A Motley Crew
Trump has placed about a dozen people in EPA. They're already causing problems.
ProPublica has a list of Trump appointees to agencies. They can be aptly described as a motley crew. The most significant is probably Senior White House Advisor Donald Benton, a former Washington State senator and Trump’s regional campaign manager. Once ran a county environmental office. According to the Seattle Times, “he has an almost perfect track record of failure and interpersonal conflict, often resulting in legal or disciplinary action, at every public positio...
CONTINUE READINGGorsuch and the Environment: A Closer Look
Gorsuch doesn't seem to have a strong agenda in this area, with several pro-environmental rulings.
What could we expect from Neil Gorsuch as a Supreme Court Justice in environmental and energy cases? After reading all the opinions I could find, I'd say the best news is this: He doesn't seem to have any particular agenda in the area. That distinguishes him from some past appointees such as Clarence Thomas, who had made his hostility to environmental protection clear as a court of appeals judge. He also doesn't give the impression of being particularly pro-industr...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change is the new He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
And Scott Pruitt is the new High Inquisitor at EPA
Last week, after saying that he did not believe that carbon dioxide is the primary cause of climate change, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt reminded me for the second time since he took office of someone I met at age fifteen: Dolores Umbridge. Yes, that Dolores Umbridge, the one that functions as the main villain of the fifth Harry Potter book, at times eclipsing even Voldemort in her evilness. Now before you dismiss this as hyperbolic, let me make my case. [Spoilers ah...
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Environmental Budget
The proposal to Congress was released today. It's very bad news.
I've been posting budget news as it has come out. Now that we have Trump's proposal, I've replaced all the earlier information with the official numbers in this version. The bottom line: the budget would be a disaster for the environment, for science, and for the country. The general philosophy behind the budget was expressed by Trump's OMB Director: "As to climate change, I think the president was fairly straightforward: We're not spending money on that anymore,...
CONTINUE READINGEnv. Budget Update
The budget is an unfolding story. It's not looking any better right now.
Because budget news comes in stages, I'm planning to periodically update this post. Here’s what we know as of now. Material since the last update is in green. Environmental Science. I have posted previously about the threat to scientific research posed by the Trump Administration. The Administration’s attack on environmental science – climate science in particular – is now taking concrete form. NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research would l...
CONTINUE READINGThe Trump Administration’s False Stories About the Environmental Protection Agency Are Meant to Take the Agency Down
Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt Distort the Facts About EPA's Mission, History, and Success
The Trump Administration has made clear its plans to systematically dismantle the Environmental Protection Agency. Destroying the EPA will be a key element of the administration's fight, in the words of White House policy advisor Steve Bannon, to achieve the "deconstruction of the administrative state." [Update 8/22/17: Bannon is out, but that doesn't change the Administration's strategy or plans.] Republicans in Congress appear to support this effort. EPA Admin...
CONTINUE READINGWhat is the “Left Coast” Doing About Climate Change?
Quite a lot, as it turns out. But stronger coordination is needed.
The three West Coast states have a lot in common, including strong commitments to address climate change. They are all taking action on this front, but so far coordination efforts seem weak. Given the situation in D.C., it would make sense for these states to go further in terms of making a collective effort. It would also make sense to go beyond climate issues and start serious collaboration on other issues, such as how to protect public lands from the Trump Administr...
CONTINUE READINGPruitt Shows His True Colors
Still skeptical of climate science, EPA's regulatory authority, and the Paris Agreement.
Pruitt made conciliatory noises when he arrived at EPA. I suspect the honeymoon is over. On Thursday, he was asked on CNBC whether CO2 is the main cause of climate change. His answer? "“I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there’s tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it’s a primary contributor to the global warming that we see.” EPA's website s...
CONTINUE READINGThe Car Industry’s Rollback Effort — Disappointing But Not Surprising
The struggle to force the car industry to cut pollution goes back six decades.
The car industry is appealing for President Trump’s help against stricter carbon standards for cars. The industry’s action is disappointing for those who believed industry claims to embrace sustainability and technological innovation. There's no good excuse for the industry's about-face on a regulation it had originally agreed to. As one of the architects of the rule has pointed out, the industry is "now thriving, with record sales," and "it has easily exceeded th...
CONTINUE READINGCan California keep its federal lands public?
SB 50, introduced in State Senate, seeks to retain public ownership of federal lands in the state
There’s been a fair amount of national debate lately about whether federal public lands in the West should be transferred to state or private ownership. Rep. Chaffetz (R) from Utah had introduced a bill to transfer millions of acres of federal land in a range of Western states to private or state ownership – he withdrew that bill after pressure from hunting and fishing groups. Thus, the politics in DC – despite Republican control of Congress and the White House –...
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