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/

Two years ago, Okla Legislature called for Obama's impeachment for "bathroom policies"

How far we've fallen.  Two years ago, the Oklahoma Legislature filed a proposal asking Congress to impeach President Obama over his call to allow transgender students to use public facilities they identify with. 

Now the Pretender-In-Chief has admitted to adultery, sexual assault and lying.  It's known he colluded with Russia to hijack our election process.  He has appointed the most corrupt cabinet in history.  The list goes on.

Oklahoma Legislature?  Nothing?

Your silence is deafening.


http://alan-scott.blogspot.com/2016/05/oklahoma-legislators-call-for-obamas.html

http://kfor.com/2016/05/21/its-a-political-distraction-lawmakers-fighting-over-call-to-impeach/

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

Greed and lies. Now Pruitt adds hate to the EPA's agenda.

From the beginning, everyone knew, and yet nobody was denying it, Scott Pruitt was the absolute worst choice to become Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.  Mainly, it is his track record as Attorney General of Oklahoma that made him uniquely unqualified to sit in that seat:  He sued the EPA several times, seeking regulatory freedom for the oil and gas industries.  Pruitt opposed anything, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Power Act, anything that would allow the oil and gas industries, which donated heavily to his campaign to become their lawyer, free reign to pollute our atmosphere, water and soil. 

His greed has been apparent for a long time, and still, he does nothing to deny it. 

Now he has added another evil, hate, to his greed and lies. 

Last week, twenty eight senators, including Ben Cardin and Chris VanHollen of Maryland, sent a letter to Pruitt urging him not to roll back restrictions on the use of dangerous pesticides by young workers, i.e. youngsters under the age of 18.  According to the Huffington Post, the American Farm Bureau lobbied the TEPA after the EPA under Obama finalized these rules.  They argued that the regulations were too tight, probably because minors tend to work cheaper than adults.  Since immediate family members are exempted from those rules, it is likely the opponents to these rules are wanting to hire young workers who might be migrants who speak little if any English and do not understand their rights. 

This attack on children’s health comes as no surprise for anyone watching Pruitt and the TEPA.  Back in May 2015, Pruitt delayed the ban of chlorpyrifos, an insecticide that exposure to which causes health problems in young children, especially between the ages of 2-3.  Pruitt has moved the decision on the ban back to 2022.  His excuse?  He says there “continue to be considerable areas of uncertainty” and he was “returning to sound science in decision-making rather than predetermined results”.  Pruitt does not give any clarity of what he has determined to be “sound science”.  Accusing an institution like Columbia University of falsifying data and information is just deplorable.  Sound familiar?

Apparently, Pruitt made this decision after a brief meeting with Dow Agro Sciences LLC, the manufacturer of the insecticide.  And still he claims that he doesn’t meet with polluters.  There is no basis for delaying this ban.

When it comes to the health of our children, we should always err on the side of caution and nothing is too safe for our children.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/senators-rebuke-epa-plan-to-let-kids-handle-pesticides-again_us_5aa943f5e4b0f7a689ce9b11

http://alan-scott.blogspot.com/2017/05/our-children-are-doomedpruitts-epa.html

Our environment is doomed...Pruitt's war on the environment in a nutshell

What he says:	What he does:
Pruitt and the TEPA are seeking to reduce the EPA’s funding by 31.4 and eliminate up to one fifth of the staff.	He is spending $25,000 on a soundproof “privacy booth” in his office.  His round-the-clock security detail has cost $830,000 for his first 3 months on the job, double the amount of his predecessors.  He spent 43 out of 92 days from March – May traveling between Oklahoma and DC.  He spent $36,068.50 to fly on a military jet to and from Cincinnati in June.
Pruitt has accused the Obama administration for failing to protect the environment.	He has tried to ease restrictions on methane releases.  He tried to reject banning a harmful pesticide.  He and the TEPA are trying to eliminate the Waters of the US rule, which is part of the Clean Water Act.  He has repeatedly denied the change in climate despite the mountains of data showing it is real.  Pruitt and The Donald have removed the US from the Paris Climate Agreement.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scott-pruitt-spending-epa_us_59cc2a95e4b05063fe0ef9b3

Book review - Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

One of the comments on the dust jacket of this book describes it as “emotionally devastating” and I found that to be an understatement.  David Grann’s book covers the 1920’s northeast Oklahoma when the Osage Indians were sitting on one of the richest oil reserves in the world.  Just two or three generations prior, the government relocated hundreds of thousands of native Americans to Oklahoma, the infamous Trail of Tears.

The idea was to move the native Americans to an area of the country where it was arid, rocky, hilly and the soil was not conducive to growing crops.  No one else wanted it so why not give it to the “Indians”?

It sounded like a good idea to the American government and white people until oil was discovered on this land.  Soon the Osages were riding in chauffeured limousines, building huge houses and turning small towns such as Gray Horse and Fairfax into thriving cities.

But wealth like that is going to draw trouble.  With the help of corrupt the American and Oklahoma governments, the white people began scheming on how they could get their hands on all that money.  Although plots were woven to inherit or control Osage lands, some decided to take a faster route and resorted to murder.

Molly Burkhart’s sister disappeared suddenly.  Her body was found several days later, badly decomposed.  The cause of death was determined to be a bullet fired into the back of her skull.  Despite no exit wound, the bullet was never located. 

More Osages were killed in this manner, but others were poisoned.  Whether the plan was outright violence or more insidious, the goal was the same.  The Osage had little help from law enforcement and virtually from the government.  Here is where the emotional devastation comes in, as the extreme injustice is allowed to flourish with impunity.  Corruption was everywhere and the Osage powerless to defend themselves, robbed of their wealth.

Grann unravels the most diabolical schemes that involved Molly Burkhart, her sisters, mother and even her children.  Grann’s book begins to read like an Agatha Christie novel with twists, turns and surprises that would impress the Queen of Mystery herself.

The bad part is this is no cozy mystery.  It is a documented story of greed, racism and murder.