More Dems Join EPA Block

Oops. That's not the right Holland image.

That's the right image.

I know the windmill is a cliché , but they're even on some of their fucking stamps.

Had these people been around, there would be no Holland. They'd have run around pulling the little Dutch boy's fingers out of the holes in the dykes.

And I'm well aware I lost your attention with that last sentence. Focus!

Two House Democrats are joining the assault on the coming greenhouse gas regulations from the EPA. On Thursday, Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Armed Services Chair Ike Skelton (D) introduced a resolution to overturn the agency’s finding that emissions threaten human health. Missouri Republican Jo Ann Emerson is cosponsoring the legislation.

Their measure mirrors the Senate attack on EPA regulations from Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is using a resolution of disapproval--an obscure procedural maneuver to overturn agency regulations--to block the agency’s scientific conclusion that planet-warming gases endanger humans. The House trio introduced a separate piece of legislation earlier this month to amend the Clean Air Act, but has now synched its efforts with those in the Senate. Murkowski’s measure has 40 cosponsors, including Democrats Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Mary Landrieu (La.).

The EPA's finding has triggered the regulation of gases, with rule for automobiles expected next month and major stationary sources like power plants coming in April. With Senate debate on a carbon cap stalled out, the EPA rules are seen as the last hope for regulating emissions this year.

Climate change won't wait. Its gonna happen regardless whether politicians ignore it and refuse to act. And it will happen even faster when those politicians also insist on blocking any efforts to fight it. At least the EPA is trying to do something.

I'm sure anyone with asthma would contend the fucking emissions affecting air quality are most definitely a health hazard to them as they are for the rest of US.


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Environmentalists decry S. Carolina law change on permits

There will be more of this in economically depressed areas which I'm assuming the Carolinas are.

Businesses have scored a legislative victory in South Carolina that could make it easier to develop construction projects without waiting for a final decision on state environmental permits.

The House approved a measure Thursday giving environmentalists, citizens groups and developers only three days to prepare for hearings on whether projects can be built before administrative courts resolve permit disputes. That's down from 10 days.

In addition to the time limit for a hearing, environmental groups say the bill also prevents what is known as an automatic stay on some projects if a developer has obtained many of the permits.

Environmentalists believe the changes make it more difficult to ensure that projects aren't built before permit disputes are resolved. If a project is built and the developer later loses his permit case in court, it will be difficult to force a construction project to be torn down or scaled back, they say.

In a related story with the headline: N. Carolina mining plan would destroy vast wetlands area

A proposal to strip-mine for phosphate in more than 4,000 acres of wetlands near the Pamlico River in North Carolina was outlined Friday by the Army Corps of Engineers in an environmental impact statement.

If the plan is approved after a public comment period, it would result in the largest permitted wetlands destruction in the state's history.

PCS Ohosphate, the company seeking approval, wants to extract phosphate for the next 37 years from three separate tracts of land near its existing mine in Aurora. The mining operations would span more than 15,100 acres, including 4,135 acres of water and wetlands. The company expects to spend $4.76 billion over the decades-long expansion plan.

The last time the corps allowed a company to venture into such a large amount of wetlands was in 1997 when PCS Phosphate received certification to begin mining 1,263 acres of wetland on its current operations.

And just why isn't the EPA getting involved? Wasn't that agency given a mandate to protect wetlands? And where are the alligators, egrets, herons, ducks, geese, turtles gonna live? Just asking.

Note: Headline links to source.

Yeah, we want Rudy to lead the free world...NOT!

He's a poser just like the idiot-in-chief now in office.

Former Environmental Protection Agency boss Christie Whitman says she urged Ground Zero workers to wear respirators, but then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani blocked her efforts.

She also said city officials didn’t want EPA workers wearing haz-mat suits because they “didn’t want this image of a city falling apart.”

In an interview scheduled to run the day before Whitman testifies in front of Congress on Monday, she told WNBC-TV she warned the city of the risks almost every day.

And she said she believes illnesses killing first responders can be blamed on the city’s lack of action.

I've read before Rudy wanted the people in haz-mat suits to change in a tent before entering the area to avoid public panic. That seemed reasonable to me, but the rest of this is pure bullshit.

via True Blue Liberal.

EPA will cut lead in kids' products

Sometimes its necessary to step back from politics and think what the fuck is going on over here. Ya know? Although technically its still politics.

Companies that make or distribute toys, zippers and other children's products will face tougher government scrutiny to keep out any lead that could poison and kill children or harm their brain development.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed, in response to legal pressure, to instruct importers and manufacturers to provide health and safety studies if any lead might be found in their products for children.

OK, they're talking imports as well as local manufacturers, but still...

1. Lead is harmful to children.
2. Toys are for children.
3. Don't put fucking lead in toys.

I don't care what country is making the toys. No executive or engineer should have allowed this once the dangers were known. Its criminal to use lead.

That said, this is exactly what the EPA should be doing. The EPA should be protecting US, especially the children. Good for them.

(read more)