Trump weakens Obama-era rules on toxic wastewater from coal plants
Pollution
Steam-based plants third biggest source of toxic wastewater
Pollutants released into water linked to cancer and other illness More
Subterms
125 Shares179 Views
in US PoliticsPollution
Steam-based plants third biggest source of toxic wastewater
Pollutants released into water linked to cancer and other illness More
150 Shares189 Views
in US PoliticsSenate Democrats are set to release a 200-page plan arguing that significant US climate action will require stripping the fossil fuel industry of its influence over the government and the public’s understanding of the crisis.“It’s important for the public to understand that this is not a failure of American democracy that’s causing this,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, a senate Democrat from Rhode Island. “It is a very specific and successful attack on American democracy by an industry with truly massive financial motivation to corrupt democratic institutions.”A 16-page chapter of the report titled Dark Money lays out how “giant fossil fuel corporations have spent billions – much of it anonymized through scores of front groups – during a decades-long campaign to attack climate science and obstruct climate action”.The focus on limiting the industry’s political power could be the opening punch in what is likely to become a dirty fight over climate policy if Democrats take control of the Senate and the White House.The blueprint, from Senate Democrats’ Special Committee on the Climate Crisis, follows an extensive package of climate policy proposals from House Democrats. Its first two sections describe the depth of the climate problem and posit policy solutions. The third outlines how Democrats could carve a political pathway to substantive reductions in planet-heating pollution. Scores of media reports and lawsuits from states have exposed the industry’s efforts to conceal the scale of the problem and use of dark money groups to create partisan gridlock and slow a shift away from fossil fuels. But Whitehouse said the story has yet to reach the American public. “I don’t think we’ve even begun to get the news out adequately. We haven’t had proper hearings in Congress – the best we’ve had is the Senate’s all Democrats hearing with no ability to subpoena to investigate,” he said.The plan says the US is “almost alone among industrialized nations in having failed to implement comprehensive policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions”. It directly blames the 2010 Citizens United supreme court decision that allowed industries to spend virtually unlimited sums of money to sway elections.Democrats created the Democrats-only special committee to address climate change because Republicans have majority control of the Senate and largely dictate the work of committees.The special committee recommends a three-part plan to:“expose the role of the fossil fuel billionaires, executives, and corporations in funding and organizing the groups trafficking in climate denial and obstruction.”
“reform federal laws and regulations to require greater transparency and reduce the influence of money, particularly dark money, in politics.”
“alert industries that support climate action to the depth, nature, and success of the covert fossil fuel political scheme.”
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has said he would spend $2tn to get the US to essentially eliminate its climate pollution by 2050. He is pitching his proposal as a jobs plan to lift the US out of the economic downturn. But he does not oppose fracking for natural gas – which is the main way the US industry has grown in recent years.At the Democratic National Convention last week, climate activists were also let down by a decision to remove language from the party platform opposing fossil fuel subsidies – revitalizing skepticism about Biden and moderate Democrats’ ability to get tough with the industry.Republicans meanwhile are split on the climate issue, with some outright denying the science, many questioning the severity of the crisis, and a growing minority pitching technologies for capturing emissions from fossil fuels so they can continue to be used. Donald Trump has called climate change a hoax and rescinded essentially all of the federal government’s biggest climate efforts.The report lays out a timeline stretching back to 1977, when an Exxon scientist told company management that there was scientific agreement that humans were altering the climate by burning fossil fuels. Exxon now says climate change is “a serious issue” and denies the company misled the public.In 1988, Shell scientists acknowledged carbon dioxide emissions could be setting the planet on a path to become 2C hotter, leading to rising seas and a melting Arctic, it notes. The world is currently 1C hotter than before industrialization and on a trajectory to be at least 3C hotter.In 1986, a congressional subcommittee held hearings on climate change and in 1988 Nasa scientist James Hansen testified about the threat.Senate Democrats say oil companies responded by copying the playbook of the tobacco industry to sow doubt about the problem. They started front groups and funded think tanks like the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute to deny climate science.Whitehouse was elected to the Senate in 2006, and he said everything changed immediately after the supreme court issued the Citizens United ruling in 2010. “There’s a very clear before and after,” he said.“I don’t think Americans understand enough the extent to which the fossil fuel industry has weaponized a whole variety of systems and laws that now competes with the government itself for dominance,” Whitehouse said. More
138 Shares119 Views
in US PoliticsRenewable energy
Enormous overhaul will have to defeat opposition from fossil-fuel lobbyists and residents unhappy with nearby turbines More
163 Shares119 Views
in US PoliticsHouse Democrats will unveil an aggressive climate crisis “action plan” on Tuesday to nearly eliminate US emissions by 2050, according to summary documents reviewed by the Guardian. The net-zero emissions goal is what United Nations leaders and the scientific community say the world must achieve to avoid the worst of rising temperatures, and it’s what […] More
213 Shares189 Views
in US PoliticsBig Oil is using the coronavirus pandemic to push through the Keystone XL pipeline Bill McKibben The oil industry saw its opening and moved with breathtaking speed to take advantage of this moment TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline facility. Photograph: Jeff McIntosh/AP I’m going to tell you the single worst story I’ve heard in these past few […] More
88 Shares179 Views
in US PoliticsBills to meet environmental targets while feeding industry have the right pushing back and experts unconvinced Republican lawmakers under pressure to address the climate crisis are trying to move beyond denying the problem and start proposing solutions. But they still refuse to commit to what scientists say is necessary if the US is to rapidly […] More
163 Shares189 Views
in US PoliticsCompanies spent $84m on congressional campaigns in 2018, analysis of votes and political contributions shows The oil and gas industry substantially rewards US legislators with campaign donations when they oppose environmental protections, according to a new analysis of congressional votes and political contributions. Oil and gas companies spent $84m on congressional campaigns in 2018. Researchers […] More
138 Shares199 Views
in US PoliticsLawsuits are pending from groups who have challenged the constitutionality of shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Plans finalized on Thursday for two national monuments in Utah downsized by Donald Trump would ensure that lands previously off-limits to energy development will be open to mining and drilling. The move comes despite pending lawsuits from conservation, […] More
This portal is not a newspaper as it is updated without periodicity. It cannot be considered an editorial product pursuant to law n. 62 of 7.03.2001. The author of the portal is not responsible for the content of comments to posts, the content of the linked sites. Some texts or images included in this portal are taken from the internet and, therefore, considered to be in the public domain; if their publication is violated, the copyright will be promptly communicated via e-mail. They will be immediately removed.