Thursday, November 09, 2017

EPA chief comforts fossil fuel companies by assuring him that new report which specifically blames climate change on humans will not impact his policy decisions.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said a newly released government report that lays most of the blame for the rise of global temperatures to human activity won't deter him from continuing to roll back the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, a major rule aimed at combating climate change. 

"We’re taking the very necessary step to evaluate our authority under the Clean Air Act and we’ll take steps that are required to issue a subsequent rule. That’s our focus," Pruitt said in an interview with USA TODAY Tuesday. "Does this report have any bearing on that? No it doesn’t. It doesn’t impact the withdrawal and it doesn’t impact the replacement."

You might be asking yourself why a scientific report would have zero impact on EPA policies, considering the job they are supposed to perform, and the answer to that is because it's only some report done by scientists.

Courtesy of the LA Times:  

Rigorous, independent research and analysis should undergird everything the government does. Nowhere is that more true than at the Environmental Protection Agency, which crafts and enforces a wide range of regulations aimed at limiting damage to the environment — and to people — from pollutants. Democratic administrations tend to use data to justify more aggressive regulation, while Republican administrations tend to prefer a lighter touch. But the current administration is following a third path, seemingly bent on converting the EPA into a science-be-damned rubber stamp for industry. And if director Scott Pruitt is successful, we will be living in a much more dangerous environment.

So no, a report from a bunch of scientists will NOT have an impact on the polices of the EPA, because the head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, simply does not believe in all that science mumbo jumbo.

27 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:49 AM

    Hold up, wasn’t their original reason cow flatulence destroying the ozone layer?

    Eye Roll Troll. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous5:02 AM

    How many times has pruitt visited Russia?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:57 AM

    Where In The World Was George Papadopoulos During The Campaign?

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/george-papadopoulos-2016-timeline

    Whose Team Is He On?

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/whose-team-is-he-on

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5:58 AM


    How Democrats Won Big In The Virginia House — And Why It Matters

    The party exceeded the rosiest expectations for the legislature’s lower chamber.

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrats-back-virginia-house-of-delegates_us_5a024a75e4b092053058c616?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    ReplyDelete
  5. linda5:59 AM

    I've been trying to step back and view everything that's been happening with DJT's administration, increased massed shootings etc. from a sociological/ecological perspective. I think the bottom line is that we humans are self centered, which translates into self destructive. Mental illness and people who kill en masse may be the consequence we pay for an egocentric, selfish way of living. The fact that so many (although not the majority yet) of people agree with the thinking of Pruitt is another symptom of egocentric thinking and an inability to defer gratification. I think that humans, like other animals, are working toward culling the herd. The earth is overpopulated but possibly not for much longer. Between mass shootings, ruining our environment, and the possibility of nuclear war, earth's population may (sooner or later) be lowered to a more sustainable level. The earth and her resources will be grateful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:37 AM

      Hey Linda. How is Los Anchorage?

      Delete
    2. If Mother Earth wants to do any culling, she'll use biological weapons.

      The plague did it several times. We're getting smarter so earth will have to come up with something more lethal, work quicker and have no cure or prevention.

      Humans are more like a parasite on the earth. Not a symbiotic one. The kind that grows until it kills it's host.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous6:01 AM

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kathleen-hartnett-white-climate_us_5a03700ee4b0937b510f5ad9?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    "“I view this report really as the product of the past administration and not of this president,”"

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous6:29 AM

    Tells ~IT~>
    "correcting the falsehoods doesn’t change their opinions."
    "Only 25 percent of self-proclaimed Trump voters agree that climate change is caused by human activities."
    "If “truth” is judged on the basis of Enlightenment ideas of reason and more or less objective “evidence,” many of the substantive positions common on the right seem to border on delusional." for political conservatives, but not for liberals, greater knowledge of science and math is associated with a greater likelihood of dismissing what almost all scientists believe about the human causation of global warming."
    "at the most basic level, conservatives and liberals seem to hold different beliefs about what constitutes “truth.” Finding facts and pursuing evidence and trusting science is part of liberal ideology itself. For many conservatives, faith and intuition and trust in revealed truth appear as equally valid sources of truth."The tenacity of many of the right’s beliefs in the face of evidence, rational arguments, and common sense suggest that these beliefs are not merely alternate interpretations of facts but are instead illusions rooted in unconscious wishes."
    “The difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans believe people are fundamentally bad, while Democrats see people as fundamentally good.”
    "Despite occasional left forays into reality denial, conservatives are far more likely to accept misinformation and outright lies."

    http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2017/11/why_conservatives_are_more_susceptible_to_believing_in_lies.html

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous6:36 AM

    Bill Clinton suggests Trump is part of a ‘Dictator’s Club’ that wants people to think ‘democracy’s no longer possible’

    ...Turning to some of the challenges citizens face in today’s society, Clinton warned against authoritarians seeking to muddy the truth and turning to weapons as a show of strength.

    “And the Dictators Club in the world, they want two things,” Clinton said. “They want nuclear weapons, because they feel like they can never be dislodged no matter how much people hate them if they’ve got nuclear power. And they want to abolish the line between fact and fiction and truth and lie, because they figure if you don’t what’s true and you don’t think you could ever know, pretty soon, everybody will accept the fact that democracy’s no longer possible”

    “Are you talking about foreign countries now or here,” O’Brien asked. “Because that shook me to the bone for a second.”

    After Clinton took a long pause, O’Brien suggested the former president’s silence spoke volumes.

    
Watch below:

    https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/bill-clinton-suggests-trump-is-part-of-a-dictators-club-that-wants-people-to-think-democracys-no-longer-possible/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:00 AM

      https://www.thedailybeast.com/hillary-clinton-rebukes-donna-braziles-rigged-charge-that-just-wasnt-the-case

      Delete
  9. Anonymous6:39 AM

    Psychology study finds Islamophobia, homophobia, and sexism predicted support for Trump

    https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/psychology-study-finds-islamophobia-homophobia-and-sexism-predicted-support-for-trump/

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous6:56 AM

    https://thinkprogress.org/epa-nominee-coal-lobbyist-daaf80485dff/

    "for deputy administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) admitted he viewed a plan developed by a top coal producer to roll back environmental regulations at the agency and attended meetings on Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s proposal to subsidize coal and nuclear plants."

    'T'his tOO>
    https://thinkprogress.org/trumps-chief-economic-advisor-now-admits-rich-will-get-a-big-tax-cut-but-claims-its-by-accident-b0a1e4db2c03/

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous7:23 AM

    "Alaska Gov. Bill Walker and his team will be bringing home an agreement with Chinese investors and energy companies to develop Alaska’s natural gas stores on the North Slope worth $43 billion. Walker and his gasline team have been traveling to Asia with President Donald Trump this past week.

    The joint development agreement was signed in Beijing by Walker, Alaska Gasline Development Corporation head Keith Meyer and representatives from China’s state-owned energy company, Sinopec, and two of China’s financial investment firms. The financial investors are the Bank of China and the China Investment Corporation, which is China’s $813 billion version of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation.

    “This agreement has all five necessary signatories—the buyer, the lender, the investor, the developer and the state,” Walker said in a prepared statement."

    http://midnightsunak.com/2017/11/08/walker-china-agreement-natural-gas-pipeline-trump/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:34 AM

      And there are no American companies available to rape the land?

      Delete
    2. Just in time for Lisa Murkowski's bill opening up ANWR for rape and pillage.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous1:26 PM

      https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/senate-confirms-epa-nominee-with-fossil-fuel-interests/

      "enate Democrats blocked Wehrum’s confirmation over a decade ago, he began working at the law firm Hunton & Williams, where he represented the American Petroleum Institute, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Chemistry Council, and the National Associations of Manufacturers. All were involved in litigation battles against the Obama administration’s EPA, The Hill reported.

      The Democrats on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, led by Carper, said that Wehrum has sued the EPA 31 times since 2008 to undermine the Clean Air Act."

      Delete
  12. Anonymous7:41 AM

    Aaah best President ever, jury duty. Lucky people. What a guy!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous7:42 AM

    OT? "Republicans in particular — use religion as a cudgel"
    "in “negative” ways, using it as a moral pedestal from which they look down on nonbelievers.

    “I’ve seen religion wielded in such negative ways around here, lately. Trump does it all the time, so implausibly,”"

    https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/congressman-jared-huffman-comes-out-as-a-non-believer-and-rips-trumps-phony-religious-pandering/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous7:47 AM

    bitch McCONnell + ayn rand Ryan

    'Republicans explain why they're retiring: 'You've got this administration that's taken the fun out of dysfunction'

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/republicans-explain-theyre-retiring-administration-taken-fun-dysfunction-191828129.html

    getting old playin that game...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous8:43 AM

    Of coarse he is. Everyone Donald put in place is instructed to undo what was orchestrated to try to think our way out of our disasterous predictament. But Trump doesn't want the down the road, for our grandchildren, solutions. He and his want's it all, and now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trump is of the I get mine and don't care what happens after I'm dead school.

      He doesn't give a shit what kind of world he leaves for his children and grandchildren. He got his.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous9:21 AM

    Trumpism didn’t just lose on Tuesday night — progressives won

    https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/trumpism-didnt-just-lose-on-tuesday-night-progressives-won/

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous9:22 AM

    A group of 37 U.S.-based scientists whose research focuses on Arctic wildlife asked two U.S. senators in a letter on Thursday not to open the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, according to a copy seen by Reuters.

    ...The scientists said drilling on the coastal plain would be particularly harmful because it contains a “unique compression” of habitats supporting animals like polar bears, grizzly bears, wolverines, representing “the greatest wildlife diversity of any protected area above the Arctic Circle.”

    http://www.politicususa.com/2017/11/09/scientists-decry-arctic-oil-expansion-letter-u-s-senators.html

    ReplyDelete
  18. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/murkowski-arctic-wildlife-refuge-drilling_us_5a03c13ee4b0937b510f8685?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    "Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced legislation Wednesday night that would open a portion of a pristine wildlife refuge in her state to oil and gas development, a move expected to bring in slightly more than $1 billion in federal revenue over the next decade.

    The bill would open up part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), described by some as “America’s Serengeti,” which covers more than 19 million acres in northeastern Alaska. The region is home to polar bears, caribou, moose and hundreds of species of migratory birds. It’s considered one of the state’s crown jewels.

    In a statement, Murkowski called it “a tremendous opportunity” for the country."

    "The bill comes just days after Murkowski, who chairs the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, held a hearing to discuss allowing oil and gas production in the refuge’s 1.5 million-acre coastal plain, also known as the 1002 Area. The Senate budget plan includes a provision that requires the committee to find $1 billion in additional revenue over the next decade to help pay for tax reform."

    So you now she's going to vote for that toxic tax bill because she's raping Alaska to help pay for it.

    "The legislation requires just a simple 51-vote majority, rather than the 60 typically needed to avoid a filibuster, to pass in the Senate because it is part of Congress’ 2018 budget plan, which is being considered under special “reconciliation” provisions. "

    That's right. The Senate rigged the system so they can use a 51 vote majority for another year.

    Now, what strong Democratic Alaskan women are going to step up and challenge Alaska's state senators and representatives to win their seats and go to Washington, D.C.? Anyone?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:54 PM

      Can anyone find this?:
      "A group of 37 U.S.-based scientists whose research focuses on Arctic wildlife asked two U.S. senators in a letter on Thursday not to open the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, according to a copy seen by Reuters."

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1:23 PM

      https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/senate-confirms-epa-nominee-with-fossil-fuel-interests/

      Delete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.