“A cascade of courtroom standoffs are beginning to slow, and even reverse, the EPA rollbacks thanks to the administration’s ‘disregard for the law”. Oliver Milman writing for the Guardian.
In 2017, news of climate extremes was a shot across the worlds bow. There was the record-breaking heat across the planet, California’s biggest wildfire occurred during the winter, an ex-tropical cyclone slammed Ireland, and the unprecedented Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria barreled through the Atlantic.
The major TV news networks reported on these disasters. What they did not share, was the connection between these environmental disasters and climate change. Given that 2017 marked the first time that peer reviewed scientific papers concluded that theses events could not have happened in a world where warming didn’t exist, the lack of reporting was a disservice to the public. What the media did cover was the shenanigans of the buffoon occupying the oval office and his ignorant statements on the environment and climate change.
Finally, the Trump administrations virulent anti-environmental and his eco and social-justice crimes have met resistance. They have become stymied in the court process. Make no mistake, Trump is determined to destroy the environment and gift the fossil fuel industries and other major polluters with all kinds of deregulated goodness. The resistance must remain vigilant.
Oliver Milman of the Guardian writes:
“The Trump administration has been sloppy and careless, they’ve shown significant disrespect for rule of law and courts have called them on it,” said Richard Revesz, a professor at the New York University school of law.
“I expect we will see a number of further losses for the administration on similar grounds. If they keep showing the same disregard for the law, their attempt to repeal all these environmental regulations will go badly for them.”
Ironically for Pruitt, who has touted a “back to basics” approach rooted safely within the confines of the law, this rapidly executed agenda has run into a thicket of legal problems, causing the administration to admit defeat in several cases.
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Many of these legal problems have stemmed from the sheer pace of the rollbacks – required public comment periods have been set aside in some cases, any rationale for repeal or delay has been missing in others. Opponents of the administration also believe there is a determination to expunge every vestige of Obama’s environmental legacy, regardless of merit.
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The EPA now faces a fresh wave of opposition as it looks to craft replacements for major Obama rules such as the clean power plan, which sought to limit emissions from coal-fired power plants, and the waters of the US rule, which greatly expanded clean water protections.
Who is Guilty of Climate Crimes?
These are the key perpetrators of the largest human rights violation in history.
Margaret Klein Salamon writes a nice review of a climate crisis that is unfolding in front of our very eyes in Peter Carter and Elizabeth Woodworth’s, “Unprecedented Crime: Climate Science Denial and Game Changers for Survival.” She notes that it is a look at the “climate crisis through a legal frame, discussing the relevant national and international statutes and lawsuits, with a focus on the perpetrators of the climate emergency that confronts us all”.
Not surprisingly, the authors’ focus is primarily on the fossil fuel corporations--who are engaged in an elaborate, multi-billion dollar misinformation campaign — and on the governments who have subsidized them and colluded with them through inaction. These are the key perpetrators of the largest human rights violation in history.
It was fascinating, and sickening, to learn more about how the climate-denial machine actually works, such as the Heartland Institute mailing a climate-denying DVD to 200,000 high school science teachers. The description of the Koch brothers’ activities was particularly staggering:
‘The Kochs are a vertically integrated fossil fuel conglomerate, and they have a vertical integrated influence-peddling apparatus to go with it’… The Kochs are bigger than either of the Democratic or Republican parties, manipulate both, and are determined to keep the Senate Republican...A major focus of Koch money has been to ensure that no legislation is passed to curb the burning of fossil fuels.
Carter and Woodworth also cast their withering gaze on the media. They convincingly argue the media is guilty of criminal negligence for giving airtime to deniers and for failing to warn the public about the true nature of the climate crisis and about the banks that put billions of dollars into fossil fuel projects.