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#Post#: 12956--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: July 23, 2019, 5:50 pm
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[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/7Iwt1Obw1A9OF4rmgyl-UYRo4MEJDf68gFtbGNW6JHUtpykjdICNc8oASCFbrYsucF5Fg17XbLG86FfHFO8yE4EkX6gjGVlOvmRAD7s5dGscLlHcisQ_pzhkscbiV_-D4oBdJi6nkSe_a2el9qT1VJhzoNSsAEZvHHg=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/d1f5797e59060083034310930/images/2f11cead-050f-4018-bfed-c12fb45691e5.png[/img][/center]
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HTML http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa<br
/>to subscribe.[/i]
July 23, 2019
SNIPPET 1:
Bill 🦕 Wehrum, who resigned last month, met repeatedly
with industry 🐉🦖 contacts who were clients of
his former law firm while crafting significant policy for the
Trump [img
width=50]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418203402.gif[/img]<br
/>administration, including last month’s rollback of the Clean
Power Plan.
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-120818185037-16401634.png<br
/>SNIPPET 2:
Oddly though, the editorial acknowledges that the gas banning
ordinance “contains a social-justice rationale” in its reference
to the fact that the highest rates of asthma are located in
“areas that were redlined pursuant to racist housing policies.”
Yes, part of the reason to ban gas is to protect those who
suffer its pollution, but no, that doesn’t mean the WSJ is going
to take their health concerns to heart, as it references
redlining only to hand-wave it away.
For those young or privileged enough not to know already,
redlining was an explicitly racist system of structural
oppression in which black Americans were deliberately denied
access to the federal government’s Home Owners’ Loan
Corporation, which literally drew red lines around minority
communities. As a result
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-040718162656-14241872.gif,<br
/>economic development in those marginalized communities remains
depressed, leaving property prices so low that these became
obvious choices for
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418193910.gif<br
/>industry to locate dirty, polluting facilities that leave its
neighbors struggle to breathe with disproportionately high rates
of asthma and other ailments.
The 💵 🎩 Wall Street Journal’s editorial,
however, turns a blind eye to this classic, textbook example of
systemic racism. Instead the piece downplays redlining merely as
“bankers once didn’t lend to the poor,” once again revealing how
😈 hands greased by 🦖 fossil fuels are awash in
[img
width=20]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-311013201314.png[/img]<br
/>white supremacy.
[center][img
width=175]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-060914180936.jpeg[/img][/center]
[center]Former 🦕 EPA air chief faces mounting scrutiny,
military faces the rising heat, & more
HTML https://mailchi.mp/3178155e2971/former-epa-air-chief-faces-mounting-scrutiny-military-faces-the-rising-heat-more?e=0fd17c5b57[/center]
[move][I][font=impact]The 🦕🦖 Hydrocarbon
👹 Hellspawn Fossil Fuelers DID THE Clean Energy
Inventions suppressing, Climate Trashing, human health depleting
CRIME,[COLOR=BROWN] but since they have ALWAYS BEEN liars and
conscience free crooks 🦀, they are trying to AVOID
[/color] DOING THE TIME or PAYING THE FINE! Don't let them
get away with it! Pass it on! [/font][/I][/move]
#Post#: 13069--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: August 2, 2019, 2:46 pm
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[center][img
width=200]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-020818201645-1486464.jpeg[/img][img<br
/>width=30]
HTML https://www.stickpng.com/assets/images/580b57fcd9996e24bc43c44c.png[/img]<br
/>[img
width=180]
HTML https://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Imperialism-supporters.jpg[/img][img<br
/>width=30]
HTML https://www.stickpng.com/assets/images/580b57fcd9996e24bc43c44c.png[/img][img<br
/>width=200]
HTML https://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-160619140243.png[/img][/center]
TruthDig
JUL 31, 2019 OPINION
[center]The Inconvenient Truth About Migration the 😈
Media Brush Off[/center]
By Joshua Cho / [font=times new roman]FAIR[/font]
SNIPPET:
Bloomberg (7/5/19) offered the victim-blaming headline “Why
Roots of US Border Crisis Lie South of Mexico,” and noted that
Honduras and El Salvador have among the “highest murder rates in
the world.” It depicted Central American migrants as seeking
economic opportunity, noting that 60 percent of the population
in Honduras and Guatemala lives below the national poverty line,
and characterizing those countries as “a hotbed of poverty,
corruption, gang violence and extortion.”
In all these reports, the US’s contributions to the violence and
corruption in Central America during the Cold War, and more
recent US support for a 2009 military coup in Honduras deposing
the democratically elected left-wing President Manuel Zelaya,
and its funding for death squads in the country, are completely
obscured. This despite the evidence (Migration Policy Institute,
4/1/06) that US-backed violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El
Salvador during the Cold War “institutionalized” a migration
pattern to North America that had been “very minor” beforehand.
But if these reports shrouded the connection between US
🦍 foreign policy and the “violence” and “unrelenting
turmoil” in the region, they more deeply buried the connection
between increasing violence and climate change.
Full article: [img
width=50]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418200416.png[/img]<br
/>
HTML https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-inconvenient-truth-about-migration-media-brushes-off/
Agelbert NOTE: And now a word from our "loyal servants", the
🦕🦖 Hydrocarbon [img
width=20]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-200714191329.bmp[/img]<br
/>Hellspawn:
[center]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-100216204839.gif[/center]<br
/>
#Post#: 13072--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: August 2, 2019, 3:46 pm
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THINKPROGRESS
AUG 2, 2019, 8:00 AM
[center][img
width=800]
HTML https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/DsaIBbC5mBZ46bWzKdg-SpVhLY9IoKRBitnbJG82-DLUdAelqqUrPXkP9qiYW6pKIcr4FbtsFkdKuumMoEaXxZprcrP7GX2TnUpbJbR7emHqkEMqSvHWTw-7P9ZkI5uLfVXRP5XrQi0Qm0sHvcC9DJw=s0-d-e1-ft#https://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/GettyImages-electric-cars-China.jpg?w=600[/img][/center]
[center]AERIAL VIEW OF ELECTRIC CARS AT KANDI ELECTRIC ⚡
VEHICLES GROUP CO. IN CHANGXING COUNTY ON OCTOBER 24, 2017 IN
HUZHOU, CHINA. CREDIT: TAN YUNFENG/VCG.[/center]
[center]Trump [img
width=60]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-301216165623.jpeg[/img]is<br
/>trying to kill electric cars but will kill jobs and the climat
e
instead[/center]
By JOE ROMM
SNIPPET:
Two new analyses from Bloomberg this week make clear just how
bad President Donald Trump’s policies are for the domestic
electric car market and U.S. workers.
In the first report, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF)
explains that Trump’s plan to roll back Obama-era fuel
efficiency and emissions standards for vehicles would eliminate
any federal requirement for carmakers to build electric vehicles
(EVs). BNEF also explains that the deal Ford, Honda, Volkswagen,
and BMW struck with California last week to avoid the full
rollback will not undo most of the damage.
In the second, BNEF concluded that the rapid price drops in the
cost of batteries that have driven the energy storage and EV
revolutions this decade will continue for the next decade. In
short, while Trump can slow adoption of high-efficiency EVs in
the United States, other countries — the E.U. and especially
China — will simply keep adopting them so quickly that he cannot
stop the global EV revolution. All he will succeed in doing is
hobble job creation and the U.S. economy.
Full article:
[center]The global electric car boom can't be stopped, but
Trump policies would insure U.S. workers miss out on it.
HTML https://thinkprogress.org/trump-is-trying-to-kill-electric-cars-but-will-kill-jobs-and-the-climate-instead/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tp-letters[/center]
#Post#: 13097--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: August 3, 2019, 5:08 pm
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THINKPROGRESS
[center]🦕 Interior secretary will be allowed to meet
with[b] 🦖 former fossil fuel clients starting this
weekend[/b] [img
width=30]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-250817134648.gif[/img]<br
/> [/center]
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/jb1QwodTtnivUkeEKlVOPjEiRc2FCNm1u-VrIbc5doyV8G_OO3zwOQvMOVVO0TM2D0i1PDyhdpayH9wmUK9gyfCtVs5eOMUzwowbi38sRlSQtlkNwUOzX-UE-agvFT9t8UdvqVT8hZw=s0-d-e1-ft#https://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/GettyImages-1133268564.jpg?w=600[/img][/center]
Prior to taking the helm at the Interior Department in 2017,
Secretary David Bernhardt worked as a lobbyist for the oil and
gas industry via the Colorado law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber
Schreck.
When he joined the administration, he [img
width=60]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-080419191019.png[/img]<br
/>agreed to recuse himself from certain matters on ethical
grounds. His pledge banned Bernhardt from decisions involving
his former firm’s clients for two years. Bernhardt was also not
able to meet with these companies, unless five or more other
stakeholders were present, and nothing relating specifically to
the companies was discussed.
But all of this is set to change on Saturday, when his recusal
expires.
Read more:
HTML https://thinkprogress.org/interior-secretarys-ethics-pledge-is-set-to-expire-this-weekend-729e7e959374/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tp-letters
#Post#: 13179--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: August 9, 2019, 2:45 pm
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Excellent comment: [img
width=40]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418202709.png[/img]<br
/>
[quote]Shale oil production was never anything more than a
scheme to extend and pretend this version of industrial
civilization. It was a jobs program in reality, employing many
thousands of workers at good wages and supporting all the
restaurants and car salesmen and home builders -- all on debt.
Without shale oil production this global economy would have
realized Peak Oil is here and now and collapsed years ago. So
the gambit worked, and is still working, but apparently not for
much longer, as many of us who have kept tabs on the shale
industry have known all along.
Like everything else about this global economy, it was a debt
fueled fantasy, and is nearing the point where all fantasies end
-- when reality reasserts itself.
[/quote]
Fri, 08/09/2019 - 14:04 [img
width=60]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-120818180835-16281948.gif[/img]
[center]Time Is Almost Up For U.S. Shale
HTML https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-09/time-almost-us-shale[/center]
[center][img
width=300]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-210316151047.png[/img][/center]
[center][img
width=100]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/2/3-010519192158-2201430.jpeg[/img][/center]
#Post#: 13186--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: August 9, 2019, 6:13 pm
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EcoWatch
Friday, August 9, 2019
By Jessica Corbett
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/xGVxXqEnez3p6Tysafrvmwki5VwRVCUbrZTE4QKbLjwkYpz1WcJCO2-1ecFCesDtayVhthdKDcWuXA6IfxxQ47dhzp8yWTnx0KPBVsmVJICm5aFoayRx945TnfKyc79WFM_qBGHkFl53xiJ0AedXUwYc8mUus-mr-E0=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec/images/52f6e6bf-747f-41b5-8ca9-b89ba9e3e911.jpg[/img][/center]
[center]🦖 ExxonMobil Accused of Pressuring Witnesses in
Climate Fraud Case
HTML https://www.ecowatch.com/exxon-climate-fraud-case-witnesses-2639740178.html[/center]
#Post#: 13188--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: August 10, 2019, 11:38 am
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[img
width=150]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-170218174357.png[/img]
By Mike Schuler on Aug 09, 2019 06:02 pm
[center]Trump [img
width=20]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-311013201314.png[/img]<br
/>Delay Casts Doubt on First Big U.S. Offshore Wind Farm [img
width=70]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-120818204546.gif[/img]<br
/>[/center]
The 🦀 Trump 🦕🦖 administration cast the
fate of the nation’s first major offshore wind farm into doubt
by extending an environmental review for the $2.8 billion
Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts.
The [img
width=20]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-311013201314.png[/img]<br
/>Interior Department has ordered an additional ;) study of the
farm, proposed by Avangrid Inc. and Copenhagen Infrastructure
Partners, Interior Secretary 🦖 David Bernhardt said in
an interview with Bloomberg News Friday.
🦖 Bernhardt said it’s crucial the impacts be thoroughly
studied. “For offshore wind to thrive on the outer continental
shelf, the federal government has to dot their I’s and cross
their T’s,” he said.
[center][img
width=650]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-111214174727.png[/img][/center]
Read full story...
HTML https://gcaptain.com/trump-delay-casts-doubt-on-first-big-u-s-offshore-wind-farm/
Agelbert NOTE: This is that very same "former" ;) 🦖
Bernhardt Fossil Fuel Lobbyist who never seemed to have any
concerns about the Federal Government's [img
width=100]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-020818201645-1486464.jpeg[/img]<br
/>MASSIVE ABSENCE OF dotted I’s and crossed T’s in regard to co
al
mines, offshore oil plaform spills and flaring pollution, land
fracking caused poisoning of groundwater and air pollution from
flaring. These Hydrocarbon Hellspawn bastards are WORLD CLASS
HYPOCRITES! [img
width=20]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-250817134648.gif[/img]<br
/>
Bernhardt is following in the footsteps of his hero, [img
width=20]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-250817135149.gif[/img]<br
/>John D. Rockefeller.
[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ddojs8sU8AA1M4B.jpg[/img][/center]
#Post#: 13218--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: August 13, 2019, 5:48 pm
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[center][img
width=640]
HTML https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/7Iwt1Obw1A9OF4rmgyl-UYRo4MEJDf68gFtbGNW6JHUtpykjdICNc8oASCFbrYsucF5Fg17XbLG86FfHFO8yE4EkX6gjGVlOvmRAD7s5dGscLlHcisQ_pzhkscbiV_-D4oBdJi6nkSe_a2el9qT1VJhzoNSsAEZvHHg=s0-d-e1-ft#https://gallery.mailchimp.com/d1f5797e59060083034310930/images/2f11cead-050f-4018-bfed-c12fb45691e5.png[/img][/center]
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HTML http://climatenexus.us4.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=d1f5797e59060083034310930&id=7c84c08aaa<br
/>to subscribe.[/i]
Aug 12, 2019, 8:20 AM
[center]🦍 FBI Facebook stalking OR pipeline protesters,
Germany pauses cash for Brazil, & more
HTML https://mailchi.mp/83ec165e10e7/fbi-facebook-stalking-or-pipeline-protesters-germany-pauses-cash-for-brazil-more?e=0fd17c5b57[/center]
#Post#: 13224--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: August 13, 2019, 8:13 pm
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[center][img
width=640]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-241216151049.png[/img][/center]
[center]Trump's 🦀 Profits Will Tear Web of Life
☠️ Apart! [img
width=50]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-300115234833.gif[/img]
[/center]
1,262 views
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/qPin_Wub9II[/center]
Thom Hartmann Program
Published on Aug 13, 2019
[center]Donald Trump and his 😈 billionaire,
🦕🦖 oil drilling buddies are trying to get rid of
the Endangered species [img
width=80]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-130418203111.png[/img]<br
/>Act. [img
width=70]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/1/3-120818204546.gif[/img][/center]
Biodiversity is the foundation on which all life depends,
including human life.
Biodiversity provides for our water, food, shelters, and health.
It's the air we breathe, the nutrients we take in and the soil
that our food is grown on.
Now, with Trump’s attack on the Endangered Species Act, the web
of life is more at risk than ever before. 😱
[center][img
width=240]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-100718164155-14511755.jpeg[/img][/center]
[center][img
width=340]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-301216142007.png[/img][/center]
#Post#: 13270--------------------------------------------------
Re: Hydrocarbon Hellspawn Mens Rea Actus Reus
By: AGelbert Date: August 17, 2019, 10:24 pm
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[center][img
width=640]
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-241216151049.png[/img][/center]
[center]Trump
HTML http://renewablerevolution.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-040718162655-14212306.gif<br
/>Endangers the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water
Act[/center]
August 16, 2019
The protection of threatened species will now be weighed against
the economic benefit their extinction might mean. Meanwhile,
states would no longer be able to review the impact of projects
on water quality, in accordance with the decades-old the Clean
Water Act
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/qlZcwGAT4ek[/center]
[center]Story Transcript[/center]
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: This is Jacqueline Luqman with The Real News
Network.
Recently, the Trump administration has announced a twofer: a
swing at the Clean Water Act and a whack at the Endangered
Species Act. There are proposals aimed at weakening the laws
that are now staples of the federal environmental review process
that were ushered in during the Nixon era.
For the Clean Water Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency
announced a shortening of the time period for regulatory review
of major projects to a time period of no more than one year for
states and tribes. It also allows the federal agencies to
override state’s decisions on water issues to deny permits for
projects in some situations. And for the Endangered Species Act,
just days later, the Trump administration announced that the US
Department of Interior finalized a rule calling on the federal
government to weigh economic factors before categorizing a
species as endangered or threatened, despite what the science
may say about the matter. Further, those species listed as
threatened will no longer have the same level of safeguards as
those who are endangered.
But what will this mean in action in real life for environmental
and climate protections? Well, we have some guests to talk about
these seismic shifts in the environmental regulatory landscape.
One of them is Ryan Shannon, a staff attorney for the Center for
Biological Diversity. Welcome, Ryan.
RYAN SHANNON: Thanks for having me.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: And the other is Elizabeth Klein, Deputy
Director of the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center at
New York University School of Law. Welcome, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH KLEIN: Thank you.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: Thank you both for joining me. So let’s
start, Elizabeth, with the Clean Water Act. I want to ask, the
compliance with the act, it’s a routine part of federal
environmental reviews for major projects. What exactly is the
Trump administration’s proposal? What are they changing and what
will the potential impact be if this change is adopted?
ELIZABETH KLEIN: Well, what they’re considering here is really a
fundamental shift in how water quality certifications have been
reviewed and processed by states. The Clean Water Act sets out a
pretty clear process that’s been used for decades now that
allows states, actually gives them the authority to ensure that
major infrastructure projects like pipelines or other projects
that might be on the landscape for years and years, even
decades, won’t impair the water quality of bodies of water in
their states. The act is very clear that states have the
authority to review requests for these certifications.
And what the administration is doing is really a full frontal
assault on the states’ authority to review and decide whether or
not projects are going to impair water quality. And so they are
shortening the timeframe. You mentioned a year. In fact, the EPA
wants to make it possible for certain agencies, like the US Army
Corps of Engineers and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
to shorten that timeframe to as little as six months. They want
to be able to exercise an amount of federal oversight that’s
really inappropriate and reach in and decide whether or not they
think the state has made a good decision on whether or not a
project will impair water quality, which is inconsistent with
the act and just decades of implementation of this process.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: And the proposed changes to the Clean Water
Act would also impact tribal authority. Could you explain a
little bit how that would change if this rule is adopted?
ELIZABETH KLEIN: Well, what they’re trying to do, again, is
really reach into these processes that states, and in some
limited cases tribes, have the authority to also issue these
water quality certifications. The federal government is trying
to impose a process where they could, for instance, decide that
a state or a tribe’s review of whether a project meets the water
quality certifications of an area in fact does or does not do
that and they are going to inject apparently their views on
whether or not the project is something that should trump the
water quality of these bodies of water. So again, it’s really –
it’s an assault on the whole system of cooperative federalism
that had been set up by the act that gives the authority to
states and tribes, the ones who are actually on the ground and
understand the bodies of water that are going to be affected. It
really trumps their authority to do what they have done for
years, which is determine whether projects are going to impair
water quality.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: That pun I’m sure is completely intended. So
now over to you, Ryan. Let me ask you. The Trump administration
said that economic factors will now be a major part of its
endangered categorization process in regard to the Endangered
Species Act. Is there any legitimacy to the claims of negative
economic impact to designating an area that contains a
threatened or an endangered species, that was the reason that
was cited that this change, this rule change, would be
implemented? Is there any legitimacy to that claim?
RYAN SHANNON: No. There really is none, and we should be clear
about what this exactly is proposing to do. What they’re
intending to do is inject economic considerations into what is
fundamentally a scientific decision. Is a species threatened or
endangered? And Congress was very clear when it wrote the
Endangered Species Act and when they amended it, that listing
decisions are solely based on the best available science. That
amendment to the Endangered Species Act actually came about
because the Reagan administration tried to do the very same
thing and inject economic considerations into the listing
process. And what this is going to do is either result in
listing decisions that are undermined by undue economic
considerations. Or at best, it’s going to bring the listing
process to a grinding halt, as the service goes through these
costly and time-consuming economic impacts analysis.
Now, we should be clear that there’s two pieces. There’s the
listing of an endangered or threatened species, and then there’s
the designation of critical habitat. When designating critical
habitat, they can take into account the economic decisions and
then they may decide to exclude certain areas from a critical
habitat decision. But when they’re considering listing a
species, it’s very, very clear that it’s only based on the best
available science and economic considerations play no role. So
that begs the question, if economic considerations are entirely
irrelevant to the listing process, why do them at all?
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: And that does bring us to the next question,
which is a question I want to ask both of you. For both of these
rules changes, what’s the motive for these rules changes? In
other words, cui bono, who benefits? And how strictly enforced
where these laws and regulations? And did they ever serve to
slow down federal project proposals, which is another excuse
that has been used, or I should say another justification, that
has been used from making these claims? Elizabeth, what do you
have to say about that?
ELIZABETH KLEIN: Well, honestly the proposal to strip and
fundamentally weaken the authority of states and tribes to
review water quality certification applications – I’m not
exactly sure who benefits. If I were a proponent of a large
infrastructure project, for instance, if I was working for an
energy company or for a housing development or for any of the
large infrastructure projects you can think of that might affect
or impair water quality in some way, I would be very concerned
about what they’re proposing here.
The proposal is fundamentally at odds with what’s in the statute
itself. EPA even went so far in its proposal to suggest that it
disagreed with an opinion of the Supreme Court, of all things,
that the Supreme Court had gotten a decision wrong about the
ability of states to decide what the scope of water quality
means. And so, it’s not clear to me who this benefits.
Potentially the administration thinks that this will benefit
their ability to be reelected. It seems very political and
separate and apart from what’s actually called for by the Clean
Water Act.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: And Ryan, what’s your take on this in regard
to the Endangered Species Act? Who benefits from this rule
change?
RYAN SHANNON: What we know for certain is that endangered and
threatened species will not benefit at all from these rule
changes. And then I think the folks that do benefit are David
Bernhardt’s former clients. The Department of Interior right now
is staffed with numerous individuals who have described
endangered species as incoming Scud missiles. And Karen
Budd-Falen, who’s the acting Assistant Deputy of Fish, Wildlife
and Parks, once said that if given the chance, she would repeal
the ESA in a heartbeat.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: So in fact, climate and environmental
activists, which both of you have expressed, say that the
proposed changes in the Clean Water Act and the Environmental
Protection Act could lead to expedited permits for pipelines,
especially in regards to the Clean Water Act and other related
infrastructure. And interestingly, EPA administrator, Andrew
Wheeler, who is a former fossil fuel industry lobbyist, agreed
in an interesting and odd way with the environmental activists
when he said in a comment, “Under President Trump, the United
States has become the number one oil and gas energy producer in
the world. When implemented, this proposal, the change to the
Clean Water Act, will streamline the process for constructing
new energy infrastructure projects that are good for American
families, American workers, and the American economies.”
So clearly these rules changes are for the benefit of, at least
from the administration’s perspective, the energy suppliers that
want to circumvent these laws to build their infrastructures, to
extract more fossil fuels from the ground and destroy our
ecosystem in the process. So this brings us to the next
question. Ryan, what’s the significance of the change to the act
that’s calling for species categorized as threatened, which is
one step below endangered, no longer receiving the same
protections as species in the endangered category? What will
this mean in real life and how will that be carried out if it’s
adopted?
RYAN SHANNON: So what this means in real life is that species
that are listed as threatened in the future, won’t receive the
protections that they have received for the past 40 years. The
Fish and Wildlife Service, early on in the implementation of the
Endangered Species Act, decided that presumptively it was going
to provide all of the protections provided to endangered
species, to threatened species as well. Primarily, this means
that they’re protected from take. Take is a term of [inaudible],
which basically means that you can’t harm, harass or kill an
endangered species. And so threatened wildlife presumptively had
that protection provided to them as well. Now, the act always
has had this provision called the Section 4(d). And under
Section 4(d), fish and wildlife was always free to issue a
species-specific 4(d) rule. And that could change that blanket
protection and provide certain exemptions or provisions that
were intended to benefit the species— basically allow a little
bit of flexibility.
So they always had that ability to provide certain flexibilities
around threatened species. What this administration has decided
to do is just remove the presumptive protection altogether and
instead only provide protections if and when they issued these
species-specific 4(d) rules. And these species-specific 4(d)
rules historically have not been good for species. For instance,
in 2014 there was a species-specific 4(d) rule issued for the
Lesser Prairie Chicken and it effectively exempted oil and gas
ranching and energy development projects from any restrictions
on the Endangered Species Act. And was those very same actions
that were threatening the Lesser Prairie Chicken in the first
place. So you end up having a species that is listed as
threatened, but doesn’t enjoy the protections that it should
underneath the act.
And so going forward, threatened species just won’t receive the
same kind of protections that they have in the past. These
lifesaving protections that have prevented 99% of the species
listed under the Endangered Species Act from going extinct. And
what I think we’ll see is more and more species being listed as
threatened rather than endangered, so that they do not receive
the protections provided to endangered species.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: And will the advent, the onset of climate
change, the climate crisis as seeing the results of climate
change, will that make this situation with the endangered
species and threatened species, will that make the situation
worse with this rule change?
RYAN SHANNON: Yes, it certainly will. I mean, we are living
through the sixth mass extinction right now and more and more
species are feeling the full brunt and effects of climate
change. And what these rule changes do is both look to disregard
climate science, the best available science. When listing a
species, they seek to disregard the impact of climate. When
considering listing a species as threatened, they look to
disregard protecting critical habitat that is threatened because
of climate change. And then also, there is a regulation that’s
going to change the way that the US Fish and Wildlife Service
and other federal agencies conduct Section 7 consultations under
the act. These consultations ensure that federal agency actions
do not jeopardize listed species or destroy or adversely modify
their critical habitat, and they’ve effectively written climate
change out of that process.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: So Elizabeth, it looks like many states have
already stated their intent to sue the Trump administration in
regard to these changes to the Clean Water Act and the
Endangered Species Act. Do you expect more states to jump in to
sue the administration, to stop the implementation of these
rules in their states? And what do you see as the potential
success of these actions?
ELIZABETH KLEIN: Well, state Attorneys General have really from
the beginning of this administration had been clear that they’re
not going to stand by and ignore the administration’s attempts
to flout the law and roll back really bedrock environmental
protections under a whole suite of acts— the Clean Air Act, the
Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act. The list is long.
And although there is a large number of things they’ve had to
become engaged in, state AGs really are continuing to fight
against what they see as unlawful rollbacks that are harmful to
public health, to their constituents and to the environment. And
so with respect to the Endangered Species Act, that was a final
rule that’s been issued by the administration, and you saw
Massachusetts Attorney General Healey and California Attorney
General Becerra come out strong out of the gate and indicate
that they are upset and believe that these final rules are
unlawful and they will challenge them.
With respect to the Section 401 proposed rule that’s come out
from the EPA, there is still a process to go through before we
would get to litigation necessarily. And so I would expect a
number of states to jump in with pretty forceful comments to the
EPA about how they view this new proposed rule as unlawful under
the Clean Water Act and an inappropriate abdication of
responsibilities that have been provided to the states. If EPA
chooses to ignore those comments, I would assume that there will
be legal challenges down the road. But right now, we’re in a
rulemaking process. And so I suppose we could always have hope
that the administration will listen and come to reason and
decide that this is not the direction they want to go in.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: It’s a pretty incredible state of affairs
when what we have left is hope that the administration will
listen to science. But that is where we are. And I want to thank
both of you so much, Ryan Shannon and Elizabeth Klein, for
joining me today to really dig into what could happen with these
rules changes and what is happening with these rules changes to
these two important pieces of environmental legislation. Thank
you for joining me today, both of you.
RYAN SHANNON: Thanks for having me.
ELIZABETH KLEIN: Thank you.
JACQUELINE LUQMAN: And thank you for watching. This is
Jacqueline Luqman with The Real News Network in Baltimore.
HTML https://therealnews.com/stories/trump-endangers-the-endangered-species-act-and-the-clean-water-act
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