiered-system and give lower priority to studies where some of the data, even sensitive medical data, is not made public, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/climate/trump-science-epa.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The New York Times</a>.</p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-4" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-limits-science-public-health-2645395622.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem4"><p /><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"In the midst of a public health crisis, Americans deserve a government that relies on the best available science to protect everyone against harm. This proposal does the opposite," said Gina McCarthy, former EPA administrator and now president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2020/200304" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">statement</a>.</font></p><p>"Now is not the time to play games with critical medical research that underpins every rule designed to protect us from harmful pollution in our air and in our water,"&nbsp;<b>McCarthy&nbsp;</b>added. "This move is even more egregious than the last proposal, which the administration's own hand-picked scientists criticized."</p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-5" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-limits-science-public-health-2645395622.html?rebelltitem=5#rebelltitem5" data-id="5" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem5"><p /><p>The proposal seems to be in lockstep with the administration's systematic efforts to dismantle environmental regulations and to finalize the rollbacks before this year's election. The effort to dilute scientific-research is particularly beneficial to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">fossil fuel</a>&nbsp;industry, which is often hampered by studies about the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">climate crisis</a>, air pollution or the safety of drinking water, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/climate/trump-science-epa.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The New York Times</a>&nbsp;reported.</p><p>"These additions and clarifications to the proposed rule will ensure that the science supporting the agency's decisions is transparent and available for independent validation while still maintaining protection of confidential and personally identifiable information," said Andrew Wheeler, the EPA's administrator, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/trump-administration-expands-reach-epa-secret-science-proposal" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">E&E News</a>&nbsp;reported.</p><p>However, observers have a much different take on the intent of the rule.</p><p>"It's increasing the damage of the proposed rule," said Betsy Southerland, former director of EPA's Office of Science and Technology and a member of the Environmental Protection Network, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/trump-administration-expands-reach-epa-secret-science-proposal" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">E&E News</a>&nbsp;reported.</p><p>"Number 1, it expands the scope of the rule, and number 2, by no means does it demonstrate they have a legal authority to do this rulemaking."</p><p /></div><div class="post-pager js-listicle-pager" data-listicle-style="" data-async_load_parameters="platform=desktop&display_ads=1&settings=%7B%22enter_url%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_post_section%22%3A+false%2C+%22ads_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22prevent_last_break_repetition%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_numeration%22%3A+false%2C+%22allow_url_change%22%3A+true%2C+%22ads_order%22%3A+%5B%5D%2C+%22pagination_order%22%3A+%5B%5D%2C+%22list_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22reorder_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22cooldown_in_seconds%22%3A+null%2C+%22source%22%3A+%22post_listicle_settings%22%2C+%22next_post_url%22%3A+null%2C+%22up_down_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22show_columns_on_mobile%22%3A+false%2C+%22numeration_sort%22%3A+-1%2C+%22allow_url_update%22%3A+true%2C+%22use_pagination%22%3A+false%2C+%22body_text_above%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_ads%22%3A+false%2C+%22items_as_posts%22%3A+false%2C+%22multiple_answers%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_redirect%22%3A+false%2C+%22is_guest_voting_allowed%22%3A+true%2C+%22layout_type%22%3A+1%7D" style="display: table; width: 780px;"><div class="around-the-web" style="margin-top: 5px !important;"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; visibility: hidden !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-air-pollution-facts-science-2645171969.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;" /></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-rules-science-polluters-2641315671.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;" /></li></ul><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="visibility: hidden; margin-top: 20px !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-administration-epa-science-medical-research-public-health-pollution-a9199416.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;" /></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/news/20191112/epa-moves-to-limit-science-in-public-health-rules" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;" /></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/trumps-epa-puts-our-health-at-risk/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;" /></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="tags" style="margin: 20px 0px;"><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">epa</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/science" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">science</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">trump administration</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/2020-election" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">2020 election</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/andrew-wheeler" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">andrew wheeler</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">public health</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">fossil fuels</a>&nbsp;<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">climate crisis</a></div><div><div></div><div>
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</div><div><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Trump</a>&nbsp;administration is trying mightily to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CEQ-2019-0003-0001" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">gut</a>&nbsp;the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the law that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/02/what-trumps-proposed-nepa-rollback-could-mean-for-the-climate/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">mandates</a>&nbsp;rigorous,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">science</a>-based environmental impact reviews for major infrastructure and construction projects prior to federal permitting. NEPA also reserves significant time for the public to weigh in on the impact of projects to their communities.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The loss of public input in the administration's proposed changes to NEPA has environmental justice leaders up in arms. For them, the&nbsp;<b>silencing amounts to regulatory racism.</b></font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-gutting-nepa-2645437802.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-basename="particle-1"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">At a Feb. 25 public hearing on the proposal in Washington, DC, Hilton Kelley, a 2011 Goldman Environmental Prize&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goldmanprize.org/blog/environmental-racism-in-america-spotlight-on-the-gulf-coast/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">winner</a>&nbsp;for his work in reducing emissions from petrochemical facilities and incinerators in Port Arthur, Texas, told the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) that, with at least six explosions and plant accidents in his city over the last year, the events had become so common that children play basketball right through the noise and plumes.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">"When you're talking about weakening NEPA and expediting a process, this is what happens,"&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/25/us/politics/bc-us-trump-environmental-rollbacks.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Kelley said,</a>&nbsp;as reported by The Associated Press. "Don't lessen the regulation. Don't silence our voices."</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">That is precisely what the Trump administration is trying to do in&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/kathleen-rest/how-the-trump-administration-plans-to-gut-our-nations-bedrock-environmental-law" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">rewriting</a>&nbsp;the implementation guidelines for this bipartisan act signed by President Nixon and designed to allow the public input needed to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/nepapub/nepa_documents/RedDont/Req-NEPA.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">ensure</a>&nbsp;that "man and nature can exist in productive harmony."</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Cheered on by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.unlockamericaninvestment.com/about/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">nation's leading</a>&nbsp;fossil fuel, chemical, construction, manufacturing, airline, trucking and farming interests, the Trump administration is trying to cut the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200110FINAL-FACT-SHEET-v3.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">average</a>&nbsp;time for environmental reviews by more than half.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">The Trump NEPA rewrite would&nbsp;<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2020/01/16/479454/5-ways-trumps-latest-anti-environmental-proposal-allow-fossil-fuel-companies-bulldoze-communities/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">undermine</a>&nbsp;the act by allowing companies and contractors to write up their own environmental reviews. It would free builders of chemical and petrochemical factories, oil and gas pipelines, highways,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/climate/trump-nepa-climate-change.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">port terminals</a>&nbsp;and other infrastructure from accounting for the cumulative effects over time of pollution,&nbsp;<a href="https://ceq.doe.gov/docs/ceq-publications/ccenepa/sec1.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">land and wetland loss and erosion</a>.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">Plant owners seeking federal approval would no longer need to fret about indirect effects of downstream and downwind&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">pollution</a>, nor about a facility's contribution to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/climate/trump-nepa-climate-change.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">climate change</a>.</p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-gutting-nepa-2645437802.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="particle-2"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;">More Harm to Communities Already Under Siege</h3><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">For communities long polluted by industry, which are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/03/11/702348935/study-finds-racial-gap-between-who-causes-air-pollution-and-who-breathes-it" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">disproportionately poor and of color</a>, the Trump administration's changes promise particular devastation. Such communities already suffer higher rates of illnesses from asthma to cancer, life-altering effects such as low birth weight and cognitive child development, and daily insults to quality of life in diesel exhaust, soot penetrating into homes and contaminated yards and playgrounds.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">If the administration has its way, NEPA implementation guidelines would be rewritten so that even in neighborhoods already densely packed with toxic industries, a proposed facility need only assess its own pollutants, not how much they combine and compound those of nearby facilities to worsen the overall quality of air, water and land.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">To make sure residents cannot complain about such compounded damage, the Trump administration is trying to severely limit the opportunity for mothers, fathers, seniors, teens and community leaders to speak directly to the government.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The rollout of the proposed changes is a case in point. Despite the sweeping environmental risks Americans currently face, with&nbsp;<b><a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/derrick-jackson/let-the-children-breathe-particulate-matter-how-the-trump-administrations-polluted-policies-are-hurting-children" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">air pollution</a>&nbsp;that kills&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/116/18/8775.full.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">100,000 people per year</a>&nbsp;and 77 million Americans drinking tap water in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/04/us/tapwater-drinking-water-study.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">violation&nbsp;</a>of health regulations</b>, the White House Council on Environmental Quality allowed only two hearings on the proposed changes to NEPA before the close of public comment period March 10, in Washington, DC, and in Denver. By way of comparison, The Washington Post reported that major issues involving NEPA usually get around nine hearings.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">One community leader who did get into the Washington hearing called out the cynicism of the Trump administration for its scant public scheduling. Belinda Joyner of Northampton County, North Carolina, who has&nbsp;<a href="https://energynews.us/2017/12/01/southeast/critics-highlight-atlantic-coast-pipelines-environmental-justice-impact/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">spoken out</a>&nbsp;against dumping in her lower-income African American community by a wood pellet facility,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article237592194.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">industrial-scale hog farms</a>&nbsp;and a part of the proposed Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/02/25/us/politics/bc-us-trump-environmental-rollbacks.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">told the CEQ panel</a>, "You act like you're listening, and I'm not going to say you're not. But we see the results of these hearings."</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><b>In Denver,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">indigenous Americans</a>&nbsp;spoke out strongly against the destruction of NEPA.&nbsp;</b>Seventeen-year-old Navajo Najhozhoni Rain Ben drove seven and a half hours&nbsp;<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2020/02/11/nepa-review-denver-hearing/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">to say</a>&nbsp;to the CEQ panel, "We shouldn't be talking about this. We should be implementing plans for the future. This is not for the future. This is for profit." Musician and spoken word artist Lyla June Johnston, also Navajo, drove six hours from Santa Fe to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2020/02/11/nepa-hearing-denver/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">tell</a>&nbsp;the panel that the proposed changes were "a slap in the face to our democracy — a slap in the face to the integrity of our mother earth."</p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-gutting-nepa-2645437802.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-basename="particle-3"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;">The Modern Need for NEPA</h3><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">NEPA originally was conceived amid growing public awareness and outrage in the 1960s over river and lake pollution, pesticide poisoning of birds, highway proposals that would blast communities apart, and tanker oil spills that fouled beaches and wiped out wildlife. There is no less need for it today as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">climate change</a>&nbsp;is already slapping America and the world in the face with more devastating storms, chronic coastal flooding, deadly heat waves, western and Alaskan&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">wildfires</a>&nbsp;and acceleration of species extinction.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">There is arguably even more of an immediate need for NEPA in communities that were dumping grounds long before the concept of climate change, even before the signing of the act itself. It has been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.naacp.org/climate-justice-resources/fumes-across-fence-line/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">proven beyond coincidence</a>&nbsp;that — similar to the tobacco industry marketing to vulnerable populations — toxic industries and builders of massive infrastructure projects&nbsp;<a href="https://comingcleaninc.org/assets/media/images/Reports/Who%27s%20in%20Danger%20Report%20FINAL.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">target locales</a>&nbsp;where they assume residents will offer the least political resistance.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">That significantly explains the shameless shoehorning of petrochemical plants into Louisiana's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/st-james-louisiana-plastic-petrochemicals-buy-out/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Cancer Alley</a>&nbsp;in predominantly African American areas. That explains the routing of the Keystone XL pipeline and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/national-environmental-policy-act-nepa/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Dakota Access Pipeline</a>&nbsp;through lands and over waters indigenous Americans consider sacred, and the Atlantic Bridge pipeline protested by Joyner. It explains the&nbsp;<a href="https://prospect.org/greennewdeal/toxic-injustices-little-village-chicago/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">concentration</a>&nbsp;of industry in heavily Latino and African American Southeast Chicago, which is dealing with an&nbsp;<a href="https://prospect.org/power/epa-rollbacks-hurting-americans-live/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">endless siege</a>&nbsp;of dust and neurotoxic contamination from coal ash, lead, and manganese dust.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">That explains the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/feb/21/roads-nowhere-infrastructure-american-inequality" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">ramrodding</a>&nbsp;of roads through redlined communities and why people of color drove or flew hundreds and thousands of miles for the only two hearings offered by this administration. They said the NEPA, especially in a White House that is also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/images/2018/06/Catalyst-Spring-2018.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">hollowing out</a>&nbsp;the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is one of the last tools standing between them and a wholesale hostile invasion by industry.</p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem4" data-id="4" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-gutting-nepa-2645437802.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" data-basename="hope-in-the-courts"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;">Hope in the Courts</h3><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">There is a glimmer of hope that the U.S. courts will determine that President Trump and his industrial partners are reaching&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1062092145" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">too far</a>&nbsp;in the rewrite of NEPA, as it relates to environmental racism. Take the Atlantic Bridge Pipeline, which is in the public eye for its upcoming Supreme Court case on whether it can transect the hallowed federal Appalachian Trail.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/fourth-circuit-delivers-another-blow-to-atlantic-coast-pipeline/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">recently vacated</a>&nbsp;a Virginia state permit for a compressor station along the pipeline because developer Dominion Energy did not adequately assess its environmental impact on the historic African American host town of Union Hill. The town&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/federal-court-revokes-gas-project-permit-in-win-for-historic-african-american-community/2020/01/07/76bb3538-3170-11ea-a053-dc6d944ba776_story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">was founded</a>&nbsp;by free African Americans and formerly enslaved people. The federal courts have also sent other fossil fuel projects and Trump administration oil and gas leases back to the drawing board for their inadequate consideration of environmental and climate impacts.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">"Five years ago, Dominion told us that there was going to be a compressor station in Union Hill and there was nothing we could do about it," Chad Oba, president of a Union Hill coalition protesting the Atlantic Coast Pipeline compressor,&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/477199-atlantic-coast-pipeline-loses-permit-battle-with-historically-black" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">said in The Hill.</a>&nbsp;"That's not fair, and it's not American. This is a win for a group of citizens who were committed to protecting their community and never ever gave up."</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">Such victories give hope that this is one rollback the Trump administration may not ultimately get away with. The assault on NEPA is so sweeping and blatant in its turning control of the environment over to industry, it is sure to receive a massive court challenge from environmental groups and environmental justice advocates. If communities like Union Hill refused to give up, there is no reason for anyone opposed to the rewriting of NEPA to throw in the towel, either. There is still time before the March 10 deadline for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/10/2019-28106/update-to-the-regulations-implementing-the-procedural-provisions-of-the-national-environmental" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">public comment.</a></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><b>Recently, Union of Concerned Scientists&nbsp;</b>colleague Adrienne Hollis interviewed Mildred McClain, an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.savannahnow.com/news/20200218/savannah-heads-toward-clean-energy-goal" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">environmental justice leader</a>&nbsp;in Savannah, Georgia, about the importance of NEPA. McClain&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/adrienne-hollis/conversation-with-the-nepa-ninja" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">recalled</a>&nbsp;how the act gave her community a voice against the dumping of nuclear waste and unchecked widening of the Savannah River for container ships.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">"If it had not been for NEPA," McClain said, "the community would not have been a part of the process."</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">It's important to recognize that taking communities of color out of the process is a major goal in the administration's efforts to gut NEPA. When President Trump announced the rewrite, he was — by no small coincidence — flanked by a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2020/01/10/fossil-fuel-interests-applaud-trump-weakening-nepa-environmental-policy" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">nearly all-white</a>&nbsp;phalanx of supporters as he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-proposed-national-environmental-policy-act-regulations/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">claimed</a>&nbsp;with a straight face, "We're maintaining America's world-class standards of environmental protection. We have some of the cleanest air and cleanest water on Earth. And for our country, the air is, right now, cleaner than it's been in 40 years."</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">For the past two generations, NEPA has offered a powerful tool for the protection of the nation's environment. If the Trump administration succeeds in ripping it apart and turning environmental reviews over to industry, we will risk the dirtiest air and water of any developed nation on Earth, cementing this nation as a hotbed of environmental racism.</p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">The deadline for public comments on the proposed changes to NEPA closes this Tuesday.&nbsp;<a href="https://secure.ucsusa.org/onlineactions/5J0luZa4YkiUmcMR656c9g2?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tw&ms=twitter" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Submit your comment today</a>.</p></div><p style="margin: 10px 0px;">Reposted with permission from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/jane-fonda-climate-candidate-2645422952.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Union of Concerned Scientists</a>.</p><div class="around-the-web" style="margin-top: 20px !important;"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; visibility: hidden !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-attacking-nepa-2644853997.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;" /></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/nepa-threatened-2570786571.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;" /></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/2020-democratic-candidates-climate-debate-petition-2634869782.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;" /></li></ul><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="visibility: hidden; margin-top: 20px !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/green/news/2019/12/10/478472/trump-administration-poised-gut-environmental-review-whats-stake/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;" /></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2020/200109" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;" /></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;" /></li></ul></div></div></div><div><p class="print-title"><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">=</a></p></div></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">=</a></div><div><div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">no lnx</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">‘This decision is grave’: Here’s how Trump’s White House gave the green light to a dangerous chemical linked to fetal heart defects</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">President Donald J. Trump listens to a reporter’s question after his announcement of the proposed changes to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Written by Alex Henderson March 2, 2020</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><b>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), founded half a century ago in 1970, has existed under nine different presidents including Donald Trump. One of the people who has been encouraging the EPA to weaken its environmental standards is John DeSesso, who has a long history of lobbying on behalf of chemical companies.</b>&nbsp;And science reporter Elizabeth Shogren, in an article for Reveal News, describes DeSesso’s campaign to persuade the EPA that trichloroethylene or TCE — a toxic chemical linked to fetal heart defects — is perfectly safe.</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><b>DeSesso,&nbsp;</b>Shogren reports, met with “a dozen EPA scientists and officials” in the hope of convincing them that TCE is not dangerous. According to Shogren, DeSesso has “primarily earned his living” as a “contract scientist for chemical companies and their trade associations, promoting their positions on toxic chemicals from arsenic to Roundup. As cancer clusters, immune disorders and fetal abnormalities mounted in communities contaminated by TCE, DeSesso was paid to cast doubt on the research establishing TCE’s toxic effects on the human body.”</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In making his case for TCE to the EPA, Shogren notes, DeSesso set out to “undercut” a 2003 study that was led by scientist Paula Johnson for the University of Arizona and was “a landmark in establishing that TCE exposure at trace levels was highly toxic to developing embryos.”</span>&nbsp;John’s study, according to Shogren, “had been pivotal in past EPA evaluations of TCE’s risks.”</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">In February, the EPA released an evaluation of the effects of TCE — one that, Shogren warns, “appears to show the influence of DeSesso and his chemical company sponsors.”</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">“Dismissing the findings of the Johnson study and decades of scientific research, the published evaluation rejects fetal heart malformations as a benchmark for unsafe exposure levels to TCE,” Shogren observes.</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Jennifer McPartland, a senior scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, told Reveal News, “This decision is grave. It not only underestimates the lifelong risks of the chemical, especially to the developing fetus — it also presents yet another example of this administration bowing to polluters’ interests over public health.”</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
</a></div></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;">
</a></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"></a></div></div><div><a href="https://psmag.com/environment/how-trump-plans-to-gut-nepa-environment" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; overflow-wrap: break-word;"></a></div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/glyphosate-cancer-epa-2644989354.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/glyphosate-cancer-epa-2644989354.html</a></div><div>
</div><div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2644989354" style="margin-top: -15px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;"><p><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/eoin-higgins-staff-writer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Eoin Higgins</a></p><p><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><span style="line-height: 1.5;"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/eoin-higgins-staff-writer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;" /></span><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/author/eoin-higgins-staff-writer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">President&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/Donald-Trump" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); outline: 0px; line-height: 1.5;">Donald Trump</a>'s Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday wrapped up a regulatory review of the safety of the weedkiller&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/glyphosate" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">glyphosate</a>&nbsp;and found the chemical poses no risk to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">human health</a>&nbsp;— a decision that was immediately decried by advocates as another indication of the closeness between the administration and private sector interests.</b></p><p>"The Trump EPA's assertion that glyphosate poses no risks to human health disregards independent science findings in favor of confidential industry research and industry profits," Lori Ann Burd, the Center for Biological Diversity's director of environmental health. "This administration's troubling allegiance to Bayer/Monsanto and the pesticide industry doesn't change the trove of peer-reviewed research by leading scientists finding troubling links between glyphosate and cancer." The EPA came to the conclusion after reviewing the chemical's effects on humans, but the determination is unlikely to change views on either side of the conflict over the chemical's safety.</p><p>"A whole lot of people will disagree" with the EPA, The conclusion reaffirms the agency's stance on glyphosate, the key ingredient in Bayer AG's Roundup, despite judgments by U.S. juries that have found that use of the weedkiller was responsible for plaintiffs' cancer in some trials.
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In 2015, the World Health Organization's cancer arm classified glyphosate as "probably carcinogenic to humans."
</p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-2" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/glyphosate-cancer-epa-2644989354.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2"><p /><p>There are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-23/bayer-is-said-to-discuss-settling-roundup-claims-for-10-billion" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">reportedly</a>&nbsp;tens of thousands of lawsuits against Bayer/Monsanto for the chemical's cancer links, and the company is considering settling the claims for between $10 and $12 billion.</p><p>Thursday's decision is not expected to have an effect on those suits. But the message the EPA is sending, the Center for Biological Diversity's Burd said, is clear.</p><p>"The EPA's pesticide office is clearly willing to bend over backwards, including disregarding its own guidelines for evaluating cancer risks, to give the industry what it wants," said Burd.</p><p>As&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/12/playing-role-pesticide-cheerleader-epa-rebukes-calif-ban-warning-labels-roundup" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Common Dreams has reported</a>, Trump's EPA has been criticized by advocates for years for its closeness to Bayer/AG and its treatment of glyphosate.</p><p>Media strategist Jen Degtjarewsky gave a blunt assessment on the president's environmental record in the context of Thursday's ruling.</p><p>"It's open season on clean air, water, and soil,"&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/JenDegtjarewsky/status/1222980634873778176" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">said</a>&nbsp;Degtjarewsky.</p><p /></div><p>Reposted with permission from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/30/critics-trump-epas-formal-assertion-glyphosate-poses-no-risk-human-health-indication?cd-origin=rss" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Common Dreams</a>.<a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">donald trump</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic">&nbsp;</span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/glyphosate" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">glyphosate</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic">&nbsp;</span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/cancer" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">cancer</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic">&nbsp;</span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bayer" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">bayer</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic">&nbsp;</span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/monsanto" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">monsanto</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic">&nbsp;</span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/carcinogens" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">carcinogens</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic">&nbsp;</span><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" display="display" inline-block="inline-block" line-height="line-height" border-radius="border-radius" border="border" solid="solid" rgb="rgb" padding="padding">pesticides</a></p><div style="font-style: italic;"><p><font style="font-style: normal;">&nbsp;=</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">wapo</font></p><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">full txt</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;" /><div><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;">no lnx</font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div><b>Science ranks grow thin in Trump administration</b></div><div>Jeff Jorgenson examines young corn plants in May on a partially flooded field he farms near Shenandoah, Iowa. A USDA scientist was working on a tool to help farmers mitigate the impact of flooding and other effects from climate change when the Trump administration moved his agency to Kansas, prompting him to quit. (Nati Harnik/AP)</div><div>
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</div><div>By&nbsp;</div><div>Annie Gowen,&nbsp;</div><div>Juliet Eilperin,&nbsp;</div><div>Ben Guarino and&nbsp;</div><div>Andrew Ba Tran&nbsp;</div><div>Jan. 23, 2020 at 12:45 p.m. PST</div><div>
</div><div>KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Dozens of government computers sit in a nondescript building here, able to connect to a data model that could help farmers manage the impact of a changing climate on their crops.</div><div>
</div><div>But no one in this federal agency would know how to access the model, or, if they did, what to do with the data.</div><div>
</div><div>That’s because the ambitious federal researcher who created it in Washington quit rather than move when the Agriculture Department relocated his agency to an office park here last fall.</div><div>
</div><div>He is one of hundreds of scientists across the federal government who have been forced out, sidelined or muted since President Trump took office.</div><div>
</div><div>The exodus has been fueled broadly by administration policies that have diminished the role of science as well as more specific steps, such as the relocation of agencies away from the nation’s capital.</div><div>
</div><div>While the administration has come under fire for prioritizing the concerns of industry at the expense of science in government decisions, the cumulative effects are just beginning to appear after three years of Trump in the White House.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Some farmers said the USDA staff upheaval has made it harder to access information they need.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Torrential rains last spring dashed the plans of Liz Brownlee, who runs a livestock farm with her husband, to expand her pasture in Crothersville, Ind. Then an unseasonably dry autumn brought 90-degree days that baked the farmers’ seeds.</div><div>
</div><div>“With all this uncertainty from climate change, I need the best data possible” to know when to plant, she said. “I’m worried I’m not going to have it.”</div><div>
</div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In the first two years of the Trump administration, more than 1,600 federal scientists left government, according to Office of Personnel Management employment data analyzed by The Washington Post. That represents a 1.5 percent drop, compared with the 8 percent increase during the same period in the Obama administration.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>One-fifth of the high-level appointee positions in science are vacant — normally filled by experts who shape policy and ensure research integrity.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>Of those who departed, the numbers were greatest among social scientists, soil conservationists, hydrologists and experts in the physical sciences — chemistry, geology, astronomy and physics.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">At the Environmental Protection Agency, nearly 700 scientists have left in the past three years, according to The Post analysis. The EPA has hired 350 replacements.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Linda Birnbaum, who spent four decades working on toxicology and public health issues at the EPA and National Institutes of Health before retiring in October, said the loss of expertise weakens the government’s ability to make sound decisions.</div><div>
</div><div>“It’s going to take a long time for government science to come back. There’s little doubt about that,” said Birnbaum, who serves as an adjunct professor at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She added that NIH has remained well- insulated because it enjoys bipartisan support in Congress.</div><div>
</div><div>“But when I look at colleagues in other agencies, especially any agency that has any regulatory role, they’re decimated,” she said.</div><div>
</div><div>Trump administration officials dismiss that notion, saying much of the criticism comes from activists outside the federal government.</div><div>
</div><div>Interior Secretary David Bernhardt points out that he is the first secretary to enlist a career federal scientist to serve as his scientific adviser.</div><div>
</div><div>“I’ve got an ideas box, I haven’t seen that,” he said in an interview, referring to complaints that science has been de-emphasized. “I do hear that from advocates and external parties. And, you know, anybody that looks at these things objectively tends to find that they’re without merit.”</div><div>
</div><div>Last year, the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity accused Bernhardt of pushing aside the conclusions reached by career scientists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding how a pesticide affected endangered species. Eight Democratic senators sought an investigation. Interior’s inspector general concluded there was “no evidence” Bernhardt abused his position.</div><div>
</div><div>As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump called climate change a “hoax.” Once in office, he began dismantling much of President Barack Obama’s climate plan. He has installed industry figures in regulatory roles and rolled back scores of rules and policies that he considers harmful to the fossil-fuel industry. Trump’s actions spurred scientists into the streets, joining protesters for a March for Science rally on the Mall in 2017 and again in 2018.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Many scientists who work for the U.S. government or rely on its funding say the changes brought by the Trump administration are being felt across the country.</b></div><div>
</div><div>After historic rainfall last spring swept away livestock and grain in the Midwest, crop planting was delayed by weeks. Andrew Crane-Droesch, 38, a researcher at the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service, started work on a data tool that could predict months in advance the impact of, say, heavy rainfall on crop prices or planted fields. He hoped that knowledge could help farmers, commodity traders and government disaster planners prepare.</div><div>
</div><div>But when Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue moved forward with his controversial plan to relocate the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture — two key research agencies — to Kansas City, Crane-Droesch headed for the exit.</div><div>
</div><div>He joined two-thirds of affected employees in his division who either retired or found other jobs rather than move to the greater Kansas City region. At the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which oversees $1.7 billion in scientific funding for researchers, nearly 8 of every 10 employees have left.</div><div>
</div><div>Crane-Droesch, who took a health-research job in Philadelphia, said there’s no one left at the USDA who has the time or the know-how to run the model he created or to finish the project.</div><div>
</div><div>“All that work was for naught, and they nuked the account,” he said. “Even if they hired somebody for my portfolio — which I don’t think they did — it would take that person quite a while to get up to speed, just as it took me several years.”</div><div>
</div><div>The move to Kansas City has also meant dozens of reports and millions in research funding have been delayed or scuttled as the Agriculture Department scrambled to keep up with departures.</div><div>
</div><div>The agency has been forced to hire back 21 retired employees on temporary contracts, to stanch its losses.</div><div>
</div><div><b>But experts on bee pollination, organic farming, commodity markets and trade are gone, setting back research that has been in process for months or even years.</b></div><div>
</div><div>“They never tried to refute our work; they tried to bury it by getting rid of the people who produced the work,” Crane-Droesch said.</div><div>
</div><div>To restore the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the Economic Research Service to their size under the Obama administration, the USDA would have to hire more than 400 people. One USDA official said the department has “well over 150 active recruitments in process between both agencies.”</div><div>
</div><div>Current and former employees interviewed said they felt the move to Kansas City was intended to diminish research areas such as trade policy, farm income and climate change; Perdue is a climate skeptic who recently described the problem as “weather patterns, frankly.”</div><div>
</div><div>A USDA spokesman defended the move, saying that Perdue believes the agencies can better serve “customers” — farmers, ranchers, academic institutions and agribusiness — by relocating to Kansas City, “a hub for all things agriculture in America’s heartland.”</div><div>
</div><div>The department estimates it will save $300 million over 15 years from employment and rent in Kansas City.</div><div>
</div><div>EPA pursues regulatory rollbacks, despite criticism from its scientific advisers</div><div>
</div><div>Some federal researchers said they left the Trump administration after concluding their work was being undermined.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Dan Costa, who worked at the EPA for 34 years before stepping down as director of its air, climate and energy research program in January 2018, said the tipping point for his retirement came when an EPA spokesman undercut a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that the agency had funded.</b></div><div>
</div><div>The study found that long-term exposure to levels of soot and smog lower than current national standards can cause premature death among older Americans. Such a finding suggests that current standards don’t adequately protect public health, which would have implications for industries that pollute. An unidentified EPA spokesman attacked the study in an interview with the Washington Times, an act Costa called “scientifically unethical.”</div><div>
</div><div>Peter Van Doren, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Insitute, said in an interview that scientists need to remember that they don’t set policy “When nerds and politicians disagree, nerds lose,” he said. “Scientists think, ‘We are smart, and we ought to decide.’ But we don’t get to decide.”</div><div>
</div><div>Elsewhere in the government, political appointees have delayed grants for scientific work.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey, Director James Reilly “felt that he needed to personally look at every grant that went out,” according to Bernhardt’s science adviser William Werkheiser, who served as Reilly’s deputy before joining the secretary’s office. The process stalled grants at the agency’s climate adaptation science centers for more than six months.</span></div></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;">omg</font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">130 intercept</font></div><div><a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/ozone-layer-epa-united-states-pollution/" style="font-style: normal;">https://theintercept.com/2020/01/18/ozone-layer-epa-united-states-pollution/</a></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;" /><div><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;">OZONE LAYER RECOVERY IS BEING UNDERMINED BY POLLUTION FROM U.S. COMPANIES</font></font></font></font></div><div>Sharon Lerner</div><div>The EPA has declined to consider the ozone-depleting potential of chemicals released by U.S. companies.</div><div>also brought back acid rain?!</div><div>
</div></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><div><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">guts NEPA xl</font></div><div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">1/9/20 NEPA rollback</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">omfg</font></div><div><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/10/headlines/trump_seeks_to_exempt_large_projects_from_some_environmental_review"><font style="font-style: normal;">https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/10/headlines/trump_seeks_to_exempt_large_projects_from_some_environmental_review</font></a></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><span helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="font-style: normal;">&nbsp;Trump is proposing changing the nation’s oldest environmental law to exempt large infrastructure projects, such as pipelines and power plants, from environmental review. If enacted, the changes would exempt agencies from considering the cumulative environmental impacts of projects, which could include studying the climate crisis.</span></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><p><font style="font-style: normal;"><b>White House announced Tuesday that it plans to veto the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pfas" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">PFAS</a>&nbsp;Action Act of 2019, which aims to keep harmful forever chemicals out of groundwater,</b>as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-announces-trump-would-likely-veto-bill-regulating-forever-chemicals-drinking-water-1480947" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Newsweek</a>&nbsp;reported.</font></p><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-1" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/forever-chemicals-bill-pfas-trump-2644584514.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem1"><p /><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: normal;">'Forever' chemicals, which are often referred to as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals), are a class of heat and water-resistant chemicals used in a variety of industrial products, flame retardants and nonstick products, such as raincoats, cookware and packaging and have leeched into&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">water</a>&nbsp;supplies in almost every state in the country, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/477236-trump-administration-expresses-opposition-to-forever-chemical-bill" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Hill</a>.<b>&nbsp;They are known carcinogens and do not degrade in the environment nor in the human body.</b></font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">The bill before congress is sponsored by congresswoman&nbsp;<b>Debbie Dingell (D-Michigan)&nbsp;</b>with the intention of reducing unintended, involuntary exposure to PFAS.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">"PFAS is a clear threat to human health and our environment," wrote Dingell in a November 2019 statement, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-announces-trump-would-likely-veto-bill-regulating-forever-chemicals-drinking-water-1480947" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Newsweek</a>&nbsp;reported.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">"The reality is a lot of contamination is connected to military sites and the Defense Department," Dingell's statement continued. "We are continuing to champion strong provisions in the&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">National Defense Authorization Act to identify PFAS as a hazardous substance for the purpose of clean up under the EPA's Superfund program and facilitate coordinated response between local communities and the military."</span></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-2" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/forever-chemicals-bill-pfas-trump-2644584514.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2"><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">The sweeping legislation that Dingell proposed came after there was no mention of regulating PFAS in the annual defense policy bill. Furthermore, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">EPA</a>) said it would decide whether or not to regulate PFAS by the end of 2019, but it missed its own self-imposed deadline, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/477236-trump-administration-expresses-opposition-to-forever-chemical-bill" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Hill</a>.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">A vote on Dingell's bill is scheduled for Thursday, where it is expected to pass the Democratic-controlled House. However, it is likely to face a backlash in the Republican-controlled Senate, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/477236-trump-administration-expresses-opposition-to-forever-chemical-bill" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Hill</a>. It also may never come up for a vote in the Senate after the White House announced its intention to veto the legislation.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">The White House dismissed the bill as not cost-effective and as an affront to the power structure in place, saying in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/SAP_HR-535.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">statement</a>&nbsp;that the bill would "supersede existing statutory requirements" that would prevent the EPA from making proper decisions about the treatment of PFAS in the environment, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-announces-trump-would-likely-veto-bill-regulating-forever-chemicals-drinking-water-1480947" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Newsweek</a>&nbsp;reported.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">"By doing so," the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/SAP_HR-535.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">statement</a>&nbsp;read, "the bill would create considerable litigation risk, set problematic and unreasonable rulemaking timelines and precedents, and impose substantial, unwarranted costs on Federal, State, and local agencies and other key stakeholders in both the public and private sectors."</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-3" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/forever-chemicals-bill-pfas-trump-2644584514.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem3"><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Environmental activists were aghast at the White House's decision to veto legislation that would require making drinking water safer.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">"Enough is enough," said Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs at the<b>&nbsp;Environmental Working Group, in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/trump-threatens-veto-after-missing-key-pfas-drinking-water-deadline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">statement</a>. "For too long, the EPA has failed to treat the PFAS contamination crisis like a crisis. Trump's EPA has sunk to a whole new level of failure."</b></font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">The EPA currently recommends that water supplies not have more than<b>&nbsp;70 parts per trillion of PFAS, but there is no firm requirement in place.&nbsp;</b>Critics say that not only is a requirement needed, but one that is much lower than the current recommended level, as&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/477236-trump-administration-expresses-opposition-to-forever-chemical-bill" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Hill</a>&nbsp;reported.</font></p><font style="font-style: normal;"><b>"Just days after failing to meet a PFAS deadline, the Trump administration has threatened to veto legislation that would set PFAS deadlines,</b>" said Faber in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ewg.org/release/trump-threatens-veto-after-missing-key-pfas-drinking-water-deadline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">statement</a>. "It's never been clearer that it's time for Congress to set tough deadlines to reduce PFAS releases into the air and water, set PFAS drinking water standards, and clean up legacy PFAS pollution. If the Trump administration won't take the necessary steps to protect the public from PFAS, it's up to Congress to act."</font></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-3" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/forever-chemicals-bill-pfas-trump-2644584514.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem3"><font style="font-style: normal;">=</font></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;">=</font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;" /><div><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;">see pruitt 3 for lnx</font></font></font></font></div><div>
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padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1061788049" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1061788049" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1061788049" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1061788049" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1061788049" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1061788049" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1061788049" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1061788049" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">House aides to grill EPA official about formaldehyde review</a></h1><section class="homepage byline" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0.25em 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="authors" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/staff/Corbin_Hiar" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;">Corbin Hiar</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/eed" class="publication eed" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; font-weight: 700;">E&E Daily</a></span>&nbsp;<time datetime="2019-12-12 07:09:50 -0500" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap;">7:09 AM EST</time></p></section><section class="excerpt" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; margin-bottom: 0px !important;">Congressional investigators tomorrow will scrutinize the role a former Koch Industries Inc. executive may have played in sidelining a health review of formaldehyde.</p></section></div><div></div><div><div>
</div><div><div>no lnx</div><div>
</div><div><b>FOIA requests find 95 newly undisclosed Trump appointees</b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div>Written by Derek Kravitz / ProPublica December 24, 2018</div><div>
</div><div>We have obtained a list of 95 new Trump administration appointees made over the past six months. Following a pattern we’ve detailed before, many of the hires previously worked on President Donald Trump’s campaign or at conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation. In other cases, appointees seem to have little work experience at all.</div><div>
</div><div>We compiled the information from Freedom of Information Act requests and have added the appointees to our Trump Town app, which lets you search the disclosures of nearly 3,000 of them.</div><div>
</div><div>Here are a few of the recent appointments:</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Lynn DeKleva, who worked for decades at chemical giant DuPont, was appointed to a job as an environmental engineer in the Environmental Protection Agency’s chemical safety and pollution prevention office in October. Typically, environmental engineering positions are not political appointments. DeKleva did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comments. The EPA said in a statement that DeKleva “brings considerable product stewardship experience and knowledge with her to assist” the agency.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/lynn-dekleva">https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/lynn-dekleva</a></div><div>
</div><div>Ileana Garcia, a co-founder of the campaign’s Latinas for Trump, was appointed in October as deputy press secretary in the Department of Homeland Security.</div><div>Todd Thurman, a Heritage Foundation staffer who used to write for the Daily Signal and Breitbart, was appointed as the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s digital strategy specialist in September.</div><div>
</div><div>Antonin Scalia, the namesake grandson of the late Supreme Court justice, was appointed in September as a temporary assistant in the State Department. Scalia graduated from college last year. Scalia and the State Department did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comments.</div><div>Do you know something about one of the Trump administration staffers in Trump Town? Send us an email at trump@propublica.org or send a Signal message to 347-244-2134.</div><div>
</div></div><div><p>&nbsp;</p></div></div><div></div><div>https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/11/9/16619988/scott-pruitt-epa-dysfunction-staff</div><div>
</div><div>11/17 2x?</div><div>
</div><div>Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt doesn’t hide his contempt for how the agency has been run, but he does profess to care about one of its key programs: Superfund, which oversees the cleanup of the nation’s worst toxic waste sites. In April, he toured a site in East Chicago, Indiana, contaminated with lead and arsenic, and told residents, “We are going to get this right.”</div><div>
</div><div>The following month, Pruitt — Oklahoma’s attorney general before he joined the EPA — tapped one of his former donors, banker Albert “Kell” Kelly, to find ways to accelerate and improve Superfund cleanups. Kelly started by consulting career staff members — often knowledgeable officials who work at the agency regardless of who holds the White House. But then Kelly closed off the process, conferring with Pruitt to produce a final plan that altered or excluded many of the staffers’ suggestions. Gone, for example, was the idea that EPA officials be identified early on to lead discussions with communities on how contaminated land should be used after cleanup.</div><div>
</div><div>“We’re missing a huge opportunity to do something new and different with Superfund,” said one of two EPA employees who described the process to the Center for Public Integrity on the condition of anonymity.</div><div>
</div><div>What happened with Superfund is hardly an anomaly. Today’s EPA is wracked with internal conflict and industry influence and is struggling to fulfill its mission, according to more than two dozen current and former agency employees.</div><div>
</div><div>A few dozen political appointees brought in under the Trump administration are driving policy. At least 16 of the 45 appointees worked for industries such as oil, coal and chemicals, as this CIP graphic shows.</div><div>
</div><div>Four of these people — and another 21 — worked for, or donated to, politicians who have questioned established climate science, such as Pruitt and Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK).</div><div>
</div><div>Career staff members — lawyers, scientists, analysts — are largely being frozen out of decision-making, current and former agency employees say. These staffers rarely get face time with Pruitt and frequently receive top-down orders from political appointees with little room for debate. They must sometimes force their way into conversations about subjects in which they have expertise.</div><div>
</div><div>RELATED</div><div>
</div><div>Meet the fossil fuel all-stars Trump has appointed to his administration</div><div>And that is a big mistake, said one of Pruitt’s predecessors.</div><div>
</div><div>Career employees are “very dedicated to protecting human health and the environment, and they will change their ways of how they do that if they’re convinced you really want to accomplish that aim,” said Christine Todd Whitman, EPA administrator under President George W. Bush.</div><div>
</div><div>One such employee agreed. “I think it’s the fact that we’re not following regular procedures; we’re not sure of what the legal justification is for some of the things they’re asking us to do. We’re just kind of being told, ‘Do the opposite thing you did 18 months ago.’ That’s hard to swallow.”</div><div>
</div><div>The EPA staffers who spoke to the center say the isolation of Pruitt’s top staff from the rest of the agency limits the perspectives the administrator is exposed to before making decisions.</div><div>
</div><div>Two appointment calendars, covering a six-month period beginning in March, show that Pruitt hears overwhelmingly from industry. He was scheduled to meet 154 times during the period with officials from companies such as Exxon Mobil and trade associations such as the American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s biggest lobby group. API was among at least 17 donors to Pruitt when he ran for state or federal office or led the Republican Attorneys General Association that have met with him as EPA administrator. Those same calendars indicate he saw only three groups representing environmental or public health interests, though an EPA press release says he met with two others.</div><div>
</div><div>EPA spokesperson Liz Bowman disputed claims that the roughly 15,000-person agency is riven with discord. Career employees are “vital” to the EPA’s work and meet regularly with political appointees and the administrator, she said, citing ongoing deliberations on a water pollution rule as an example. (Two career employees who spoke to the center at Bowman’s request confirmed that they routinely work with political appointees and did so on the water rule.)</div><div>
</div><div>“We talk to people throughout the regions, the states, the career staff, and a variety of different perspectives prior to making decisions,” Bowman said, adding in an email that “we follow the Administrative Procedure Act in our regulatory process, meaning taking into consideration comments submitted by ALL commenters, including environmental NGOs, the public, and other commenters.”</div><div>
</div><div>For the public, much is at stake. Under Pruitt, who sued the EPA 14 times as Oklahoma’s attorney general, the agency has already declined to ban a pesticide linked to neurological damage in children, frozen requirements to reduce water pollution from coal-fired power plants, and opened the door to loosening limits on toxic coal waste. The EPA most recently proposed eliminating the Clean Power Plan, an Obama administration rule aimed at reducing carbon emissions in the power sector.</div><div>
</div><div>“These rules [being rolled back] aren’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. There are ways to improve things,” said Gordon Binder, who served as chief of staff for then-EPA Administrator William Reilly under President George H.W. Bush. "But Pruitt’s come in with a fly swatter and is slapping them down instead of laying out the problems with a rule and saying, ‘How can we fix it?’”</div><div>
</div><div>Who’s running the EPA?</div><div>There’s a striking absence of high-level leadership at the EPA. Only one of 13 positions requiring Senate confirmation — Pruitt’s — is filled. These positions — higher-ranking than those held by the 45 political appointees — include leaders of key agency offices that oversee air, water, and other programs. Six people have been nominated for the 12 open slots and are awaiting confirmation (although two of them have joined the EPA in the meantime as senior advisers).</div><div>
</div><div>Most major decisions are made on the third floor of the William Jefferson Clinton South Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, where Pruitt and his handful of confidants have their offices. Among those who most prominently have Pruitt’s ear: EPA Chief of Staff Ryan Jackson, who previously held the same position with Inhofe, and Samantha Dravis, who worked with Pruitt at the Republican Attorneys General Association and now leads the EPA’s Office of Policy.</div><div>
</div><div>Dravis, widely seen as Pruitt’s closest adviser, came to the agency with a background in law and politics but little environmental experience. That’s a departure from her two immediate predecessors, who were already at the EPA when they were tapped to lead the policy office.</div><div>
</div><div>RELATED</div><div>
</div><div>The EPA is taking unprecedented steps to oust scientists who receive its grants</div><div>Jackson helped Inhofe negotiate major bipartisan deals in the Senate, such as the passage of federal chemical policy reform. Still, emails released under the Freedom of Information Act to the New York Times show that Jackson directed career staff to deny a petition seeking to ban chlorpyrifos, a pesticide suspected of harming children’s brains, directly contradicting the recommendations of EPA scientists.</div><div>
</div><div>Bowman said in an email that career staff were “instrumental” in drafting the denial. The former acting head of the EPA’s chemicals office, a career employee who left the agency last month, told the Times she opposed the decision, even as she followed Jackson’s instructions.</div><div>
</div><div>Other influential political appointees include Sarah Greenwalt, senior adviser to the Office of the Administrator, who worked for Pruitt when he was Oklahoma’s attorney general; Bowman, head of public affairs, who came from the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry trade group; and Mandy Gunasekara, a senior policy adviser who worked on the Republican staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.</div><div>
</div><div>Nine career staff members told the center their opinions seem to hold little weight. They are excluded from meetings, they say, and their advice on agency operations is often disregarded. Some believe this is because of the flurry of leaks that have come from inside the agency since Pruitt took office. Political appointees have lashed out at suspected leakers and relieved them of work assignments, even in the absence of proof, career employees said.</div><div>
</div><div>RELATED</div><div>
</div><div>Why the head of the EPA built himself a secret phone booth</div><div>“They are terrified of career staff leaking,” one said. “And once they get an idea in their head [about] someone, they won’t change it.”</div><div>
</div><div>Bowman said, “Those concerns have not been brought to our attention. And if they are, we will do everything we can to address them.”</div><div>
</div><div>Pruitt has broken with tradition by forgoing many introductory briefings with career staff designed to help new administrators set priorities, several current and former employees said. Instead, he’s worked to roll back EPA rules, an effort that also diverges from common practice.</div><div>
</div><div>Political appointees are taking more of a hands-on role in tasks career employees previously would have handled. Take, for example, a recent notice announcing that the EPA plans to reconsider whether certain vehicle emission standards for greenhouse gases were too strict. Career staff had drafted a concise version of the notice, but appointees expanded the number of vehicles affected by the review and made the Department of Transportation the lead agency on the decision, despite the EPA’s legal obligations to control planet-warming emissions under the Clean Air Act.</div><div>
</div><div>“This was a much more major rewrite” than would have happened under previous administrations, said an EPA employee familiar with the matter. “At least one plausible outcome of this process,” the employee said, “is that the EPA would unilaterally abdicate its [legal] responsibility.”</div><div>
</div><div>“It looked like he was kind of checking the box to meet with us”</div><div>On the rare occasions when career employees are asked to brief Pruitt, he seems unwilling to change his anti-regulatory posture on major industry priorities, according to some career employees. Betsy Southerland, who headed an office within the EPA’s water program until August, said her team met with Pruitt twice about a rule designed to limit wastewater discharges from power plants as he considered weakening parts of it.</div><div>
</div><div>The team told Pruitt that industry arguments against the rule had already been considered and were found to be inaccurate. They offered more nuanced actions the administrator could take to address concerns expressed by the Small Business Administration, a separate federal agency; and the Utility Water Act Group, a lobbying organization. Pruitt was unmoved, she said. In August, the EPA announced it would reconsider key parts of the rule.</div><div>
</div><div>“You get the feeling that his mind was made up before we started the briefing process,” Southerland said. “It looked like he was kind of checking the box to meet with us.” The Times found similar behavior by Pruitt when the EPA declined to ban chlorpyrifos. Pruitt didn’t follow agency scientists’ advice, having “promised farming industry executives who wanted to keep using the pesticide that it is ‘a new day and a new future,’” the Times reported.</div><div>
</div><div>These episodes could simply reflect inexperience — appointees struggling to figure out the agency they lead. They also could reflect pressure placed on the EPA by executive orders and presidential memoranda to act quickly on big-ticket issues like the Clean Power Plan.</div><div>
</div><div>But Pruitt’s pro-industry bent has convinced some current and former employees that he and his like-minded advisers are aiming to destroy the EPA from the inside.</div><div>
</div><div>“Look, I think he does not support what the agency has been trying to do for 40 years,” said William Ruckelshaus, EPA administrator under Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. “He wants to dismantle — not improve or reform — the regulatory system for protecting public health and the environment.”</div><div>
</div><div>Rachel Leven is a reporter on the environment and workers' rights team at the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative news organization in Washington, DC.</div><div>
</div><div></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;">thehill</font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4; margin: 20px 0px;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;"><b>controversial husband and wife political duo is leaving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) D.C. office after nearly two years working&nbsp;there during the Trump administration.</b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">Henry Darwin and his wife Veronica will&nbsp;leave Washington and&nbsp;return to their home state of Arizona, EPA head&nbsp;<span class="rollover-people" data-behavior="rolloverpeople" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><a class="rollover-people-link" data-nid="441827" href="https://thehill.com/people/andrew-wheelerr" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block; position: relative;">Andrew Wheeler</a></span>&nbsp;wrote&nbsp;in an internal announcement sent to staff Friday afternoon obtained by The Hill.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;"><b>Henry Darwin joined EPA as chief of operations under former Administrator&nbsp;<span class="rollover-people" data-behavior="rolloverpeople" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"><a class="rollover-people-link" data-nid="349604" href="https://thehill.com/people/edward-scott-pruitt" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block; position: relative;">Scott Pruitt</a></span>&nbsp;and was promoted to deputy administrator under Wheeler last July.</b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">While negotiating his job at EPA in May 2017, Henry Darwin also pitched a role for his wife, who he called a “legitimate environmental professional," according to internal&nbsp;<a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pruitt-allies-sought-epa-jobs-friends-family-companies/story?id=56313981" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline; position: relative; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(42, 83, 193);">emails obtained by ABC</a>.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">"It would help our financial decision immensely," Darwin wrote to EPA Chief of staff Ryan Jackson in the email. "If not out of the question, I would be happy to forward her resume and references (which I would suggest you check - everyone loves her almost as much as I do)."</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;"><b>The former Arizona state official’s wife Veronica Darwin was later hired to be a senior adviser to the administrator for Land and Emergency Management.&nbsp;</b></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font style="font-style: normal;">Pruitt&nbsp;later came under fire for using&nbsp;his position at EPA to try to get jobs for close acquaintances, including a clerking internship for his daughter at the White House and a job for his wife opening up a Chick-fil-A franchise.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">Wheeler in his email Friday said&nbsp;<b>Henry Darwin will be stepping down from his role&nbsp;and will once again take the title of assistant deputy administrator at EPA</b>. In the role he will<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;“concentrate on the deployment of EPA’s Lean Management System (ELMS</span>)” which he will do from Arizona.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">“Given the amount of time he already spends traveling to the regional offices to deploy ELMS, his relocation to Phoenix should not impact his ability to help us become even more effective in carrying out our very important mission. In addition, Henry will be here at headquarters on a regular basis,” Wheeler wrote.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">Wheeler announced Veronica Darwin left the agency on Aug. 9.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;"><b>“While at EPA, Veronica managed implementation of the Superfund Task Force recommendations,</b>&nbsp;and led other Administrator priorities like children’s health, and the development of the&nbsp;<b>action plan for lead</b>. These key initiatives will remain Administrator priorities, however Veronica’s leadership will be greatly missed,” wrote Wheeler.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">When contacted, EPA did not provide details about the nature of the departures. An EPA spokesperson later hailed&nbsp;</span>Veronica Darwin's 18 years of professional experience.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font style="font-style: normal;">"Veronica Darwin has spent more than 18 years working extensively on environmental waste issues that included roles as a compliance officer at EPA’s Region 9 office (7 years) and as deputy division director for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality’s Waste Divisions Program (total of 8 years)," EPA spokesman Michael Abboud said.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><font style="font-style: normal;">"To only refer to her as Henry’s wife does a disservice to Veronica, but the incredible work she has done her whole career."</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">This story was updated Monday at 11:15 a.m.</span></p><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: normal;">
</span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><div><font style="font-style: normal;">=</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">omg</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">new 1119</font></div><div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">1119 LCV</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">...story is still developing.&nbsp;It's just been leaked out of the EPA that the Trump administration is preparing to drop a new rule that will disallow the use of vast quantities of data in its policy making.</font></div><font style="font-style: normal;">
In effect, the new rule could virtually end meaningful implementation of significant parts of the Clean Air Act and many more bedrock environmental laws....</font><div><font style="font-style: normal;"><b>&nbsp;details: The new rule would prevent policy makers from using any study if the study's data, code, and models aren't made public.</b>

It sounds innocuous enough, but in practice, the EPA currently relies on public health studies based on confidential medical information — data that is incredibly private and should never be made public. These public health studies are absolutely critical to implementing virtually every law that protects the water we drink and the air we breathe.

Scientists within the EPA are raising the alarm. This policy has been designed and pushed forward by lobbyists for the oil industry and big tobacco. Politically-appointed leaders within the EPA have pushed aside the agency's&nbsp;<b>Science Advisory Board&nbsp;</b>in an end-run to stop the EPA from fulfilling its mission.</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">=</font></div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/superfund-sites-climate-disaster-2641394009.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font style="font-style: normal;">https://www.ecowatch.com/superfund-sites-climate-disaster-2641394009.html</font></a></div><div><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">climate crisis</a>&nbsp;has put at least 945 designated toxic waste sites at severe risk of disaster from escalating wildfires, floods, rising seas and other climate-related disasters, according to a new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/702158.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">study</a>&nbsp;from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/dc5ac3832512435cb863897b5c1a0fe6" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">AP reported</a>.</font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><font style="font-style: normal;">The country's most contaminated spots that pose an imminent threat to human health or the environment are designated Superfund sites. That means cleaning them up is a national priority.<b>&nbsp;The EPA has identified more than 500 contaminants at Superfund sites, including arsenic, lead and mercury.</b></font></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><font style="font-style: normal;">...</font></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">However, the GAO found that efforts to secure the toxic waste have weakened as the Trump administration plays down their threat,</b>&nbsp;according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/dc5ac3832512435cb863897b5c1a0fe6" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">AP</a>.</font><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/superfund-sites-climate-disaster-2641394009.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-basename="particle-3"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><b style="font-style: normal;">Senate Democrats responded to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-73" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">report</a>&nbsp;in a letter to the EPA Administrator&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Andrew Wheeler&nbsp;</span>demanding an explanation for agency leaders' "failure to embrace addressing climate change as a strategic objective," according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/11/18/about-percent-superfund-sites-could-be-hit-by-climate-change-new-government-report-finds/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Washington Post</a>.</b></p></div><div class=" rebellt-item is--desktop col1" id="rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/superfund-sites-climate-disaster-2641394009.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-basename="particle-2"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102); font-style: normal;">"We believe that EPA's refusal to implement GAO's recommendations could result in real harm to human health and the environment as the effects of climate change become more frequent and intense," the lawmakers wrote to Wheeler, as the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/11/18/about-percent-superfund-sites-could-be-hit-by-climate-change-new-government-report-finds/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">Washington Post</a>&nbsp;reported.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="font-style: normal;">The GAO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-73" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">report</a>&nbsp;looked at 1,571 Superfund sites and found that six out of 10 are vulnerable to extreme weather caused by the climate crisis. The GAO produced an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/multimedia/GAO-20-73/interactive/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">interactive map</a>&nbsp;that shows each of the 945 vulnerable sites. It is color-coded to show if the site is threatened by wildfires, hurricanes, storm surge, sea-level rise, or coastal and river flooding, as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/18/20970979/climate-change-epa-superfund-sites-gao-toxic-pollution" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">the Verge</a>&nbsp;reported.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="font-style: normal;">The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-20-73" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); font-weight: bold; outline: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 1.5;">study</a>&nbsp;recommended that the EPA start incorporating the climate crisis into its decision making for toxic waste sites and its risk assessments for the Superfund sites.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="font-style: normal;">...</font></p></div></div></div></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font style="font-style: normal;">=</font></p></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><p><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></p><h2 style="line-height: 1.375em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://go.propublica.org/e/125411/l-utm-campaign-dailynewsletter/74k4p6/449265023?h=YVH7mZoUTOwDrmjyBt-Kp9IxqWiNO-cTX6foT41QZY" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><font style="font-style: normal;">New EPA Rules Aim to Reduce Toxic Emissions. But Many “Cancer Alley” Chemical Plants Won’t Have to Change.</font></a></h2><p style="line-height: 1.375; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><font style="font-style: normal;">The proposed rules reducing emissions across the country would not apply to many of Louisiana’s chemical plants. These facilities release tons of dangerous, cancer-causing chemicals like ethylene oxide, and more plants are on the way.</font></p><div class="yiv5078550541byline" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; padding: 0.25em 0em;"><font style="font-style: normal;">by Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune and The Advocate</font></div><p><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></p></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><div><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">but of course 1119</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/4/headlines/epa_slated_to_roll_back_rules_to_protect_waterways_from_toxic_coal_ash" style="font-style: normal;">https://www.democracynow.org/2019/11/4/headlines/epa_slated_to_roll_back_rules_to_protect_waterways_from_toxic_coal_ash</a></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><span style="font-style: normal;">The Environmental Protection Agency is slated to roll back key Obama-era regulations to protect waterways near coal-fired power plants from being flooded with toxic coal ash today. Coal ash contains<b>&nbsp;mercury, arsenic and other toxic chemicals. Food & Water Watch has vowed to sue the Trump administration over the rollback of the rules, which it says would “lead directly to more water contamination, more birth defects, more childhood cancer and more pain and suffering for American families — all for the sake of a dirty industry’s last grasp at profits.”</b></span></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;">g<span sf="SF" compact="Compact" display="Display" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" apple="Apple" color="Color" emoji="Emoji" symbol="Symbol" font-size="font-size" em="em">ood</span></font></div><ul style="font-style: italic; margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;"><font style="font-style: normal;">The Environmental Protection Agency will evaluate the effects of eight pesticides on endangered plant and animal species, thanks to a legal settlement with two environmental groups,&nbsp;<a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkc2O6yAMhZ-m7Ij4SUOyYHGlO32NyAE3RUMgAmdGffshqQQcYfCx_NkB4ZrL2-65Ejsqljl4q8wgpkkwb3svx_vIQp2fBXGDEC2VA9l-LDE4oJDTlSDkyF4WJsBBjdjDokePWrphcGoQAsdh6ZeenVVmOHzA5NDmFN-XL4v2RbTXm_53U4-26HA1p87lrV0S_tYmMTuITTGsL-I7VgoueKz8N8TIVyT-RI8FIi_4E1oOz0-OyUNasaDndUcX2vew7eDodITSLCLOWiiAp-q5MWbg934yHNyguTfK61GJyU2-e9EWWTg7naRQRmlplOpkJwcjvsb7Q7X9-NL_b73YVtXVY6kE7vvsgRW7A23uW-r2up4Ur3CDODfdjhToPWOCJaL_8KXPQC5e9N7RnhAiEmH5BBt0qSapDGuVfG6eybbucT3iNZV0nX80maIX" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkc2O6yAMhZ-m7Ij4SUOyYHGlO32NyAE3RUMgAmdGffshqQQcYfCx_NkB4ZrL2-65Ejsqljl4q8wgpkkwb3svx_vIQp2fBXGDEC2VA9l-LDE4oJDTlSDkyF4WJsBBjdjDokePWrphcGoQAsdh6ZeenVVmOHzA5NDmFN-XL4v2RbTXm_53U4-26HA1p87lrV0S_tYmMTuITTGsL-I7VgoueKz8N8TIVyT-RI8FIi_4E1oOz0-OyUNasaDndUcX2vew7eDodITSLCLOWiiAp-q5MWbg934yHNyguTfK61GJyU2-e9EWWTg7naRQRmlplOpkJwcjvsb7Q7X9-NL_b73YVtXVY6kE7vvsgRW7A23uW-r2up4Ur3CDODfdjhToPWOCJaL_8KXPQC5e9N7RnhAiEmH5BBt0qSapDGuVfG6eybbucT3iNZV0nX80maIX&source=gmail&ust=1572550506425000&usg=AFQjCNExI9is38HQTmgSKNYCtIYONP10vQ">reports the Arizona Daily Star.</a>&nbsp;The included compounds include atrazine, one of the most-used herbicides in the country, which EPA itself, in 2016, deemed extremely dangerous to aquatic ecosystems. The reviews could, conceivably, lead to these pesticides being taken off the market, if they’re found to “either jeopardize a species’ existence or destroy or otherwise illegally damage its prime habitat.”</font></p></li></ul><div style="font-style: italic;"><div><font style="font-style: normal;">---</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">OMFG</font></div><div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
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</font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/that-1970s-scourge-acid-rain-is-back/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font style="font-style: normal;">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/that-1970s-scourge-acid-rain-is-back/</font></a></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><div class="mag-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/that-1970s-scourge-acid-rain-is-back/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font style="font-style: normal;">1970s scourge acid rain is back</font></a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/sarah-okeson/" title="Posts by Sarah Okeson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Sarah Okeson</a>&nbsp;/&nbsp;<a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/dc-report/" title="Posts by DC Report" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">DC Report</a></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">Starting in the 1970s acid rain turned hundreds of lakes and streams in Adirondack Park in upstate New York so acidic that fish could not survive. Acid rain can be…</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">no lnx</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">That 1970s scourge acid rain is back</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">Written by Sarah Okeson /&nbsp;<b>DC Report&nbsp;</b>October 26, 2019</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">Starting in the 1970s acid rain turned hundreds of lakes and streams in Adirondack Park in upstate New York so acidic that fish could not survive. Acid rain can be so toxic that it etches paint off cars.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">The good news: some naturally reproducing trout were recently found in one body of water in the Adirondacks. Lake Colden had been without such naturally grown fish for 32 years. This revival comes after decades of government work to reduce the toxic air emissions that cause acid rain.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">The bad news: Team Trump seems determined to create a comeback for acid rain. That would mean 500 other Adirondack ponds and lakes would continue without naturally breeding fish. Worse, some of the sprawling park’s 2,300 other bodies of water might also become too toxic for other wildlife such as crayfish, salamanders and frogs. And because acid rain leaches aluminum in the soil it also kills trees.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">For people in the Northeast, it would also mean more asthma and heart disease as people breathe in air laced with greater amounts of sulfur dioxide, a toxic gas that causes acid rain.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><b style="font-style: normal;">The Trump EPA wants to squash Obama era rules that would force owners of electric power plants to clean up their toxic wastes.</b></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">To understand how Team Trump helps polluters and hurts everyone else, consider the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;<b>coal-burning Martin Lake Power Plant in east Texas. It spews more sulfur dioxide than any other power plant in America. Last year it spit out 56,198 tons of sulfur dioxide, a 54% increase over 2017.</b></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">Acid rain, then and now.(From Environmental Defense Fund)]</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><b>Now the Trump EPA wants to squash Obama era rules that would force owners of this and other power plants to clean up their toxic wastes</b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Owners who escape these clean-up costs reap bigger profits. The rest of us pay the price: more sickness, shorter lives for some and hundreds of lakes with no fish surrounded by dying forests.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><b style="font-style: normal;">To help polluters escape those costs the Trump administration puts executives, lawyers and lobbyists for polluting companies in charge of various units of the Environmental Protection Agency and other regulatory bodies.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&nbsp;Instead of enforcement of clean air laws, Team Trump runs a protection racket for polluters.</span></b></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">Plant Owners Identified</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: normal;">The Texas power plant is owned by<b>&nbsp;Luminant Generation Co., part of Vistra Energy. One of Vistra’s lobbying firms once employed a lawyer who was hired to head the Trump EPA air office. Vistra is one of nine politically connected polluters being scrutinized by Congressional investigators. In 2018 alone it gave more than $101,000 to members of Congress at a three-to-one ratio favoring Republicans</b>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102); font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102); font-style: normal;"><b>The lawyer was Bill Wehrum, who oversaw the Trump EPA’s air policy office until he resigned in June during a federal ethics investigation.&nbsp;</b>Previously Wehrum was a partner at&nbsp;<b>Hunton & Williams where he made $2.1 million</b>. That law&nbsp;<b>firm is now known as Hunton Andrews Kurth.</b>&nbsp;<b>A Congressional report dubbed the law firm “industry’s secret pipeline to EPA.”</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: normal;">Vistra Energy paid $140,000 in<b>&nbsp;lobbying fees&nbsp;</b>last year to Hunton Andrews Kurth.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><b>Wehrum was accused of repeatedly violating his ethics pledge and legal duty to refrain from EPA matters involving his former clients</b>. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW, in May filed a detailed<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;14-page complaint against Wehrum with the EPA’s acting inspector general.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><b>Other big sulfur dioxide polluters include DTE Energy Co., represented by<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">&nbsp;Hunton</span>&nbsp;Andrews Kurth in a long battle with the EPA over pollution from its coal-fired power plant in Monroe</b>, Mich.&nbsp;<b>David Harlow, attorney for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, previously represented DTE for Hunton Andrews Kurth.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><b style="font-style: normal;">Lobbyists As Regulators</b></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><b style="font-style: normal;">
</b></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102); font-style: normal;">Soon after Harlow and Wehrum joined the EPA, the agency changed its position on a core issue in DTE’s case, adopting the company’s view.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">A slightly different pro-polluter tactic was adopted for the power plant in east Texas. With former lobbyists for polluters in charge, the EPA made a mistake during the Obama years when it declared that parts of two counties near the Martin Lake plant exceeded the standard for sulfur dioxide emissions.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><b style="font-style: normal;">Trump’s EPA now wants to say the two-county area is “unclassifiable.” That would allow the plant to continue spewing tons of toxic air.</b></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">Because of actions assisting polluters, environmentalists fear acid rain is back.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font style="font-style: normal;">While rain typically is slightly acidic with a pH reading of close to 6, acid rain is sometimes 3.2. That may not seem like much because pH is a scale. But acid rain can be more than 200 times more acidic than pollution-free rainfall....</font></p></div></div></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;">=</font><div><font style="font-style: normal;">919</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;" /><div><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></font></font></font></div><div>The Interior-EPA budget has just been voted out of committee.</div><div>
</div><div>We are hearing that (guided by Trump) there will be attempts to add more atrocious riders to the package. And the bill already contains riders: Gutting sage grouse protections. Granting waivers to polluters in Alaska to operate incinerators without meeting standards. An attempt to juke carbon emission stats by declaring biomass emissions "neutral" on carbon.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>This is a fight we can win. This summer, we beat back the worst of the attacks in the House. Opening up the Arctic and our coastlines to oil drilling — blocking rules to limit carbon pollution from power plants and oil and gas drilling — zeroing out the EPA office that determines safe levels for PFAS and other toxic chemicals — none of these amendments made it into the House's version of the EPA budget</div><div>=</div></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;">=</font><div><a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/09/19/epa-new-pfas-chemicals/"><font style="font-style: normal;">https://theintercept.com/2019/09/19/epa-new-pfas-chemicals/</font></a></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;">40 kinds</font></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div></div><div style=""><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;">=</font></div><div style=""><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2639209982" style="margin-top: -15px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="font-style: italic; clear: both;"><p><font style="font-style: normal;">&nbsp;Elliott Negin</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">On July 8, President Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/us/politics/trump-environment-climate-change.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">hosted</a>&nbsp;a White House event to unabashedly tout his truly abysmal environmental record. The following day, coincidentally, marked the one-year anniversary of Andrew Wheeler at the helm of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), first as acting administrator and then as administrator after the Senate confirmed him in late February.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">The good news, if there is any, is that Wheeler is an Eagle Scout compared to his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-25/here-s-a-scorecard-of-the-scott-pruitt-investigations-quicktake" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">ethically challenged</a>predecessor, Scott Pruitt. The bad news is,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/climate/wheeler-epa-pruitt.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">as predicted</a>, Wheeler has been more effective than Pruitt in rolling back and eliminating EPA safeguards.</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-style: normal;">My organization, the Union of Concerned Scientists, has compiled a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/state-of-science-trump-era" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">list</a>&nbsp;of 80 Trump administration attacks on science since taking office, and Wheeler has been the driving force behind many of them.&nbsp;<b>Below are 10 of the more egregious ways he has undermined the EPA's time-honored role to protect public health and the environment so far.</b></font></p><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem1"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">1. Sidelined Scientists</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;"><span style="background-color: initial;">Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, has taken a number of steps to systematically reduce the role of scientists in the agency's policymaking process. Last fall, for example, he&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/climate/epa-science-adviser.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; background-color: initial;">eliminated</a><span style="background-color: initial;">&nbsp;the agency's Office of the Science Advisor, which counseled the EPA administrator on research supporting health and environmental standards, and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/26/climate/epa-etzel-children-health-program.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; background-color: initial;">placed</a><span style="background-color: initial;">&nbsp;the head of the EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection on administrative leave. He also&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/climate/epa-disbands-pollution-science-panel.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; background-color: initial;">disbanded</a><span style="background-color: initial;">&nbsp;a 20-member scientific advisory committee on particulate matter, or soot;&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060102455" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; background-color: initial;">failed</a><span style="background-color: initial;">&nbsp;to convene a similar panel on ozone; and&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060102455" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; background-color: initial;">packed</a><span style="background-color: initial;">&nbsp;a seven-member advisory committee on air quality standards with industry-friendly participants.</span><span style="background-color: initial;">
</span></font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">2. Proposed to Restrict the Use of Scientific Data</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Claiming his intent is to increase "transparency," Wheeler is promoting a rule Pruitt proposed that would dramatically limit the scientific studies the agency considers when developing health standards. If adopted, the rule would restrict the use of scientific studies in EPA decisions if the underlying data are not public and reproducible, which would disqualify many epidemiological and other health studies the EPA relies on to set science-based public safeguards. Given that EPA health standards often rely on studies that contain private patient information, as well as confidential business information that cannot be revealed, the rule would significantly hamper the agency's ability to carry out its mission. Wheeler&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/421479-epa-to-pursue-final-science-transparency-rule-in-2019" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">plans</a>&nbsp;to finalize the rule sometime this year.</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem3"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">3. Gutted the Coal Ash Rule</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">The first major&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/coalash/coal-ash-rule" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">rule</a>&nbsp;Wheeler signed as acting administrator refuted his claim that he could fulfill President Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apnews.com/0012648e385d41f481f0af20a90f0666" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">directive</a>&nbsp;to "clean up the air, clean up the water, and provide regulatory relief" at the same time. By rolling back the Obama-era coal ash rule, Wheeler provided regulatory relief to his old friend the coal industry by weakening environmental protections established in 2015 to clean up coal ash ponds, which are laced with toxic contaminants that leak into groundwater. The move was a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060083703" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">top priority</a>&nbsp;for coal baron Bob Murray, owner of Murray Energy, Wheeler's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/epas-acting-administrator-has-long-lobbying-record-on-issues-before-the-agency/2018/07/05/a591cd40-6a6b-11e8-bea7-c8eb28bc52b1_story.html?utm_term=.07ea8ecca216" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">most lucrative client</a>&nbsp;when he worked for the Faegre Baker Daniels law firm.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Coal-fired power plants have been dumping this residue from burning coal into giant, unlined pits for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2019/07/02/us/ap-us-coal-ash-liability.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">decades</a>. According to the EPA, there are more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/coalash/frequent-questions-about-2015-coal-ash-disposal-rule#3" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">1,000 coal ash disposal sites</a>&nbsp;across the country, and a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news/first-comprehensive-national-study-of-coal-ash-pollution-finds-widespread-groundwater-contamination/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">analysis</a>&nbsp;by Earthjustice and the Environmental Integrity Project found that 91 percent of the coal plants filing monitoring data required by the 2015 rule are polluting water with unsafe levels of toxic contaminants. Wheeler's EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-finalizes-first-amendments-coal-ash-disposal-regulations-providing-flexibilities" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">says</a>&nbsp;the new rule—which extends the deadline for closing some leaking ash ponds and allows states to suspend groundwater monitoring and set their own standards—will save utilities as much as $31 million. But the agency ignored the enormous costs of cancer and neurological and cardiovascular diseases&nbsp;<a href="https://www.psr.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/coal-ash-hazardous-to-human-health.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">linked</a>&nbsp;to coal ash ingredients, which include arsenic, chromium, lead and mercury.</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="4" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem4"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">4. Recommended Unsafe Levels of Drinking Water Contaminants</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are used in firefighting foam and a variety of nonstick, cleaning, packaging and other household products, have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/23/pfas-everyday-products-toxics-guide" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">linked</a>&nbsp;to thyroid disease and kidney, liver, pancreatic and testicular cancer. According to a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/drinking-water-may-contain-pfas-chemicals-in-43-states-according-to-new-study-by-environmental-working-group/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">study</a>&nbsp;by the Environmental Working Group and Northeastern University, these chemicals threaten the drinking water supplies of an estimated 19 million Americans. A 2018 Union of Concerned Scientists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/preserving-science-based-safeguards/toxic-threat-pfas-contamination-military-bases" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">report</a>, meanwhile, found that PFAS water contamination at 130 military bases across the country exceed the 11-parts-per-trillion safety threshold determined by the Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Nearly two-thirds of the sites had contamination that was more than 100 times higher than the safe level.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">In February, Wheeler&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-acting-administrator-announces-first-ever-comprehensive-nationwide-pfas-action-plan" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">announced</a>&nbsp;the "first-ever nationwide action plan" to regulate PFAS chemicals in water, saying the agency would develop and set a limit for two of the most prevalent PFAS chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. During the announcement, he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/14/politics/epa-pfas-water-plan/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">told</a>&nbsp;reporters he believes the agency's voluntary 70-part-per-trillion health-advisory level for the chemicals is "a safe level for drinking water," despite the fact that this level is more than six times higher than what the Disease Registry considers safe.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">While Wheeler slow-walks the EPA's response, members of Congress have introduced at least a&nbsp;<a href="https://saferchemicals.org/2019/05/29/communities-call-on-congress-to-act-on-pfas/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">dozen</a>bills to address PFAS contamination, and the&nbsp;<a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/450706-senate-vote-requires-military-epa-to-deal-with-harmful-forever" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Senate recently passed</a>&nbsp;a defense bill that would require the EPA to set a science-based standard for PFAS in drinking water.</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="5" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem5"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">5. Rolled Back Clean Water Act Protections</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Clearing up a decade-long dispute over the scope of the Clean Water Act, the Obama EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/us/obama-epa-clean-water-pollution.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">adopted</a>&nbsp;a broad, science-based definition of the law that included protecting intermittent and ephemeral streams and wetlands that do not have surface water connections to other waterways. A&nbsp;<a href="https://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/risk/recordisplay.cfm?deid=296414" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">2015 EPA meta-analysis</a>&nbsp;of more than 1,200 peer-reviewed studies concluded that even infrequently flowing small streams and isolated wetlands can affect "the integrity of downstream waters." Trash them and that pollution could wind up in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and estuaries.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Regardless, Wheeler&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-and-army-propose-new-waters-united-states-definition" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">announced</a>&nbsp;plans during a December telephone press briefing to reverse the Obama EPA definition of waters protected by the Clean Water Act, a thinly disguised gift to land developers and the agriculture industry. When asked what wetlands would no longer be protected, Wheeler&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060109323/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">replied</a>, "We have not done … a detailed mapping of all the wetlands in the country." Likewise, EPA Office of Water head David Ross—who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060058019" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">represented industry clients</a>&nbsp;against the EPA before joining the Trump administration—<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060109323/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">told</a>&nbsp;reporters on the call that the agency had no idea how many streams would be dropped from Clean Water Act protection under the proposal.</font></p><font style="font-style: normal;">In fact, Wheeler and Ross were well aware of the damage their new definition would do. At least 18 percent of streams and 51 percent of wetlands across the country would not be covered under their proposed definition, according to an internal 2017&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2018/12/11/document_gw_05.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">slideshow</a>&nbsp;prepared by the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060109323" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">obtained by E&E News</a>&nbsp;under the Freedom of Information Act.</font><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="6" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem6"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">6. Suppressed an Inconvenient Formaldehyde Report</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Last August, Wheeler disingenuously told a Senate committee that the EPA was holding up the release of a report on the risk of cancer from formaldehyde to confirm its veracity. "I am sure we will release it," he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/cache/files/a/f/afffe2f0-6008-4c2a-af13-87d1cb26d6be/7564C79E99E118F3853D747150119932.spw-080118.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">said</a>, "but I need to make sure that the science in the report is still accurate."</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">In fact, the report—which concluded that formaldehyde can cause leukemia and nose and throat cancer—was completed by EPA scientists a year before Wheeler testified, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.markey.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Pruitt%20Letter%20formaldehyde%20assessment.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">a Senate investigation</a>, and their conclusion was hardly a surprise. Both the World Health Organization's&nbsp;<a href="https://monographs.iarc.fr/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/mono100F-29.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">International Agency for Research on Cancer</a>&nbsp;and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services&nbsp;<a href="https://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/newsroom/releases/2011/june10/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">National Toxicology Program</a>&nbsp;have already classified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">The EPA's review process normally takes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/climate/epa-mercury-emissions.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">60 to 90 days</a>. The formaldehyde report has been in limbo for at least a year and a half, a blatant giveaway to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/toxic-influence-how-a-che_b_8307272" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">American Chemistry Council</a>, the U.S. chemical industry's premier trade association, which has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/sowing-uncertainty-about-science-formaldehyde-decades" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">blocked tighter restrictions</a>&nbsp;on formaldehyde for decades.</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="7" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem7"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">7. Ignored EPA Scientists’ Advice to Ban Asbestos</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Instead of&nbsp;<a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/815-e-p-a-memos-on-asbestos/12c87a96be998db10048/optimized/full.pdf#page=1" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">heeding the advice</a>&nbsp;of agency scientists and lawyers to follow the example of&nbsp;<a href="https://tinyurl.com/y5x2k32p" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">55 other countries</a>&nbsp;and ban asbestos completely, the EPA&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-strengthens-regulation-asbestos-close-loophole-and-protect-consumers" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">announced</a>&nbsp;in April that it would tighten restrictions on asbestos—not ban it—despite overwhelming scientific evidence of its dangers. Manufacturers will be able to continue to use the substance if they obtain EPA approval.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Asbestos has not been produced in the United States&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/risk-evaluation-asbestos-0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">since 2002</a>, but is still imported for use in a wide range of commercial and consumer products, including auto brake components, roofing, vinyl floor tile, fire-resistant clothing, and cement pipes, sheets and shingles. One of the deadliest known carcinogens, asbestos kills&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180416005884/en/ADAO-Announces-New-Findings-Show-Asbestos-Related-Deaths" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">nearly 40,000</a>&nbsp;Americans annually, mainly from lung cancer.</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="8" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem8"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">8. Weakened the Mercury Emissions Rule</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">In late December, the EPA proposed to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/28/climate/mercury-coal-pollution-regulations.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">significantly weaken</a>&nbsp;a rule restricting mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants by recalculating its costs and benefits. The Obama EPA, which issued the rule in 2011, estimated it would cost utilities&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/mats/regulatory-actions-final-mercury-and-air-toxics-standards-mats-power-plants" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">$7.4 billion to $9.6 billion</a>&nbsp;annually to install pollution controls and lead to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.epa.gov/mats/healthier-americans#impacts" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">$37 billion to $90 billion</a>&nbsp;in health benefits by reducing not only mercury, a potent neurotoxin, but also sulfur dioxide and soot, thus preventing 130,000 asthma attacks, 4,700 heart attacks, and as many as 11,000 premature deaths. The Wheeler EPA ignored the "co-benefits" of limiting sulfur dioxide and soot, and flagrantly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/28/climate/mercury-coal-pollution-regulations.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">lowballed</a>&nbsp;the health benefits of curbing mercury alone at only $4 million to $6 million annually.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Most utilities have already complied with the mercury rule at&nbsp;<a href="https://tinyurl.com/y5885qy4" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">a fraction of the estimated cost</a>, but health advocates fear that this new, industry-friendly accounting method, which makes it appear that the cost to polluters far outweigh the rule's benefits, will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/energy-environment/2018/12/28/epa-make-it-harder-tighten-mercury-rules-future/?utm_term=.84be4559d80d" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">set a precedent</a>&nbsp;for the EPA to sabotage an array of other public health protections.</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="9" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem9"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">9. Slammed Vehicle Emission Rules Into Reverse</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Last August, the EPA and the Transportation Department&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/08/02/trump-epa-fuel-economy-standards/887683002/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">issued</a>&nbsp;a proposal to freeze vehicle tailpipe pollution and fuel efficiency standards, rolling back a 2012 Obama-era rule requiring automakers to boost passenger vehicle fuel economy to a fleetwide average of 54 miles per gallon by 2025. In a Wall Street Journal&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/make-cars-great-again-1533170415" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">opinion piece</a>&nbsp;titled "Make Cars Great Again" published a few days before the two agencies announced their proposal, Wheeler and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao charged that the Obama-era standards—the first to limit vehicle carbon emissions—are too burdensome for automakers and "raised the cost and decreased the supply of newer, safer vehicles."</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Parroting the Trump administration's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/climate/trump-fuel-economy.html?module=inline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">line of reasoning</a>, Wheeler and Chao argued that fuel-efficient cars—which weigh less than gas-guzzlers—are not as safe, a contention that has been widely&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/climate/trump-fuel-economy.html?module=inline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">debunked</a>. In fact, a 2017&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w23340" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">study</a>&nbsp;concluded that reducing the average weight of new vehicles could result in fewer traffic fatalities.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">In any case, freezing the standards at 2020 levels would be hard on the planet, not to mention Americans' wallets,&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-cooke/new-epa-administrator-same-bad-idea-car-standard-rollbacks-would-be-awful" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">according to</a>&nbsp;the Union of Concerned Scientists. It would result in an additional 2.2 billion metric tons of global warming emissions by 2040, amounting to 170 million metric tons in 2040 alone—the equivalent of the annual output of 43 average size coal-fired power plants. It also would cost drivers billions of dollars. In 2040 alone, they would have to pay an additional $55 billion to fill their gas tanks. Meanwhile, the design improvements automakers have made so far to meet the standards have already saved drivers more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/clean-vehicles/fuel-economy-ticker?ga=2.130369487.1908070918.1561988567-899698819.1546975208" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">$86 trillion</a>&nbsp;at the pump since 2012, and off-the-shelf technological fixes, the Union of Concerned Scientists says, would enable automakers to meet the original 2025 target.</font></p><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="10" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem10"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">10. Rescinded the Clean Power Plan</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Perhaps Wheeler's most damaging move to date came late last month when he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/6/19/18684054/climate-change-clean-power-plan-repeal-affordable-emissions" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">signed</a>&nbsp;a final rule to repeal and replace the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which would have required coal-fired power plants to dramatically cut their carbon emissions. Yet another gift to the coal industry, Wheeler's so-called Affordable Clean Energy rule grants states the authority to determine emissions standards but sets no targets, leaving them the option to do absolutely nothing.</font></p><font style="font-style: normal;">Before Wheeler released the final rule, an April&nbsp;<a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aafe25" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">study</a>&nbsp;in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that his draft version would boost carbon emissions in 18 states and the District of Columbia and increase sulfur dioxide emissions in 19 states. The EPA's own&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/climate/epa-coal-pollution-deaths.html?module=inline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">analysis</a>&nbsp;of the draft rule, meanwhile, found that the proposal could have led to as many as 1,400 premature deaths annually by 2030 due to an increase in soot, and as many as 15,000 cases of upper respiratory problems.</font><p /></div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-id="11" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem11"><h3 style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center;"><font style="font-style: normal;">Reversing Decades of Bipartisan Protections</font></h3><p /><p><font style="font-style: normal;">If Wheeler truly cared about transparency, he would petition the Trump administration to change the name of his agency to "Every Polluter's Ally." In just 12 months, he has killed or weakened dozens of safeguards with the sole intention of bolstering polluting industries' profit margins even after Congress slashed the corporate tax rate. As a result, millions of Americans will be drinking filthier water and breathing dirtier air, and more will suffer from serious diseases, according to his agency's own accounting.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Wheeler and his predecessor Pruitt have sullied the bipartisan track record of one of the nation's agencies entrusted with protecting public health and safety. So it is little wonder that three former EPA administrators who, notably, served under Republican presidents, recently&nbsp;<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11062019/epa-climate-change-anti-science-rebuke-gop-former-administrators-thomas-whitman-reilly-mccarthy" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">sounded the alarm</a>&nbsp;on Capitol Hill, urging legislators to step up their oversight of the agency and denouncing its attempts to hamstring science.</font></p><font style="font-style: normal;">"There is no doubt in my mind that under the current administration the EPA is retreating from its historic mission to protect our environment and the health of the public from environmental hazards," former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who served under President George W. Bush, stated in her&nbsp;<a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/files/documents/Testimony%20-%20Todd%20Whitman%2020190611.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">written testimony</a>&nbsp;for the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. "This administration, from the beginning, has made no secret of its intention to essentially dismantle the EPA…. Therefore, I urge this committee, in the strongest possible terms, to exercise Congress's oversight responsibilities over the actions and direction of the EPA."</font><p /></div><p><font style="font-style: normal;">This article was produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://independentmediainstitute.org/earth-food-life/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Earth | Food | Life</a>, a project of the Independent Media Institute, and originally published by&nbsp;<a href="https://truthout.org/articles/10-ways-andrew-wheeler-has-decimated-epa-protections-in-just-one-year/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Truthout</a>.</font></p><p><font style="font-style: normal;">Elliott Negin is a senior writer at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Union of Concerned Scientists</a>.</font></p><p class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" /></p><div class="post-pager js-listicle-pager" data-async_load_parameters="platform=desktop&display_ads=1&settings=%7B%22enter_url%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_post_section%22%3A+false%2C+%22ads_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22prevent_last_break_repetition%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_numeration%22%3A+false%2C+%22ads_order%22%3A+%5B%5D%2C+%22pagination_order%22%3A+%5B%5D%2C+%22list_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22reorder_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22cooldown_in_seconds%22%3A+null%2C+%22source%22%3A+%22post_listicle_settings%22%2C+%22next_post_url%22%3A+null%2C+%22up_down_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22show_columns_on_mobile%22%3A+false%2C+%22numeration_sort%22%3A+-1%2C+%22use_pagination%22%3A+false%2C+%22body_text_above%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_ads%22%3A+false%2C+%22items_as_posts%22%3A+false%2C+%22multiple_answers%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_redirect%22%3A+false%2C+%22is_guest_voting_allowed%22%3A+true%2C+%22layout_type%22%3A+1%7D" data-listicle-style="" style="display: table; 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display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">health</a></font></div></div><div><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;"><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /></font><h1 class="headline" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.2;"><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-style: normal;" /></a><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;" /><a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060730383" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Telework changes rattle workforce</a></h1><span style="font-style: normal;"><section class="excerpt" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 15px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 460px;"><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 15px 0px 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">EPA employees are scrambling to rejigger work schedules to meet new telework limits under a contract imposed by agency managers.</p></section><section class="homepage byline" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0.25em 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="authors" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">By&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/staff/Kevin_Bogardus" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap;">Kevin Bogardus</a>&nbsp;in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eenews.net/gw" class="publication gw" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; font-weight: bold;">Greenwire</a></span>&nbsp;<time datetime="2019-07-12 13:32:01 -0400" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: nowrap;">1:32 PM EDT</time></p></section></span></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;"></font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;">dereg rept</font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><font style="font-style: normal;">
</font></div><div style="font-style: italic;"><table class="m_1558270826855839076email-body-container" width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td align="left" class="m_1558270826855839076content" width="550" style="margin: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 550px; width: 550px;"><div class="m_1558270826855839076preamble" style="line-height: 26px;"><div class="m_1558270826855839076body m_1558270826855839076markup" style="line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 12px; word-break: break-word;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">deceive, inveigle, obfuscate</p></div><hr style="border-right: none; border-bottom: none; border-left: none; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(235, 236, 233); margin: 24px 0px;" /></div><div class="m_1558270826855839076post-header" style="line-height: 26px;"><h1 class="m_1558270826855839076post-title m_1558270826855839076short" sf="SF" compact="Compact" display="Display" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" apple="Apple" color="Color" emoji="Emoji" symbol="Symbol" line-height="line-height" em="em" margin="margin" px="px"><a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxlkU-TojAQxT-N3IZKCAocOPhnqMJddJ0ZdT1RIWk1AiEbgsh8-o26l5mtSr2uvLx0V_WPUQOnRg-xalrjdC3oXPDYCyYoipDDY5_jcBw6os2PGqCmooqN7sBRXVEJRo1o5OMDwqFzjiN0xAEZBz6OwA8pR7w4QsQooyHGIQ2d-5ScdlyAZBDDFfTQSHCq-GyMakdkOvISezhoOHXVo718qNt2RWsoK13W1DahvqVenrEXDUY3VlWjzYgkpilBjsgChiVm3m747VVlemmG1eehX3-U_c_5si_ICv3z_WyRfWZDL-g-QfZ-W30chmxR-tklvdmsYiQTa7Hs-T412WV6W8_TNpUrfBDpJJWzKyMbw-rd-UDeVOH54rhxy18wU1S9zlc_1HJ35e9vr3163W8n5Z-8227GPHmvp942u5LeEfdFRihAnq1WXOxOExzihIRoMfH9YBaMfFSfvC_rcHSsqKlZiYl9Pd0hPWzLKLe17qQwQw6SFhXwJz7z5P3AYQYFsYS-rcAY0E_TMg0RIcSxg3hjW8r4fyh_AYQExUA" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxlkU-TojAQxT-N3IZKCAocOPhnqMJddJ0ZdT1RIWk1AiEbgsh8-o26l5mtSr2uvLx0V_WPUQOnRg-xalrjdC3oXPDYCyYoipDDY5_jcBw6os2PGqCmooqN7sBRXVEJRo1o5OMDwqFzjiN0xAEZBz6OwA8pR7w4QsQooyHGIQ2d-5ScdlyAZBDDFfTQSHCq-GyMakdkOvISezhoOHXVo718qNt2RWsoK13W1DahvqVenrEXDUY3VlWjzYgkpilBjsgChiVm3m747VVlemmG1eehX3-U_c_5si_ICv3z_WyRfWZDL-g-QfZ-W30chmxR-tklvdmsYiQTa7Hs-T412WV6W8_TNpUrfBDpJJWzKyMbw-rd-UDeVOH54rhxy18wU1S9zlc_1HJ35e9vr3163W8n5Z-8227GPHmvp942u5LeEfdFRihAnq1WXOxOExzihIRoMfH9YBaMfFSfvC_rcHSsqKlZiYl9Pd0hPWzLKLe17qQwQw6SFhXwJz7z5P3AYQYFsYS-rcAY0E_TMg0RIcSxg3hjW8r4fyh_AYQExUA&source=gmail&ust=1562185787715000&usg=AFQjCNFAQu0Dim7iijG0fCfJhWQ-UEPlgw" style="text-decoration-line: none;">(de)regulation nation: retro report</a></h1></div><div class="m_1558270826855839076post" style="padding: 9px 0px; line-height: 26px;"><div class="m_1558270826855839076body m_1558270826855839076markup" style="line-height: 26px; margin-bottom: 12px; word-break: break-word;"><h2 sf="SF" compact="Compact" display="Display" apple-system="apple-system" blinkmacsystemfont="BlinkMacSystemFont" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" roboto="Roboto" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" apple="Apple" color="Color" emoji="Emoji" symbol="Symbol" font-size="font-size" em="em" line-height="line-height" margin="margin" px="px">retro report 2: EPA denies it’s trying to keep the public in the dark</h2><ul style="margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">The Environmental Protection Agency responded late last week to criticism of its new “Freedom of Information Act Regulations Update.”</p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">The agency’s revised process gives more political appointees a say in what materials get released in response to Freedom of Information requests,&nbsp;<a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMuOwyAM_JpyawQhTcmBQ1er_kbkgJOySyACs1X-fkkqWR5rLD9mDBAuMe16i5lYyZhGZ3V77_kwcGZ1Z4W6KebyOCfEFZzXlAqyrUzeGSAXwznAhWIvLTkMcuihk2bobmYWk1F84mCE6gBhZseVEYp1GAxq_MO0x4DM6xfRdpGPS_uskfGniWk5KkeYK1qcoXiq1ez8yYBdXXCZElBM1_cL0WO61skr79u-jM0m52ZO14b-J23FWtqRPN4CiWeUvHvvuvuX_dLx9elbXKZMoH5bUxcWdIb0Gp-hazd5ZB90lX1WHEtwdE-YoDJo_0YQh8HT4G0b6gDvrNHIkwfsrqkuJSS1UM21pVBW0y4FH-6GM78DxQ4huM" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMuOwyAM_JpyawQhTcmBQ1er_kbkgJOySyACs1X-fkkqWR5rLD9mDBAuMe16i5lYyZhGZ3V77_kwcGZ1Z4W6KebyOCfEFZzXlAqyrUzeGSAXwznAhWIvLTkMcuihk2bobmYWk1F84mCE6gBhZseVEYp1GAxq_MO0x4DM6xfRdpGPS_uskfGniWk5KkeYK1qcoXiq1ez8yYBdXXCZElBM1_cL0WO61skr79u-jM0m52ZO14b-J23FWtqRPN4CiWeUvHvvuvuX_dLx9elbXKZMoH5bUxcWdIb0Gp-hazd5ZB90lX1WHEtwdE-YoDJo_0YQh8HT4G0b6gDvrNHIkwfsrqkuJSS1UM21pVBW0y4FH-6GM78DxQ4huM&source=gmail&ust=1562185787717000&usg=AFQjCNFvF7nicSfwiBF7JvqLZyAnRZ2H4g">according to the Society of Environmental Journalists</a>&nbsp;and FOI experts&nbsp;<a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMtuxCAM_Jrl1giSNIEDh62q_Y2IgJNFSwDxaJu_r8lK4AFje5jRqsAe0iljyIXUDGmxRvbzRIWgxMjRMP7Jic3LlgAOZZ0sqQKJdXVWq2KDvxoo4-QpFTMGYNNspFuvVqpXIcTE5lWBoXzCNmRZVDUWvAYJP5DO4IE4-Swl5ttwv_UPXGBsm9xpjzscmEECgUCndm4hBoc1OrfqqD62YNVHqg7wbr2Bv-5ZDkds-5mgM-0RMXSsuz8YZ4-B0-9pHOev-TbSY--7XNdclH41PpJkVOXQLzbg695UX2kUvSAe1dtyLuDV6sC8_ShvAy995YwgPfxmB6VAeifRJE6HYSBIZAKO9NJAgr26y0R_xX_7EoXA" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMtuxCAM_Jrl1giSNIEDh62q_Y2IgJNFSwDxaJu_r8lK4AFje5jRqsAe0iljyIXUDGmxRvbzRIWgxMjRMP7Jic3LlgAOZZ0sqQKJdXVWq2KDvxoo4-QpFTMGYNNspFuvVqpXIcTE5lWBoXzCNmRZVDUWvAYJP5DO4IE4-Swl5ttwv_UPXGBsm9xpjzscmEECgUCndm4hBoc1OrfqqD62YNVHqg7wbr2Bv-5ZDkds-5mgM-0RMXSsuz8YZ4-B0-9pHOev-TbSY--7XNdclH41PpJkVOXQLzbg695UX2kUvSAe1dtyLuDV6sC8_ShvAy995YwgPfxmB6VAeifRJE6HYSBIZAKO9NJAgr26y0R_xX_7EoXA&source=gmail&ust=1562185787717000&usg=AFQjCNE2rFD5FisW8BIxu_OgM01v0CKNSA">quoted by CNN</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkNGOgyAQRb-mvGFAbMUHHrrZ9DcMwuiSIrgwrPHvF21C5pJLmLlzjEZYYjrUFjOSkiGNzqq2f7BhYMSqznJ5l8TlcU4Aq3ZeYSpAtjJ5ZzS6GK4PjEvyo7q55zC0gxXT3GvgHLQVppWduNu7fDByThl1sQ6CAQV_kI4YgHj1g7jlm3je2lc9-743KXpvtPeNiWu1Auy5iolhSZDPK2yapuKBesBMt-gd1kSexnl2xmmf6eSjedM5Ok1tNGWFgDTBb4GMmbgz9MB61latpeHN88UlfwnJvh9d13_1t46tS9vkMmXU5n0mIUltGlfz5qK-LieQy648xqprCQ6PEYKePNgPKvywvVbHYwN1rlIzI6SPWflJJoQgdZCNtWVQFhIsxV98w1X_AbHGktY" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkNGOgyAQRb-mvGFAbMUHHrrZ9DcMwuiSIrgwrPHvF21C5pJLmLlzjEZYYjrUFjOSkiGNzqq2f7BhYMSqznJ5l8TlcU4Aq3ZeYSpAtjJ5ZzS6GK4PjEvyo7q55zC0gxXT3GvgHLQVppWduNu7fDByThl1sQ6CAQV_kI4YgHj1g7jlm3je2lc9-743KXpvtPeNiWu1Auy5iolhSZDPK2yapuKBesBMt-gd1kSexnl2xmmf6eSjedM5Ok1tNGWFgDTBb4GMmbgz9MB61latpeHN88UlfwnJvh9d13_1t46tS9vkMmXU5n0mIUltGlfz5qK-LieQy648xqprCQ6PEYKePNgPKvywvVbHYwN1rlIzI6SPWflJJoQgdZCNtWVQFhIsxV98w1X_AbHGktY&source=gmail&ust=1562185787717000&usg=AFQjCNHU_lgHMfLOJsyRTIXVxXJUFX3T7g">Roll Call</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNGOhCAM_Jrl0YAo6AMPe7nsbxiErktWwUA9499f1YRMh5IynXEWYUr5MGsqyLYCeQje1FrxvufMm8aLru1YKMM7Ayw2zAbzBmzdxjk4iyHFa4CLjn3MewTQXmgntLbK9iBrJ5VvrGuhla5lp8pgNx8gOjDwB_lIEdhsPohrecjno37R2fe9AoiwlyoCUuO-rAtRkuqpcHXyEwqmHKAQE1xxpbjgmoVzpZ5rXlMlqET1fIlOvGTHf1XT6B_9aPgy1VXZxoLWfSuXFpbNanFxXyHpdTrtXm1yO1BdthjwGCDacQZ_B4F3cpcxPFYw56IzIEK-m5ROx6WUjIR8oi-j8ZBh2uYrvXjhP-bjgVI" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNGOhCAM_Jrl0YAo6AMPe7nsbxiErktWwUA9499f1YRMh5IynXEWYUr5MGsqyLYCeQje1FrxvufMm8aLru1YKMM7Ayw2zAbzBmzdxjk4iyHFa4CLjn3MewTQXmgntLbK9iBrJ5VvrGuhla5lp8pgNx8gOjDwB_lIEdhsPohrecjno37R2fe9AoiwlyoCUuO-rAtRkuqpcHXyEwqmHKAQE1xxpbjgmoVzpZ5rXlMlqET1fIlOvGTHf1XT6B_9aPgy1VXZxoLWfSuXFpbNanFxXyHpdTrtXm1yO1BdthjwGCDacQZ_B4F3cpcxPFYw56IzIEK-m5ROx6WUjIR8oi-j8ZBh2uYrvXjhP-bjgVI&source=gmail&ust=1562185787717000&usg=AFQjCNE31_dJblb0TlCSbnoIKfwLwxWoow">E&E News</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkMuOwyAMRb-m7KjIq0kWLDoa9TciCk5iDYEMmKny9-OmErLhIj_usYZgienQe8wkSoY0odN1f1PjqITTrauGbhCYpzkBbAa9plRA7OXp0RrCGM4CVQ1i1WDHru_B3Vpou77txnGub207utrWtTGDeE-ZTHEIwYKGP0hHDCC8Xon2fGnul_rBh1ZY0furjRu_9sijDr5AgLQcEsIfphg2CMRi26nqNsoALwm7kal4kK9YvJPG-iSW0wgjdswYKZ0bizjPKNF47OkKF-AyyqR1SDniNwCfgtkygLfvkbVq5ozh2t1vT-qoXo0g_pmX_1Xf2nVttTXXJ6ZjP15byyS3g1t9qdq-Hd5MztlRjZx3kpAOiYI5unBfWjSB_9Jh44dNLvJHoggfURGPKimaQQPcpFbBu0gwVL8aSic8R8A_J6m" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkMuOwyAMRb-m7KjIq0kWLDoa9TciCk5iDYEMmKny9-OmErLhIj_usYZgienQe8wkSoY0odN1f1PjqITTrauGbhCYpzkBbAa9plRA7OXp0RrCGM4CVQ1i1WDHru_B3Vpou77txnGub207utrWtTGDeE-ZTHEIwYKGP0hHDCC8Xon2fGnul_rBh1ZY0furjRu_9sijDr5AgLQcEsIfphg2CMRi26nqNsoALwm7kal4kK9YvJPG-iSW0wgjdswYKZ0bizjPKNF47OkKF-AyyqR1SDniNwCfgtkygLfvkbVq5ozh2t1vT-qoXo0g_pmX_1Xf2nVttTXXJ6ZjP15byyS3g1t9qdq-Hd5MztlRjZx3kpAOiYI5unBfWjSB_9Jh44dNLvJHoggfURGPKimaQQPcpFbBu0gwVL8aSic8R8A_J6m&source=gmail&ust=1562185787717000&usg=AFQjCNFiTnUkDWsEgedFM2zQbjmCPw4jeg">The Hill.</a></p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">(Full disclosure: I’m an SEJ board member and FOI Task Force member.)</p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">EPA may also have broken the law by finalizing the rule without giving the public a chance to comment on it.</p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">Responding to SEJ’s critique, EPA charged SEJ with repeating “numerous inaccuracies that were regurgitated from false articles.”</p></li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;"><p style="line-height: 26px; margin: 0px;">“This new regulation brings the Agency into compliance with the Congressional amendments to FOIA from 2007, 2009, and 2016,”&nbsp;<a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlkEuOwyAMhk9Tdo0g0IYuWHQ06jUiQtyUKYEIm0a5_ZBUsmzZlh5yzBlPJmloTECkLu_Wja7spvN85Go0ahL5p57J8ZYLY-GMoF2FKG4J0ln-IxwIVmLzPCoJW4gLCtvbbD5TnoVnVcOQVSDnXhfqW3ZfQQHRj4QN5SBBbMi2jBk7yf2ke1dV0bWGwzpU_NIqyYIYBFwJrWBp4z4JIiwhmT80DbGeLH5xRniGTD-S-VHG3wSMj8_t2Nd7ytsbpGNPeH0OIhNf-9KtX9dCfF56ltsAxI1r0bl2aWzWJpdm8ha3falR_lKryvcS7R09ZDtEOA8cuEvhAPjbQtYPbHAxBB_hYrKM2llKweGlNdGSuxDFMJB8h4-H8Gw4sN" target="_blank" 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The Obama administration failed to meet this deadline.”</p></li></ul></div></div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div style=""><div style="">=</div><div style="">pro p</div><div style="">
</div><div style="">W<span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">e have obtained a list of 95 new Trump administration appointees made over the past six months. Following a pattern we’ve&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/what-we-found-in-trump-administration-drained-swamp-hundreds-of-ex-lobbyists-and-washington-dc-insiders" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none" font-weight="font-weight" bold="bold" color="color" outline="outline" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" transition="transition" s="s" ease="ease" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer">detailed before</a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">, many of the hires previously worked on President Donald Trump’s campaign or at conservative think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation. In other cases, appointees seem to have little work experience at all.</span></div><div style=""><div class="p1_5" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;">We compiled the information from Freedom of Information Act requests and have added the appointees to our&nbsp;<a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Trump Town</a>&nbsp;app, which lets you search the disclosures of nearly 3,000 of them.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;">Here are a few of the recent appointments:</p><div class="p3_5" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/lynn-dekleva" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Lynn DeKleva</a>, who worked for decades at chemical giant&nbsp;<b>DuPont,&nbsp;</b>was appointed to a job as an environmental engineer in the Environmental Protection Agency’s chemical safety and pollution prevention office in October. Typically, environmental engineering positions are not political appointments. DeKleva did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comments. The EPA said in a statement that DeKleva “brings considerable product stewardship experience and knowledge with her to assist” the agency.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/ileana-ydolia-garcia" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Ileana Garcia</a>, a co-founder of the campaign’s Latinas for Trump, was appointed in October as deputy press secretary in the Department of Homeland Security.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/todd-matthew-thurman" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Todd Thurman</a>, a Heritage Foundation staffer who used to write for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/author/tthurman/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daily Signal</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.breitbart.com/author/todd-thurman/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Breitbart</a>, was appointed as the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s digital strategy specialist in September.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/antonin-scalia" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Antonin Scalia</a>, the namesake grandson of the late Supreme Court justice, was appointed in September as a temporary assistant in the State Department. Scalia graduated&nbsp;<a href="https://rhodeslynx.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4761" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">from college</a>&nbsp;last year. Scalia and the State Department did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comments.</li></ul></div><div></div></div></div></div><div style=""></div><div style="">
</div><div style=""><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/emergency-trump-epa-pesticides-2638979880.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/emergency-trump-epa-pesticides-2638979880.html</a></div><div style="">
</div><div style=""><div>no lnx many</div><div>
</div><div><b>Trump EPA OKs ‘Emergency’ Use of Bee-Killing Pesticide on 13.9 Million Acres</b></div><div>Jordan Simmons Jun. 25, 2019 01:08PM EST POLITICS</div><div>
</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>More than 40 percent of insects could go extinct globally in the next few decades. So why did the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week OK the 'emergency' use of the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor on 13.9 million acres?</b></div><div>
</div><div>EcoWatch teamed up with Center for Biological Diversity via EcoWatch Live on Facebook to find out why. Environmental Health Director and Senior Attorney Lori Ann Burd explained how there is a loophole in the The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act under section 18, "that allows for entities and states to request emergency exemptions to spraying pesticides where they otherwise wouldn't be allowed to spray."</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>In a press release sent to EcoWatch, the Center for Biological Diversity stated:</div><div>
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The approval includes 2019 crops of cotton and sorghum in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Ten of the 11 states have been granted the approvals for at least four consecutive years for the same "emergency." Five have been given approvals for at least six consecutive years.</font></div><div>If an occurrence is happening six years in a row, does that justify an emergency?</div><div>
</div><div>"This administration has been grossly abusing this exemption to allow the use of this one pesticide called<b>&nbsp;sulfoxaflor&nbsp;</b>on a vast acreage year after year," said Burd.</div><div>
</div><div>Our biodiversity is at serious risk. For example, in Texas — where 5.8 million acres got emergency exemption to spray — more than 800 native bee species and eight species of bumblebees reside. It is also an important migration route for monarch butterflies.</div><div>
</div><div>"Monarch butterflies and eight species of bumblebees do overlap with Texas counties where there is sulfoxaflor spraying," said Burd. "Even at subacute, very low doses, sufoxaflor will have a very dramatic effect on bumblebee reproduction." The purpose of sulfoxaflor is to kill insects.</div><div>
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Farmers have only gotten away with spraying sulfoxaflor because they were granted emergency. The EPA has not approved the lethal insecticide sulfoxaflor to be used on sorghum because it is known to attract bees. At one point the EPA did allow the use of sulfoxaflor on cotton, however the&nbsp;<b>U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the approval — the result of a lawsuit brought to them by beekeepers.</b></font></div><div>
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a summary following the vacated approval in 2015, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the&nbsp;<b>Ninth Circuit</b>&nbsp;published conclusions:</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The panel held that because the EPA's decision to unconditionally register sulfoxaflor was based on flawed and limited data, the EPA's unconditional approval was not supported by substantial evidence. The panel vacated the EPA's unconditional registration because given the precariousness of bee populations, leaving the EPA's registration of sulfoxaflor in place risked more potential environmental harm than vacating it.</font></div><div>
</div><div>Criticism has been raised by the fact-checking resource Snopes on the grounds that it is misleading to imply that Trump is the only one who's approved emergency exemptions for sulfoxaflor. EcoWatch asked the Center for Biological diversity to respond.</div><div>
</div><div>"This is not a new problem," said Burd. "This has been going on for six consecutive years and we have not been in the Trump administration for six consecutive years." So, yes, Trump's EPA did this, but "this is by no means a new problem. Our pesticide registration and approval process is fundamentally broken. EPA's pesticide office is captured by industry and they are not doing their jobs protecting human health and the environment from these pesticides," said Burd.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>EcoWatch asked Burd if there anything the public can do to stop these emergency approvals and prevent the use of toxic pesticides.</div><div>
</div><div>Burd suggested EcoWatchers consider signing a petition "demanding that Trump's EPA stop rubber-stamping 'emergency' uses of pesticides that wreak havoc on our environment." EcoWatchers can also help by getting involved with various groups working to protect the environment, choosing organic, refusing the use of pesticides at home, talking about not using them at work or at a homeowners association, supporting local ordinances going after pesticide issues, voting often or early and planting pollinator friendly gardens in rural and urban environments.</div><div>
</div><div>RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</div><div>Pollinators in Peril: A Systematic Status Review of North American ... ›</div><div>Attracting Beneficial Bees | Gardener's Supply ›</div><div>EU Approves Ban on 'Bee-Killing' Neonicotinoids - EcoWatch ›</div><div>Trump EPA OKs 'Emergency' to Dump Bee-Killing Pesticide on 16 ... ›</div><div>Honey Bees Attracted to Glyphosate and a Common Fungicide ... ›</div><div>Trump Gives Pen to Dow Chemical CEO After Signing Executive ... ›</div><div>sulfoxaflor pesticides insecticides insects fungicide fifra bees honeybees monarchs pollinators toxics chemicals organic epa</div></div><div style=""><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/a-distorted-reading-of-the-science-the-epa-wants-minimal-limits-on-poison-in-drinking-water/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/a-distorted-reading-of-the-science-the-epa-wants-minimal-limits-on-poison-in-drinking-water/</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>no lnx</div><div>
</div><div><b>'A distorted reading of the science’: The EPA wants minimal limits on poison in drinking water</b></div><div>
</div><div>written by Sarah Okeson / DC Report<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>June 26, 2019</div><div>
</div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Trump EPA calculated recommended limits of a dangerous chemical sometimes found in drinking water that can harm babies’ brain development that were more than 9 times higher than those imposed by a few states by fudging a key number in the calculation.</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Trump EPA recommended a limit for perchlorate, which can harm infant brain development, of 56 micrograms per liter, far above the limit of 6 that California imposed and 2 that Massachusetts set, more than a decade ago.</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I guess they think it’s just fine to have children have IQ loss,” said Betsy Southerland, a retired EPA official who oversaw science and technology issues in the EPA Office of Water.</font></div><div>
</div><div><b>Perchlorate, which a GAO study found in the water, soil or sediment of 45 states, is particularly dangerous to babies because it can harm infant brain development if their mothers are exposed to it in food or water while pregnant. Babies can also ingest perchlorate in their mothers’ breast milk or in for</b>mula.</div><div>
</div><div>Scientists account for uncertainty in calculating such limits with what is known as the “uncertainty factor” to protect the most vulnerable such as infants. Our nation’s public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used a factor of 10 for perchlorate. The Trump EPA cut that by 2/3s to 3.</div><div>
</div><div>“I don’t think it’s grounded in the science,” said Tom Neltner, the chemicals policy director for the Environmental Defense Fund. “I think it’s a distorted reading of the science.”</div><div><b>&nbsp;</b></div><div><b>EPA spokesman Ken Labbe did not have a response for DCReport.org about how the limits were calculated.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>Massachusetts virtually eliminated perchlorate from its public drinking water supply with its limit.&nbsp;</b>Testing between 2001 and 2003 found perchlorate levels of 4 micrograms per liter or higher in water systems nationwide serving more than 16.6 million people. Bleach, which water systems use to disinfect water, can degrade into perchlorate. The chemical is also in rocket fuel.</div><div>
</div><div>The American Water Works Association, which has urged that perchlorate not be regulated, paid for a study that found faults with a more rigorous model that the Obama administration would have used to set limits for perchlorate.&nbsp; The Trump EPA cited that study in recommending the laxer limits.</div><div>
</div><div>Neltner said the Trump EPA cherry-picked which studies to use in setting the recommended limit. The Environmental Defense Fund had recommended a limit of 4 micrograms per liter.</div><div>
</div><div>“You really get one chance to build a brain,” Neltner said.</div><div>
</div><div>The Trump EPA could also impose limits of 18 micrograms or 90 micrograms per liter or decide against regulating perchlorate. The federal advisory limit is 15 micrograms. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler will have the final say.</div><div>
</div><div>The proposed regulation is the first new standard the EPA is putting forward for an unregulated contaminant in drinking water in more than 23 years.</div><div>
</div><div>Cleaning up perchlorate contamination can cost millions. The EPA reached a $1.1 billion settlement in 2014 to clean up a former chemical manufacturing site in Henderson, Nev. The chemical contaminated Lake Mead.&nbsp; &nbsp;</div></div><div></div></div><div style=""></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>