The Donald's EPA lies about 'no data' on WOTUS rule

As if we needed more proof this administration cares nothing for the environment or public health, the TEPA stated yesterday that it doesn’t know how many streams will be excluded from the Clean Water Act and the chief of TEPA’s Office of Water Dave Ross stated no one has that data.

Reporters from E&E News, Ariel Wittenberg and Kevin Bogardus obtained evidence from a slideshow from 2017 that contains the data and even further, it demonstrates that at least 18% of streams and 51% of wetlands would not be protected under TEPA’s new definition of WOTUS (Waters of the United States).  The slides were prepared from data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Hydrography Dataset (NHD).

Later E&E News asked TEPA Molly Block why they didn’t use the USGS data as the EPA did under Shrub’s administration in 2005.  Unsurprisingly, Block defended Ross’ statement, saying the EPA and the Army Corps had determined the datasets are “not robust enough” to depict federally regulated waters.

In Trumpspeak, that means 'we don’t like what the data is showing so we choose to ignore it.'

This comes on the heels of Andrew Wheeler’s inability to come up with three programs the TEPA has to protect the Clean Air Act.  There simply are few, if at all, that exist.

We are so screwed.

Oklahoma Editorial Board bemoans the resignation of their golden boy

I had wondered how the Oklahoma Editorial Board was taking the news of Pruitt's resignation from TEPA.  Unsurprisingly, they've taken advantage of the opportunity to praise Pruitt and his "impressive" record at the TEPA.  The OEB lauded his efforts to eliminate the Clean Power Plan and redefining the Waters of the United States (WOTUS).  They ignored the fact that all of Pruitt's actions have been challenged in court and nothing has been done policy-wise.  The WOTUS does not declare "large swaths of dry land to be navigable waterways".  During his campaign, The Donald complained that the EPA designated puddles as navigable waterways, which was incorrect, but facts never bothered The Donald.

Or the OEB.

They state that the Paris Climate Agreement set "impossible emission goals" and allowed other countries to "increase greenhouse gas" emissions.  The U.S. is on its way to meet those goals, based on the decline of coal usage and the increase of renewable energy options.

The OEB brags that Pruitt made the Superfund cleanups a priority.  What they don't mention is many of the sites that came off the list was the result of work done during the Obama administration, NOT the Donald's.  And they don't mention how and why other sites came off the list.  Hint: It didn't have anything to do with actual clean-up.

They called Pruitt's numerous scandals as "laughable" but did have to admit that some of those allegations weren't easy to dismiss.

It won't be long before the OEB has their lips pressed firmly against Wheeler's ass.


https://newsok.com/article/5600568/pruitts-resignation-a-chance-to-move-ahead

The environment is still screwed: Incoming TEPA Admin Wheeler will be just as bad as Pruitt

The Washington Post interviewed Andrew Wheeler, set to become the TEPA's administrator now that Pollutin' Pruitt is gone.  But are we better off now?

In the interview, Wheeler:

1. thanks Pruitt for his service (not a good thing),
2. will work to implement The Donald’s agenda (a very bad thing), 
3. says he was an aide to Jim Inhofe (may God help us all),
4. had the longest confirmation process for EPA deputy admin,
5. promises transparency (sound familiar?),
6. does not consider himself a scientist (being put in charge of a science-based organization),
7. claims the Science Advisory Board was “reconfigured”, not decimated,
8. says the Clean Power Plan was outside the “four corners” of the Clean Air Act,
9. was an industrial lobbyist

I'm not feeling it.  The environment is still screwed.  But we will continue to fight. 

Read WaPo's article here:

It is official: Scott Pruitt is no longer EPA Administrator!

The day we've been waiting for, ever since Pruitt was confirmed as head of Trump's EPA seventeen months ago, finally came to pass.  Thursday, July 5, Scott Pruitt resigned from the TEPA and The Donald accepted his resignation via Twitter (of course.)

The Donald promised many times during his campaign to 'drain the swamp' but brought his own brand of sewer rats, bottom feeders and sycophants to Washington.  When he proposed Pruitt to head the EPA, we all knew what was  going on.  The  Donald wanted to dismantle the EPA, something else he was very vocal about during his campaign.  Pruitt had sued the EPA fourteen times as Oklahoma's Attorney General, so it was obvious protecting the environment was not  on his agenda. 

He was confirmed easily and from Day 1 began rolling back protections for the nation's clean water.  Soon it was rolling back or  eliminating controls for clean air, clean soil and clean energy.  Despite all the data provided to show the climate is changing, Pruitt insisted it was a hoax and tried to remove all documents from EPA's website that showed research on climate change and global warming.

However, another battle may have just begun. Andrew Wheeler, EPA deputy administrator, is poised to move into Pruitt's throne and he's about as bad as Pruitt.




https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/07/05/scott-pruitt-removes-his-ethical-swamp-epa-editorials-debates/761701002/

Toxic algae threatens Toledo while Pruitt fiddles

Since 2010, the U.S. has seen at least 300 toxic algae blooms in its lakes and ponds, and Lake Erie has experienced some of the worst blooms ever observed. In 2014, a bloom poisoned the water supply for Toledo, OH, affecting 400,000 people. 

Last year, head of the Trump Environmental Pollution Agency Pruitt refused to declare Lake Erie "impaired" under the Clean Water Act.  According to U.S. News, the TEPA said they agreed with state regulators who said they were making progress, and recognized the efforts to reduce pollution feeding the algae.

In April 2017, Ohio EPA Administrator Craig Butler recognized that voluntary farming incentives, such as cutting phosphorus pollution by 40% from 2008 levels by 2025 were not working.

A year later, nothing has changed but once hypothesized, now proven, the growth in algae blooms are related to global warming, and they are only to get worse.  In March, a group of scientists from the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Sea Grant and the EPA released a study that concluded increased greenhouse gas emissions are directly responsible for the increase in blooms.  And as the algae blooms decay, they release more greenhouse gases, a vicious circle.

Furthermore, The Donald, who carried Ohio in the 2016 election, has proposed budget cuts that include cutting funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.  The program funds quality oversight, runoff mitigation and habitat preservation, among many other activities.

GOP Governor John Kasich recently declared "only parts" of Lake Erie as impaired, because the middle of the lake, for example, is not impaired.

Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz is not happy.  He claims that the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation holes too much influence on Ohio lawmakers, and Toledoans are paying the price.

Obviously, Pruitt is much too busy with this and that to care about Ohio.

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2017/06/21/government-report-says-great-lakes-in-bad-condition-lake-erie-worst-of-the-bunch

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2018/04/17/new-stricer-regulations-coming-for-ohio-farmers-as-kasich-declares-lake-erie-officially-impaired

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2018/05/16/scientists-say-lake-erie-toxic-algae-blooms-could-be-part-of-climate-change-loop

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/ohio/articles/2017-05-23/epa-rejects-declaring-lake-eries-waters-in-ohio-impaired

https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2017/05/26/the-lake-erie-reckoning-is-here-federal-government-and-ohio-give-cold-shoulder-to-regional-water-supply

Pruitt touts ‘transparency’ and ‘professionalism’ while practicing neither

Pruitt is doing nothing to hide his corruption, will stoop to any level necessary and spout lies and half-truths to further his own disastrous policies.  And when his lies are so blatant and obvious, the ass-kissers at the Oklahoma Editorial Board fawn over every word he speaks, like a teen-aged girl glued to the radio when her favorite boy band releases a new song.

Pruitt could say the sky is green (he might have already said it), the OEB will jump on that story and say what a great guy he is for finally setting the record straight, after years and years of fake science telling us it is blue.  Last week, in a move that surprised no one except for Trumpsters, Pruitt announced that the TEPA will no longer use “secret science” on which to base regulations.  The OEB says it is “a sound move in line with basic scientific transparency and professionalism”. 

Only the OEB would buy a load of crap like that.  Pruitt has never been transparent during his regime at the TEPA, even going as far to spend over $40,000 on a phone booth so his phone calls could be private.  The NRDC has to sue just to get access to documents that are meant for public consumption.  Doesn’t sound like transparency or professionalism.

There’s no “secret science”. Pruitt is lying.

The OEB quoted Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, and major opponent of science, and climate-change denier, Smith said the EPA had “routinely relied on questionable science based on nonpublic information that could not be reproduced, a basic requirement of the scientific method.”  Smith actually filed suit against the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, claiming the all the data supporting global warming, published in Science in 2015 was fake.  After a year of reviewing all the data, the independent firm hired to investigate concluded that the data was real. 

When scientists were at the helm of the EPA (the old ways), they would not base any policy if the scientific data could not be reproduced. 

That’s the basic requirement of the scientific method.

http://newsok.com/ban-on-secret-science-in-epa-regulation-makes-sense/article/5588210

Mayors across North America sign Chicago Climate Change

Since the Donald and the TEPA have no interest in preserving our global environment, mayors from over 50 cities from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. signed a formal agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emission in their cities.  They met last week at a climate change summit in Chicago and pledged to meet goals simliar to those in the Paris Climate Agreement, from which the Donald withdrew the U.S. 

President Obama spoke to the assembly, discussing the rising global temperatures, rising sea levels, worsening storms and droughts as evidence of climate change. 

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel touted the absence of leadership in Washington, DC and said mayors are taking the reins to fill a leadership void created by The Donald.  The Chicago Climate Change commits cities to reducing carbon emission reduction targets by 2025.

Read the signed charter and signatures here.

Among those cities whose mayors signed:

Los Angeles
Washington, DC
San Francisco
Mexico City
Montreal
Vancouver
Pittsboro, North Carolina

Here is a complete list of cities that are working to reduce greenhouse gases.

Oklahoma Editorial Board ignores facts to support TEPA Admin Pruitt

Always good for a laugh, the Oklahoma Editorial Board offers up some food for hilarity.  Now they are telling jokes to illustrate their uninformed opinions instead of facts.  That really means they ignore the facts staring them in the face.  Just like The Donald labeling every news story he doesn’t like as “fake news”, the OEB doesn’t like any story that puts their golden boy Pruitt in a bad light.

Just today, they published an opinion on NewsOK.com, and true to their very nature, presented zero facts to illustrate their judgmental position.

Zilch.

Zip.

Nada.

The bug up their ass currently is what they have termed “sue and settle”.  According to the OEB, advocates sue a “bureaucracy to force a change in regulation or enforcement” and the agency settles it without a fight.  They state this was the norm during the Obama administration.  They do present one point of fact saying that “23 economically significant rules resulting from sue and settle were imposed since 2005.”  That means it started with Shrub’s administration, fellas.

The OEB says that Pruitt isn’t willing to negotiate with activists and that’s why environmentalists don’t like Pruitt.

No! This is why we don't like him.

We don’t like Pruitt because he is destroying the rules that keep our water, air and land clean! 

We don’t like him because he is pandering to the oil and gas industry!

We don’t like him because he is stifling research and science!

We don’t like him because he is removing scientists from positions that can only be staffed by scientists!

If Pruitt doesn’t rely on facts, why should the OEB?

http://newsok.com/congress-should-take-on-sue-and-settle/article/5570405

The Donald's end to the "War on Coal" is failing, coming up against reality

The  Los Angeles Times posted a story yesterday about the communities in coal country are realizing The Donald's promises to end the "war on coal" are nothing but empty.  The Donald deluded himself and others into thinking that America's push to have cleaner and renewable sources of energy was an all-out battle to destroy the coal industry.

Whether or not coal country towns like Homer City, Pennsylvania believed The Donald and his campaign promises, they are finding out that that there is no war on coal, people are just, moving toward better options, like wind and natural gas.

Just two months ago, TEPA Administration Scott Pruitt claimed thousands of jobs had been created in coal mining, but reality showed a completely different story.

Read the story here:

The Donald has now declared a war on the environment although he does not see it as such.  But by rolling back protections preventing the pollution of our waters, air and soil, he has.  Although both The Donald and Pruitt deny the climage is changing, there is insurmountable data showing not only climate change, but global warming as well.  There is no data to disprove this, yet they insist on burying their heads in the sand.

Unfortunately, that does not leave places like Homer City with many options.  Read the story here:

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-trump-coal-climate-201710-htmlstory.html 


View the video here: