Making America Great Again for Dirty Energy
Connecting the Dots on Congressional Action, Trump Appointments
It is hard to imagine a better start to a Presidential Administration for the fossil fuel industry than this one. Three of Trump’s appointees to cabinet positions — Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Rick Perry as Secretary of Energy and Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State — are deeply intertwined with the energy industry. Tillerson is, of course, the former CEO of ExxonMobil. Scott Pruitt has been bankrolled by the Koch Brothers and other oil industry billionaires and infamously sent letters to government agencies — as a public official — that were written by energy industry lobbyists. The oil and gas industry cheered Rick Perry’s selection to a post he apparently believed involved serving as an ambassador for their interests.
Congress is cooperating nicely with the Trump Administration’s efforts to put the government in the hands of the fossil fuel industry. Here are the moves Congress has made just this week:
The House voted — on the day Tillerson was confirmed as Secretary of State — to repeal a regulation requiring mining and extraction companies to disclose bribes to foreign governments; the Senate followed suit today;
The full Congress has now repealed a regulation that limits coal companies from dumping coal ash into streams;
The House today voted to repeal a rule that regulates methane flaring from natural gas drilling on public and tribal lands.
Trump himself has also granted some favors to energy companies, ordering his administration to expedite and approve permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Keystone Pipeline.
Stay tuned for many more actions from the Administration and/or Congress. If Pruitt is confirmed to lead EPA, expect quick action to withdraw the Clean Power Plan, which regulates greenhouse gas emissions; pull out of the Paris Agreement; roll back automobile emissions standards and more. We are witnessing a concerted effort to Make America Great Again for Bribing, Polluting Fossil Fuel Companies.
Reader Comments
5 Replies to “Making America Great Again for Dirty Energy”
Comments are closed.
About Ann
Ann Carlson is currently on leave from UCLA School of Law. She is the Shirley Shapiro Professor of Environmental Law and was the founding Faculty Director of the Emmett I…
READ more
“….We are witnessing a concerted effort to Make America Great Again for Bribing, Polluting Fossil Fuel Companies…..”
Let him (or her) whom does not consume fossil fuels cast the first stone. Don’t be hypocritical.
Lately there has not been much love on Legal Planet and this is becoming a sad situation. Please be patient and forgiving. Let’s all hope for the best.
Ann, as I said to you before, “We most desperately need another Rachel Carson today, and I hope that is you.” Your posts keep proving that you are the right person at the right time.
Anthony,
Unfortunately the California Environmental Bar is so full of hate and malice towards all things Trump that it is unlikely they would ever be able to achieve anything constructive for the environment. Instead they prefer to put on their pink p*ssy hats and then demand that the government import more terrorists to kill more Americans. Beyond that, they have nothing worthwhile to offer.
Anthony,
Boy am I embarrassed. I hadn’t had my coffee yesterday and I was still a bit groggy. Obviously California’s environmental attorneys, policymakers, scientists, and advocates have had a great positive effect on the health of the environment and people throughout the state and beyond.
Sometimes, early in the day before I start thinking clearly, I ignore demonstrable progress in favor of silly fear-based unverifiable claims aimed at expanding power by scaring those most vulnerable among us into giving up their rights. Thankfully, California’s academic institutions, politicians, and the vast majority of citizens can recognize these authoritarian tactics for what they are and stay focused on the progress made by important environmental legislation such as CEQA, AB 32, SB 4, SB 32, and SB 350, among many others. While there is more work to be done to counter the harmful policies being implemented at the federal level in favor of the oil, gas, and coal companies, California is clearly committed to extending the proven benefits of strong, sensible, science-based environmental policies.
Climate change whistleblower alleges NOAA manipulated data to hide global warming ‘pause’:
“….Gradually, in the months after [the report] came out, the evidence kept mounting that Tom Karl constantly had his ‘thumb on the scale’ — in the documentation, scientific choices, and release of datasets — in an effort to discredit the notion of a global warming hiatus and rush to time the publication of the paper to influence national and international deliberations on climate policy,” Mr. Bates said Saturday on Climate Etc……”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/5/climate-change-whistleblower-alleges-noaa-manipula/