Tag "Donald Trump"
Former Monsanto Executive Picked by Trump to Lead Wildlife Agency
By Olivia Rosane via Eco Watch President Donald Trump said he will nominate a former Monsanto executive to head the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
A biologist and lawyer by training, Skipwith has been at the DOI since April 2017 overseeing policy and regulations at FWS and the National Park Service.
She said she shared Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke‘s goals to “protect our species, increase public access and ensure science is at the forefront of our decisions” in a statement reported by the Associated Press.
If she is confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first African American woman to run FWS.
During her time at Monsanto, Skipwith spent six years as a research team leader developing new agricultural products and then did a stint in corporate affairs, The Guardian reported.
Monsanto polled as one of the 20 most hated companies in American in 2018, though its infamous name will soon die as part of a merger with Bayerthis year.
FWS has been without an official head since Trump took office.
Greg Sheehan, who served as deputy director for 14 months before stepping down in August, could not serve as acting director because he lacked a science degree, the Associated Press reported.
Some of the newly-allowed pesticides are made by Monsanto, The Guardian pointed out.
“Aurelia Skipwith has been working in the Trump administration all along to end protections for billions of migratory birds, gut endangered species safeguards and eviscerate national monuments,” CBD government affairs director Brett Hartl said.
Trump thinks scientists are split on climate change. So do most Americans
When queried about the most recent IPCC report, Republican lawmakers delivered a consistent, false message – that climate scientists are still debating whether humans are responsible.
As Nasa atmospheric scientist Kate Marvel recently put it, “We are more sure that greenhouse gas is causing climate change than we are that smoking causes cancer.” Donald Trump articulated the incorrect Republican position in an interview on 60 Minutes: We have scientists that disagree with [human-caused global warming] … You’d have to show me the [mainstream] scientists because they have a very big political agenda To paraphrase, ‘I know scientists.
I have the best scientists.’ And of course Trump thinks he has “a natural instinct for science” which, as astrophysicist Katie Mack noted, is not a thing: Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) There is no “natural instinct for science.”
Believing in a “natural instinct for science” is anathema to everything science is October 17, 2018 Americans badly underestimate the expert climate consensus Numerous papers have shown that over 90% of climate science experts agree that humans are the main cause of global warming since 1950, and when considering peer-reviewed papers, the consensus exceeds 97%.
Three other Americas – the Cautious, the Disengaged, and the Doubtful – represent different stages of understanding and acceptance of the problem, and none are actively involved.
However, the important finding in the Yale and George Mason survey is that even Americans who are Alarmed and Concerned about climate change badly underestimate the level of expert agreement on its human cause.
However, numerous social science papers have found that the perceived consensus acts as a “gateway belief,” meaning that when people are aware of the high level of expert agreement on human-caused global warming, they’re more likely to accept that reality and support policies to address the problem.
The Yale and George Mason data also support the notion that political polarization isn’t the only problem here.
If it were, the Alarmed and Concerned would realize there’s a 97% expert consensus on human-caused global warming.
And in a follow-up study, the scientists showed that consensus messaging also increased acceptance of human-caused global warming, even among conservatives.
Trump Accuses Climate Scientists of Having ‘Political Agenda’
President Donald Trump once again cast doubt on human contribution to climate change and accused climate scientists of having a “political agenda” during his interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes on Sunday. “Do you still think that climate change is a hoax?”
Something’s changing and it’ll change back again,” he responded.
You don’t know,” Trump said.
He says that the Paris deal could harm the American economy and kill jobs.
Stahl pointed out to the president that his own scientists at NOAA and NASA have reported otherwise, but Trump shot back that other scientists disagree. “But what about the scientists who say it’s worse than ever?”
Although manmade climate change is supported by an overwhelming level of scientific consensus, Trump questioned their political motives.
When host Jake Tapper asked Rubio if he believed that climate change was partly caused by man, Rubio responded, “Look, scientists are saying that humanity and its behavior is contributing toward that.
Although Rubio acknowledged that sea levels are rising and ocean warming is measurable, he resisted taking large-scale climate action.
Labor says Australia can remain energy ‘superpower’ – but only if climate wars end
The shadow assistant minister for climate change and energy will use an appearance at a renewable energy conference on Thursday to argue that Australia can remain an energy export “superpower” during the transition to low-emissions energy – “it just won’t be fossilised carbon, instead it will be wind and solar power”.
Conroy says in his speech that thermal coal exports will “decline significantly over the next few decades” but Australia will continue to export metallurgical coal, “which makes up 65% of our coal exports by value, for a long time to come, as there is no other way of manufacturing steel at an industrial scale”.
Australia’s emissions data would shame the Coalition, if such a thing were possible | Greg Jericho Read more He says that, with the right policy settings, Australia can replace thermal coal exports with renewable energy exports, and also develop the hydrogen economy.
Some critics of renewables – such as the former prime minister Tony Abbott – contend that a high take-up of low-emissions technology will lead to the de-industrialisation of Australia.
“As the world decarbonises its electricity supply, the nations that can transform into manufacturing powerhouses are those with the cheapest energy, which will be the nations with the best renewable energy resources.” He says the opportunity is twofold.
Conroy says Australia is also well positioned to “be the capital of mining and processing of key inputs for the renewables revolution”.
He says the zones will be central to developing new industries such as hydrogen, direct electricity export and new energy intensive manufacturing facilities.
“In a similar vein, if we source local steel for the wind farms that will be built to meet Labor’s 50% renewable energy commitment, this would need 423,000 tonnes of Australian steel.
Labor is yet to determine its final position on the future of national energy guarantee – the policy developed by the Coalition to promote reliability and emissions reduction in the electricity sector – before being dumped by the new Morrison cabinet.
But while the opposition’s position is not yet final, the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has sent a number of public signals over the past month that the ALP is likely to keep the Neg mechanism with a higher target for emissions reduction.
Environmental Negligence vs. Civil Rights: Black and Hispanic Communities Get More Pollution, Fewer Jobs
One of President Donald Trump’s stated justifications for rolling back environmental regulations has been to bring back jobs in highly-polluting industries like coal. “The share of pollution risk accruing to minority groups generally exceeds their share of employment and greatly exceeds their share of higher paying jobs.
In aggregate, we find no evidence that facilities that create higher pollution risk for surrounding communities provide more jobs,” the study concluded.
By the numbers, black Americans hold 10.8 percent of the jobs at industrial facilities, but suffer 17.4 percent of the exposure to air pollution.
Monday’s study comes a little more than six months after a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study found that race and not poverty was the greatest predictor of exposure to certain air pollutants from the oil industry.
Despite such findings, the EPA has severely reduced the size of its Office of Environmental Justice under the Trump administration.
Monday’s study was also published the same day as an in-depth report by Stateline for the Huffington Post looking at the individual consequences of this kind of environmental racism.
The report focused on the town of Uniontown, Alabama, where its 2,300 low-income, majority black residents are exposed to a landfill that accepts coal ash, a cheese factory that emits a noxious smell and dumps waste into a local creek and wastewater from a catfish processing factory that contributes to an overburdened sewer system that leaks fecal matter into streams and rivers. “Look at every black community or poor community,” resident Esther Calhoun who has been involved with several lawsuits against the offending polluters told Stateline.
Pollution, Race and the Search for Justice https://t.co/OMWQS2NkNg @greenpeaceusa @foodandwater @ClimateReality @YEARSofLIVING — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) 1520265171.0
Another Flint? Why Puerto Ricans no longer trust water after the hurricane
“The water comes out of the tap white, and sometimes dark and dirty, with particles in it,” she said.
“Before the hurricane, the water wasn’t like that.
An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spokesman said there were “no indications that contaminated material left the facility” and infected Arecibo’s drinking water supply during the storm.
But local residents are taking no chances.
His own home was wrecked by the hurricane and he spends much of what little money he has on bottled water.
“There’s no way I’d drink the water here.
All the money that came to Puerto Rico wasn’t properly administered; it should be used to fix the things that need fixing.” Ben Bostick, a water quality expert at Columbia University, recently traveled to Puerto Rico to test water quality near three Superfund sites, including the battery plant.
In the wake of the hurricane, people desperate for water pried open wells at a contaminated site near Dorado but little information has been publicly released on water quality since.
I would say around 20% of the houses we sampled were empty because the people didn’t live in the building due to a lack of a reliable water supply.” The EPA said that virtually all Puerto Ricans supplied by the island’s water authority had “reliable drinking water”.
An EPA spokesman said: “Many will need federal assistance in order to restore reliable uninterrupted power and full system operation.
EU Vows To Maintain Iran Energy Investment Despite Sanctions
As US economic sanctions against Iran kicked in again today – a result of Donald Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the Iran nuclear deal in May – the European Union said it is urging its business to continue investing in Iran.
This has been particularly of interest for the energy sector, given that Iran possesses large reserves.
The Israeli government has been strongly against the deal, fearing that an end to sanctions will jeopardize its ultimate objective or regime change in Iran.
The EU is trying to keep the deal alive without the US, but is facing an uphill struggle as the US threatens to sanction European companies who continue to do business in Iran. “The lifting of nuclear-related sanctions is an essential part of the deal,” the EU joint statement read.
The EU foreign ministers vowed to work toward “the preservation and maintenance of effective financial channels with Iran, and the continuation of Iran’s export of oil and gas.”
The statement also reiterated the EU’s intention of activating a ‘blocking statute’ that would allow EU countries and companies to continue doing business with Iran.
European investment in Iran has exploded since the nuclear deal was agreed two and a half years ago.
Last month the EU foreign ministers wrote a letter to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying that persevering with the existing nuclear deal was the “best basis on which to engage Iran”.
Iran and the EU have been working together in the past months to try to find a way to shield European companies from American punishment if they continue investments.
Smoked in: as wildfires rage across America’s west, we’re inside with the windows shut
We are smoked in.
We had a “smoke wave” like this last summer too.
There are dozens of major fires currently burning across the west, including the Carr fire in and near Redding, California, which is over 150,000 acres.
There’s even a worse category called “hazardous,” which is a kind of a muddy crimson I’ve come to associate with the apocalypse.
In Klamath Falls, we’ve hit “red” for at least part of every day for the last 16 days, and “purple” for 12 of those days.
Humanity has known about climate change for decades, and we have done next to nothing to stop it This increase isn’t random.
One study from 2016 suggests that climate change has doubled the acreage of forest fires since 1984.
Another 2016 paper predicts that climate change will cause 60% more frequent and 30% more intense “smoke waves” across much of the western US by 2050.
Humanity has known about climate change for decades, and we have done next to nothing to stop it.
She told me that if she had the option to send her kids away during the summer, or if she could afford an air filter, she’d stay.
Trump’s SCOTUS nominee appears to be a climate skeptic
WUWT reader Joel O’Bryan writes: Trump’s SCOTUS nominee, Judge Brett Cavanaugh from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, has a long judicial history of dissenting on not just the CO2 endangerment finding by the EPA, but on Obama’s entire environmental regulatory agenda when those cases made it to him as an appellate judge.
For example, the LA Times writes, “Kavanaugh was skeptical of several of the Obama administration’s environmental regulations, including efforts to limit greenhouse gases and hazardous air pollutants.” And here from page 32 of his dissenting opinion on
v.
“KAVANAUGH, Circuit Judge, dissenting from the denial of rehearing en banc: This case is plainly one of exceptional importance.
A decision in either direction will have massive real-world consequences.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce describes the EPA regulations at issue here as “the most burdensome, costly, far-reaching program ever adopted by a United States regulatory agency.” Petition for Rehearing En Banc at 1.
On the other hand, EPA issued these regulations to help address global warming, a policy issue of major long-term significance to the United States.
Put simply, the economic and environmental policy stakes are very high.” Reference available at: http://www.globalwarming.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Coalition-for-Responsible-Regulation-Dec-20-2012.pdf
Trump’s Coal Bailout Could Cause Spike in Deaths From Pollution
The Trump administration’s plan to bail out coal and nuclear industries could cause one American death from pollution for every two to four additional coal jobs generated over the next two years, according to new research.
A study released Thursday from Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan think tank, finds that the plan could cause between 353 to 815 premature deaths between 2019 and 2020 while generating fewer than 800 coal jobs.
The study also finds that the plan would increase CO2 emissions by 22 million tons, or roughly the same amount as 4.3 million additional cars on the road.
As reported by Bloomberg: Although nuclear power does not generate carbon dioxide that drives climate change, burning coal does—and the possible federal intervention would boost those emissions by 22 million short tons over two years, the analysis finds.
The administration is justifying its push to subsidize coal and nuclear power plants on national security grounds, with Trump touting coal as bomb proof during a visit to a West Virginia charity dinner on Tuesday. “You bomb a pipeline, that’s the end of the pipeline,” Trump said. “With coal, that stuff is indestructible.”
Trump Administration Plans Costly Taxpayer Bailout of Unprofitable Energy Industries https://t.co/oDn4G7Fl6S… https://t.co/ZyvbkH6beZ — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) 1527870150.0 For a deeper dive: For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.
