Tag: Scott Pruitt

‘We Don’t Need No Stinking Science!’

The following article by Sarah Okeson was posted on the DC Reports website November 21, 2017:

Pesticide Makers Seek to Bar Scientists from Assessing How Their Poisons Affect Endangered Species

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt overruled his own scientists to prevent an agriculture ban of a DowDuPont pesticide that causes brain damage in children, and now pesticide manufacturers have their sights set on undermining federal protections for endangered animals like the whooping crane.

A draft bill being shopped around by the pesticide industry would bar expert wildlife scientists from assessing what harm pesticides can do to about 1,800 endangered species unless the makers of those pesticides ask for their input, according to the Center for Biological Diversity and other conservation groups. Continue reading “‘We Don’t Need No Stinking Science!’”

The Trump administration just disbanded a federal advisory committee on climate change

The following article by Juliet EIlperin was posted on the Washington Post website August 20, 2017:

President Trump speaks about the U.S. role in the Paris climate change accord in the Rose Garden of the White House in June, 2017. (AP)

The Trump administration has decided to disband the federal advisory panel for the National Climate Assessment, a group aimed at helping policymakers and private-sector officials incorporate the government’s climate analysis into long-term planning.

The charter for the 15-person Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment — which includes academics as well as local officials and corporate representatives — expires Sunday. On Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s acting administrator, Ben Friedman, informed the committee’s chair that the agency would not renew the panel.

The National Climate Assessment is supposed to be issued every four years but has come out only three times since passage of the 1990 law calling for such analysis. The next one, due for release in 2018, already has become a contentious issue for the Trump administration. Continue reading “The Trump administration just disbanded a federal advisory committee on climate change”

Trump Administration Makes Key Decision That Threatens Water Supply of Millions (Video)

The following article by Reynard Loki was posted on the AlterNet website June 27, 2017:

Repealing the Clean Water Rule will make it easier for polluters to contaminate the water supply for millions of Americans.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reportedly issuing a proposed rule to undo the Clean Water Rule that was enacted in May 2015, under President Obama’s last term. The rule protects the water supply for more than 117 million Americans.

Also known as the Waters of the United States (WOTUS), the Clean Water Rule puts limits on pollution in the wetlands, rivers and streams that feed the nation’s larger waterways. Those limits are essential for protecting the safety of the drinking water on which millions of American rely. Continue reading “Trump Administration Makes Key Decision That Threatens Water Supply of Millions (Video)”