#the epa

[sweetfirebird]

Okay, some more bullshit to deal with

Hey, everyone! The Trump regime is trying to repeal a bunch of regulations about things like mercury and greenhouse gas emissions. Yay. Fun.

And no, there is no science supporting this, and they aren't even really trying to use science to justify it. They are just proposing repeals/loosening the regulations. (It's to please corporate bosses and donors who want to save a few bucks. That's it. That's the reason.)

But, the public gets to comment, and we are onto their game.

We have a few more days until the comment period closes so if you have time, go and drop a line. You don't need to be a US citizen for this one. And environmental shit affects us all.

Points you can mention if you are not a scientist who has better answers (though if you are a scientist, please go medieval on their asses).

the health care costs from this

that losing our clean air means even less tourism at a time when America desperately needs the visitors and the money

the embarrassment of falling behind the rest of the world in green energy and environmental protections to please Big Oil and Coal Mine Owners--industries the rest of the world is trying to move away from

the loss of revenue from the rest of the world not wanting to do business with us or buy products made with such lax standards

the environmental racism and classism of loosening restrictions around factories that are generally around poorer people

the cost of the cleanup when these loosen regulations cause a major problem, because they always do

that we KNOW the Clean Air Act worked because some of us lived through what the air was like before, and those that haven't can see the fucking pictures of how bad the air used to be

ISN'T IT HOT ENOUGH RIGHT NOW? WHY MAKE IT HOTTER?

LOOK AT OUR WEATHER! LOOK AT TEXAS FLOODING! Being afraid of the words climate change doesn't mean it's not happening, assholes.

Humiliating that these assholes are trying to drag us back in time to make coal mine owners and oil companies happy. Pathetic.

National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units

-comment period ends Aug 11

Repeal of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units

-comment period ends Aug 7

Here is a clip of Bill Nye talking about it (it's an instagram link, sorry.)

Thanks! Even if you just help spread the word.

[kushblazer666]

[reasonandempathy]

Pruitt announces withdrawal of Clean Power Plan

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced Monday his agency's plans to withdraw the Clean Power Plan, the sweeping Obama-era rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt announced Monday his agency's plans to withdraw the Clean Power Plan, the sweeping Obama-era rule regulating greenhouse gas emissions.

While speaking in Kentucky at an event with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Pruitt said he will sign the proposed rule repealing Obama's plan Tuesday."When you think about what that rule meant, it was about picking winners and losers. Regulatory power should not be used by any regulatory body to pick winners and losers," he said at the event. "The past administration was using every bit of power and authority to use the EPA to pick winners and losers and how we generate electricity in this country. That's wrong."

...

The Clean Power Plan requires states to meet specific carbon emission reduction standards based on their individual energy consumption. The plan also includes an incentive program for states to get a head start on meeting standards on early deployment of renewable energy and low-income energy efficiency.Under President Barack Obama, the EPA estimated the Clean Power Plan could prevent 2,700 to 6,600 premature deaths and 140,000 to 150,000 asthma attacks in children.

When asked earlier this year on Fox News about the health consequences of doing away with the Clean Power Plan, Pruitt ducked the question and focused on how the plan would cost jobs. He argued the plan was bureaucratic overreach."As much as we want to see progress made with clean air and clean water, with an understanding that we can also grow jobs, we have to do so within the framework of what Congress has passed," Pruitt said.

Former EPA employees have reacted harshly to the planned repeal of the rule. Obama's EPA administrator, Gina McCarthy, called the proposal "just plain backwards."

"A proposal to repeal the Clean Power Plan without any time line or even a commitment to propose a rule to reduce carbon pollution, isn't a step forward, it's a wholesale retreat from EPA's legal, scientific and moral obligation to address the threats of climate change," McCarthy said in a statement Friday.

For those unfamiliar with the CPP, here’s a breakdown.

The Clean Power Plan establishes state-by-state targets for carbon emissions reductions, and it offers a flexible framework under which states may meet those targets. The final version of the rule would reduce national electricity sector emissions by an estimated 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.

The plan provides for a number of options to cut carbon emissions and determines state emissions reduction targets by estimating the extent to which states can take advantage of each of them. Options for cutting emissions include investing in renewable energy, energy efficiency, natural gas, and nuclear power, and shifting away from coal-fired power. The final rule also takes steps to limit a rush to natural gas.

Targets differ across states because of each state’s unique mix of electricity-generation resources—and also because of technological feasibilities, costs, and emissions reduction potentials, all of which vary across the country. States are free to combine any of the options in a flexible manner to meet their targets. States can also join together in multi-state or regional compacts to find the lowest cost options for reducing their carbon emissions, including through emissions trading programs.

Fact sheets, reports, and analyses of the draft Clean Power Plan include: States of Progress: Analysis shows that existing commitments to clean energy put most states on track to meet the draft Clean Power Plan's 2020 emissions-reduction benchmarks. (June 2015)

Strengthening the EPA's Clean Power Plan through Greater Use of Renewable Energy: Analysis of the draft Clean Power Plan revealed that the EPA could nearly double the amount of cost-effective renewable energy in their state targets—from 12 percent of total 2030 U.S. electric sales to 23 percent. (October 2014)

Tapping Renewables and Efficiency to Meet Carbon Standards for Power Plants (PDF): Fact sheet outlines how policy makers can employ renewables and efficiency to reduce global warming emissions from the electricity sector. (May 2014)

[theorangedead]

Restricting the Information Given Out By Government Agencies

All the EPA’s funding is on hold right now, which is freezing a lot of scientific research, projects to improve air and water quality, and environmental projects meant to help poor communities. This could really hurt the environment and is probably motivated by Trump’s global warming denial. The EPA has also been blocked on social media, but it’s not the only government agency that is being restricted in terms of what information it can give out. 

But the EPA isn’t the only government agency that’s suddenly facing censorship and increased control in what it says to the public, though it’s definitely one of the biggest targets. From the Washington Post:

“At the EPA, communications staff received a memo instructing them that “no social media will be going out” and “a digital strategist will be coming on board” to oversee it. It added, “Incoming media requests will carefully screened.”

The Interior Department reactivated its official Twitter accounts after an abrupt shutdown that followed the National Park Service account retweeting two items viewed as unsympathetic to the new president. One referred to the size of the inauguration crowd on the Mall, while another addressed policies that were excised from the White House website after Trump’s swearing in.

The National Institutes of Health issued an email to its Institute and Center directors informing them they should not communicate on public forums and with public officials on new or pending regulation, policy or guidance that is under review.

At the Agriculture Department, a slew of officials received a memo instructing them to clear any media communications with the secretary’s office. Employees of the agency’s scientific arm, the Agriculture Research Service, were ordered in a separate memo to cease publication of “outward facing” documents and news releases. (Jose A. DelReal)”

Information transparency is so important to functional democracies, and the amount of departments facing more controls under this new administration is Not Normal.

The amount of things the new administration has done is overwhelming, I know just trying to keep up with everything makes me feel sort of despairing. I’m just trying to do what I can to spread information, because an informed populace is important. 

[ceaselesswatchboy]

I’m dying the heartland institute guy who’s coming in tomorrow for APES literally went to jail for defrauding the EPA.

[therealbarkinginthedark]

THE BALLAD OF ANOTHER WORLD CLASS SCHMUCK

THE BALLAD OF ANOTHER WORLD CLASS SCHMUCK

No, this isn’t about Donnie Trump

This time we are playing the dozens

On someone as big of a chump

These assholes are two kissin’ cousins

It’s Pruitt of whom I’ll admit

I can’t call a pig because it

Is an insult unfair

To pigs everywhere

Who don’t wallow in half as much shit

  Hey Pruitt you creep you could do it

You could blight Oklahoma and screw it

But we ain’t Oklahoma

You fucking melanoma

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[comeupinns]

What does it say that i would rather watch the freaking phantom menace than watch the news. Jar Jar Binks is literally preferable over Donald Trump. Smh

[gordoncstewart]

The Pruitt Bible and The Jefferson Bible

The Pruitt Bible and The Jefferson Bible

You’ve heard of the Jefferson Bible. But you may not have heard of the Pruitt Bible. Today’s Daily Beast brings the Pruitt Bible to the public’s attention. It’s well worth the read. The Jefferson Bible is missing whole sections. Thomas Jefferson, a produce of the Age of Enlightenment, a Deist who believed in science, took a penknife or some other sharp instrument and cut out passages of the four…

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