Stephan: Here is some excellent good news. Trump has been doing everything he can to destroy the arctic regional environment, and now he has been blocked from his latest depredation. I don't think he will have enough time to take another run at producing damage.
Polar bears stand on an ice floe in the Arctic Ocean. Credit: Lev Fedoseyev/TASS/Getty
Climate action advocates and wildlife defenders celebrated Monday after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected the Trump administration’s approval of Liberty, a proposed offshore oil-drilling project in federal Arctic waters that opponents warned would endanger local communities, animals, and the environment.
“In the face of a worsening climate crisis, the federal government should not be in the business of approving irresponsible offshore oil development in the Arctic.” —Jeremy Lieb, Earthjustice
“This is a huge victory for polar bears and our climate,” declared Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “This project was a disaster waiting to happen that should never have been approved. I’m thrilled the court saw through the Trump administration’s attempt to push this project through without carefully studying its risks.”
Marcie Keever, legal director at Friends of the Earth, similarly applauded the ruling (pdf), saying that “thankfully, the court put the health of our children and our planet over oil company profits.”
Both groups joined with fellow advocacy organizations […]
Stephan: This report has been overtaken by events in some details, but it is one of the first pieces I have seen that describes another crisis we face in the U.S. that has been getting grossly inadequate coverage, and for which we have been doing little or nothing under Trump.
Medications slated for destruction are shown in a locked storage area of the police department in Barberton, Ohio. | Keith Srakocic/AP
President-elect Joe Biden, long viewed as a drug policy hawk during his four decades in the Senate, is signaling a different approach to confronting a still-raging drug addiction epidemic made worse by the pandemic.
Biden, who has stocked his team with addiction experts with extensive backgrounds in public health, will emphasize new funding for substance abuse treatment and prevention, while calling to eliminate jail time for drug use. It’s a departure from his tough-on-crime approach as a senator — and from President Donald Trump’s frequent focus on a law enforcement response to the drug crisis, which experts said undercut necessary public health measures.
“We have every reason to believe President-elect Biden will view this primarily as a public health issue,” said Michael Botticelli, who led the White House drug policy office under President Barack Obama. “They recognize there is a critical component law enforcement has to play but leading with a public health strategy.”
Stephan: Every day since the election I have noticed one act after another of Trump sabotaging the social wellbeing of America. It is deliberate, conscious, and intentional. This is an angry nasty little man trying to punish the people of America because they did not re-elect him and, instead, made him once again the loser he fundamentally is.
Just weeks away from relinquishing power to incoming President-elect Joe Biden, the Trump administration is quietly launching a last-minute assault on Social Security by rushing ahead with a rule that, if implemented, could deny critical benefits to hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) late last week submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a proposed rule aiming to further tighten eligibility requirements for Social Security disability benefits, which around ten million Americans currently rely on for a modest monthly income.
While it is unclear whether the rule can be finalized before Biden takes office next month, Social Security defenders reacted with outrage to the proposal and called on the president-elect to make clear that he will immediately roll back the change.
“It is outrageous,” Richard Fiesta, executive director of the Alliance for Retired Americans, said in a statement Monday. “The Trump administration could pull the rug out from millions of Americans, especially older Americans, in the waning days of its administration. Since the […]
Stephan: And here is yet another Trumpian act to degrade American lives.
Thirty years ago, President George H.W. Bush signed so-called Bhopal provision amendments to the Clean Air Act. Named after history’s worst toxic chemical accident that killed or injured more than 500,000 people in India the provision was meant to ensure such a tragedy would never happen here.
The Trump EPA cherry-picked data and ignored accidents, explosions and fires to justify rolling back Obama administration regulations that toughened the original rules.
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler echoedchemical industry criticism of the Obama rule, writing in December that the Trump rule reduced “unnecessary regulations and regulatory costs.” Weakening the Obama rule benefits billionaire Len Blavatnik whose umbrella company donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.
Stephan: And yet another one. This one is like a time bomb just waiting for your next visit to a grocery
Credit; Getty
President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Friday that it is going to continue to allow a pesticide called chlorpyrifos that interferes with mammalian brain development to continue to be used in the United States. Many states have already decided to phase out or ban the widely-used agricultural product. The public will have 60 days to offer comments on the EPA’s decision.
In its announcement, the EPA included a number of proposals to improve the safety of how chlorpyrifos is used, including requiring more personal protective equipment (PPE) of individuals handling the chemical and adding new regulations to limit the risk of the chemical contaminating drinking water. At the same time, the agency is allowing it to continue to be registered in the United States, even though there are a number of alleged health risks associated with the insecticide.
Indeed, the insecticide has been banned in the European Union since early 2020; the European Food Safety Authority, which regulates pesticides, said that “no safe exposure level – or toxicological reference value – […]
