The following article by Brian Slodysko with the Associated Press was posted on the Yahoo.com website July 13, 2018:
GARDEN CITY, Ind. (AP) — Vice President Mike Pence turns nostalgic when he talks about growing up in small-town Columbus, Indiana, where his father helped build an empire of more than 200 gas stations that provided an upbringing on the “front row of the American dream.”
The collapse of Kiel Bros. Oil Co. in 2004 was widely publicized. Less known is that the state of Indiana — and, to a smaller extent, Kentucky and Illinois — are still on the hook for millions of dollars to clean up more than 85 contaminated sites across the three states, including underground tanks that leaked toxic chemicals into soil, streams and wells.
Indiana alone has spent at least $21 million on the cleanup thus far, or an average of about $500,000 per site, according to an analysis of records by The Associated Press. And the work is nowhere near complete.
The following article by Eric Lipton was posted on the New York Times website June 7, 2018:
After heavy lobbying by the chemical industry, the EPA narrowed how it will conduct toxic substance safety checks — like perchloroethylene, used in dry cleaning. Credit: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration, after heavy lobbying by the chemical industry, is scaling back the way the federal government determines health and safety risks associated with the most dangerous chemicals on the market, documents from the Environmental Protection Agency show.
Under a law passed by Congress during the final year of the Obama administration, the E.P.A. was required for the first time to evaluate hundreds of potentially toxic chemicals and determine if they should face new restrictions, or even be removed from the market. The chemicals include many in everyday use, such as dry-cleaning solvents, paint strippers and substances used in health and beauty products like shampoos and cosmetics.
But as it moves forward reviewing the first batch of 10 chemicals, the E.P.A. has in most cases decided to exclude from its calculations any potential exposure caused by the substances’ presence in the air, the ground or water, according to more than 1,500 pages of documents released last week by the agency.
Instead, the agency will focus on possible harm caused by direct contact with a chemical in the workplace or elsewhere. The approach means that the improper disposal of chemicals — leading to the contamination of drinking water, for instance — will often not be a factor in deciding whether to restrict or ban them. Continue reading “The Chemical Industry Scores a Big Win at the EPA”
The following article by Andrew Restuccia was posted on the Politico website February 2, 2018:
The home contractor from New Jersey is now working as an official in the Environmental Protection Agency’s New York regional office.
President Trump has made a habit of appointing people with close ties to his family or businesses rather than experienced policymakers or political hands. Credit: Evan Vucci/AP Photo
A home improvement contractor married to one of Donald and Melania Trump’s former household staffers is now working as an official at the Environmental Protection Agency, the latest example of someone with a personal connection to the Trump family finding work in the administration.
New Jersey-based Steve Kopec joined EPA’s Region 2 office in New York as a special assistant on Dec. 18, according to a memo obtained by POLITICO. “Steve comes to us from private industry, where he fashioned his career around customer service and organizational efficiencies,” EPA Region 2 Administrator Pete Lopez wrote in the memo. “Steve is an experienced manager with skills in team building, management and organization.” Continue reading “Husband of former Trump household aide scores government job”
Every American president since Ronald Reagan has declared the state of the Union to be “strong.”
But in 2018, our Union, and the health of American people, is weak and endangered by increased exposure to environmental contaminants.
On Jan. 30, our President is expected to lay out what he plans to do about threats foreign and domestic. But President Trump‘s State of the Union will not speak to the threats to clean air and water posed by the deregulation of industry. By his failure to fully account for the risks posed by his anti-public health agenda, he also presides over a weaker state of the Union. Continue reading “Trump weakened the state of the union by wrecking the environment”
The following article by Mark Hand was posted on the ThinkProgress website January 11, 2018:
Group urges Senate to reject “radioactive nominee.”
FLINT, MI – JANUARY 17: A sign on a the front of a building warns residents to filter their water January 17, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. U.S. President Barack Obama declared a federal emergency in Michigan, which will free up federal aid to help the city of Flint with lead contaminated drinking water. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder requested emergency and disaster declarations after activating the National Guard to help the American Red Cross distribute water to residents. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Since assuming the presidency almost a year ago, though, Trump has offered no indication that he plans to keep that promise. Whether it’s his rollback of regulations that protect air and water or his nomination of anti-environment candidates to high-level environmental positions in the government, the president appears determined to send the nation back to the days of highly polluted rivers and uncontrollable levels of smog.
Trump has nominated several radical figures to fill top slots in his government to carry out his anti-environment agenda. One of his most extreme nominees is Kathleen Hartnett White, whom Trump picked to fill a key White House post advising him on environmental policies. White is a researcher who has worked on the fringes of the scientific community after serving as chairwoman of the Texas Council on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) more than 10 years ago.
White failed in her attempt to get confirmed to the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) post in 2017; earlier this week, Trump renominatedher to the top environmental post. The CEQ coordinates federal environmental efforts, including overseeing the National Environmental Policy Act, and works closely with agencies and other White House offices on the development of environmental and energy policies and initiatives. Continue reading “The radioactive history of Trump’s pick to advise him on environmental issues”
The following article by Nick Visser was posted on the Huffington Post website December 28, 2017:
The president re-upped a favored talking point of climate change deniers.
Credit: Sarah Wasko / Media Matters
President Donald Trump used forecasts for what could be record-breaking cold weather over New Year’s Eve to push a widely disproven talking point denying climate change.
The following article by Lorraine Chow via EcoWatch was posted on the Alternet website June 13, 2017:
The 22 Republican senators who urged Trump to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement received millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests.
Charles and David Koch – The Koch Brothers Charles de Ganahl Koch and David Hamilton Koch are the notorious Koch Bothers. The brothers own Koch Industries and are major benefactors for organizations and candidates involved in pushing radical Republican policies. The Koch Brothers use their immense wealth to cast a shadow on American government at all levels and form it to their own design. Your vote has value to the Koch Brothers Would billionaires spend millions to influence your vote if it had no value? The U.S. Map is adapted from a Creative Commons licensed image available via Wikimedia. The caricatures of Charles and David Koch are an original paintings in Photoshop. Photo Credit: DonkeyHotey/Flickr CC
The 22 Republican senators who recently sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement received more than $10 million dollars in campaign funds from fossil fuel interests.
The two-page letter was signed by a number of Republican heavyweights from coal/gas/oil-rich states, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Ted Cruz of Texas.
The Guardian calculated that the 22 senators received a total of $10,694,284 from oil, gas and coal money in just five years. (See the breakdown below.)
However, that sum does not even come close to the amount of undisclosed funds coming from the deep pockets of Charles and David Koch‘s coal, oil and gas conglomerate, Koch Industries, and other outside groups.
The following article by Gene Lyons was posted on the National Memo website June 7, 2017:
Image: National Memo (Getty Images)
If cosmic justice prevails, Donald J. Trump could live to see the Atlantic Ocean roll through his beloved Mar-a-Lago resort from the sea to the Intracoastal Waterway. His children almost certainly will.
The plush country club is built upon what geologists call a barrier beach—essentially a sandbar between the ocean and the bay. Already, water pools on parts of the property during coastal storms and extreme high tides, as sea levels driven by global warming rise a bit faster every year.
The following article by Scott Clement and Brady Dennis was posted on the Washington Post website June 5, 2017:
Most Americans oppose President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, with a majority saying the move will damage the United States’ global leadership, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
Opposition to Trump’s decision outpaces support for it by a roughly 2-to-1 margin, with 59 percent opposing the move and 28 percent in support. The reactions also break down sharply along partisan lines, though Republicans are not as united in support of the withdrawal as Democrats are in opposition to it. A 67 percent majority of Republicans support Trump’s action, but that drops to 22 percent among political independents and 8 percent of Democrats. Just over 6 in 10 independents and 8 in 10 Democrats oppose Trump’s action. Continue reading “Post-ABC poll: Nearly 6 in 10 oppose Trump scrapping Paris agreement”
