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When I began Schwartzreport my purpose was to produce an entirely fact-based daily publication in favor of the earth, the inter-connectedness and interdependence of all life, democracy, equality for all, liberty, and things that are life-affirming. Also, to warn my readers about actions, events, and trends that threaten those values. Our country now stands at a crossroads, indeed, the world stands at a crossroads where those values are very much at risk and it is up to each of us who care about wellbeing to do what we can to defend those principles. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to SR, particularly those of you who have scheduled an ongoing monthly contribution. It makes a big difference and is much appreciated. It is one thing to put in the hours each day and to do the work for free, but another to have to cover the rising out-of-pocket costs. For those of you who haven’t done so, but read SR regularly, I ask that you consider supporting it.
Stephan: Since Richard Nixon created the EPA each president after him has expanded the agency's role as it became clear that pollution by corporations was detrimental to societal wellbeing. Each president that is until Trump, who has done everything in his power to castrate the agency in service to his rich supporters, and to the detriment of ordinary Americans. Here is his latest crime against the wellbeing of America.
EPA headquarters
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is declining to require oil and gas, coal, chemical and mining companies to have insurance to cover major spills and accidents.
Critics say the final rule, announced by the agency Wednesday, poses the greatest risk to communities of color and low-income communities that most often live in the shadow of polluting industries.
“EPA has found that existing environmental regulations and modern industry practices are sufficient to mitigate any risks inherent in these industries,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a release announcing the rule, adding that “the financial risks from facilities in these industries are addressed by existing state and federal requirements.”
The rule targets the financial assurances the Obama administration argued should be required by major polluters, ensuring companies have sufficient means to cover any costs related to accidents in order to avoid dipping into Superfund hazardous waste cleanup coffers.
The U.S. has more than 1,300 Superfund sites on its cleanup list, but many have become “orphaned” by companies that go bankrupt and can no longer fund the cleanup.
“This is all so basic. It would just require that […]
Stephan: Steve Mnuchin, one of the most prominent Trumpian orcs, is deliberately trying to screw you personally.
Steve Mnuchin and wife, prominent Trumpian orc
Something you’re probably aware of by now, unless you live in a cave or exclusively get your news from @realDonaldTrump and his big boy sons, is that there’s a very contagious disease ravaging the globe that is not just killing more than a million people but jobs and businesses as well. Jobs, for the lazy rich who are unaware, are how people buy stuff like food and pay for things like shelter. So losing them is bad; less bad if you live in a society where the government actually cares about people and doesn’t just say, “tough shit, them’s the breaks,” when you lose one, and more bad if you live in, for example, the United States of America. The current Treasury secretary presumably knows this and, yet, he’s apparently hoping to make a bad situation even worse!
On Thursday, Steven Mnuchinsaid that he doesn’t plan to extend a number of key emergency lending programs beyond the end of […]
Stephan: Robert Reich has spent his career trying to foster wellbeing, and I think his observations are dead on.
Trump and Republican leadership orcs
Most elected Republicans are refusing to stand up to Trump. Their cowardice is one of the worst betrayals of public trust in the history of our republic
Financial regulators subject banks to stress tests to see if they have enough capital to withstand sharp downturns.
Now America is being subjected to a stress test to see if it has enough strength to withstand Donald Trump’s treacherous campaign to discredit the 2020 presidential election.
Trump will lose because there’s no evidence of fraud. But the integrity of thousands of people responsible for maintaining American democracy is being tested as never before.
Tragically, most elected Republicans are failing the test by refusing to stand up to Trump. Their cowardice is one of the worst betrayals of public trust in the history of our republic.
Trump is also depending on a Star Wars cantina of lackeys, grifters, sycophants and fruitcakes – including former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Senator Lindsey Graham, GOP trickster Roger Stone and others – whose reputations weren’t great to begin […]
Stephan: Every month it seems it becomes ever more clear that China, Europe, and Japan, and particularly China, are the countries leading the way out of the carbon era. This will have long term negative implications for the American automobile industry
Newly manufactured cars are seen at a port in Dalian, Liaoning province, China April 10, 2020. Credit: China Daily/Reuters
SHANGHAI — An aggressive China-led shift to electric vehicles is expected to slash global oil demand growth by 70% by 2030 and will help bring an end to the “oil era”, according to research by the Carbon Tracker think tank published on Friday.
Within 10 years, China could save more than $80 billion in annual oil import costs as new-energy vehicles (NEVs) become increasingly competitive, Carbon Tracker said.
Its calculations were based on a “conservative” scenario by the International Energy Agency projecting that electric vehicles would account for 40% of China’s total car sales by 2030, and for 20% of sales in India and other emerging markets.
The cost of importing the oil required to fuel an average car is 10 times higher than the cost of solar equipment required to power an electric vehicle, Carbon Tracker said.
“This is a simple choice between growing dependency on what has been expensive oil produced by a foreign cartel, or domestic electricity produced by renewable […]
Amanda Jane Hughes, Lecturer in Energy Engineering at the University of Liverpool - BBC News (U.K.)
Stephan: The European Space Agency is developing a non-polluting, non-carbon energy technology that sounds like something from a science fiction novel, but has now become an emerging reality.
An image of solar power coming to earth from space
It sounds like science fiction: giant solar power stations floating in space that beam down enormous amounts of energy to Earth. And for a long time, the concept – first developed by the Russian scientist, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, in the 1920s – was mainly an inspiration for writers.
A century later, however, scientists are making huge strides in turning the concept into reality. The European Space Agency has realised the potential of these efforts and is now looking to fund such projects, predicting that the first industrial resource we will get from space is “beamed power”.
Climate change is the greatest challenge of our time, so there’s a lot at stake. From rising global temperatures to shifting weather patterns, the impacts of climate change are already being felt around the globe. Overcoming this challenge will require radical changes to how we generate and consume energy.
The aim is that solar power stations in space will become a reality in the coming decades
Renewable energy technologies have developed drastically in recent […]
Stephan: Here is some excellent news about the absolutely awful Alaska's Bristol Bay mining project that was pushed by Trump to favor his corporate friends over the indigenous people and the planet's ecosystem.
A pair of bears perch atop Brooks Falls in Alaska’s Katmai National Park, about 100 miles from the proposed Pebble Mine site. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times / Getty I
Environmental campaigners stressed the need for the incoming Biden White House to put in place permanent protections for Alaska’s Bristol Bay after the Trump administration on Wednesday denied a permit for the proposed Pebble Mine that threatened “lasting harm to this phenomenally productive ecosystem” and death to the area’s Indigenous culture.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1331662923710693376&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ecowatch.com%2Fpebble-mine-denied-permit-2649060726.html%3Frebelltitem%3D2%23rebelltitem2&partner=rebelmouse&siteScreenName=EcoWatch&siteUserId=78361556&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px
In its record of decision on the long-fought industrial gold and copper mining project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cited “Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act,” the Anchorage Daily Newsreported.
“USACE determined that the applicant’s plan for the discharge of fill material does not comply with Clean Water Act guidelines and concluded that the proposed project is contrary to the public interest.”
The decision was hailed by a chorus of conservation groups. “Sometimes a project is so bad, so indefensible, that the […]
Bobby McEnaney and Joshua Axelrod , - Clean Technica
Stephan: Expert analysts are beginning to write stories in their professional literature that seem to be harbingers of what will be very good news. This one is an example of what I am seeing. Biden, Harris, and their cabinet, particularly John Kerry, seem seriously committed to reversing the incompetence, corruption, and criminality of the Trump era, and moving America out of the carbon era.
Biden cabinet nominees Credit: UPI
Over the last 20 years, the U.S. oil and gas industry has expanded production astronomically, becoming the world’s largest producer of the fuels driving climate change.
The election of Joe Biden presents an opportunity to change this dangerous trajectory.
After four lost years in the wilderness, ignoring and undermining climate science, the United States will have an administration more committed to addressing climate change than any before. But for the United States to fully realize such a vision, much needs to be done to address the outsized role that this country plays regarding the extraction of fossil fuels.
Gulf of Mexico waters, byCynthia Shahan, CleanTechnica.
Action is required across our government agencies that help the U.S. economy tick and our general society function. The government-facilitated leasing of shared public lands and waters for oil and gas development must be phased out. The financial institutions that invest in and insure fossil fuel infrastructure (like pipelines, plastics manufacturing facilities, and power plants) need to recognize their profound role in enabling climate change. And those tasked with […]
Natalie Grover, Science Correspondent - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: What I have feared from the beginning is that Covid, even after vaccinations are readily available, will haunt us in other ways. And this seems to be what is happening, as this early report suggests.
A healthcare worker tends to a patient in the Covid-19 Unit at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, Texas. Credit: Mark Felix/AFP/Getty
Nearly one in five people who have had Covid-19 are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder such as anxiety, depression or insomnia within three months of testing positive for the virus, according to a study that suggestsaction is needed to mitigate the mental health toll of the pandemic.
The analysis – conducted by researchers from the University of Oxford and NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre – also found that people with a pre-existing mental health diagnosis were 65% more likely to be diagnosed with Covid-19 than those without, even accounting for known risk factors such as age, sex, race, and underlying physical conditions.
“This finding was unexpected and needs investigation. In the meantime, having a psychiatric disorder should be added to the list of risk factors for Covid-19,” said Dr Max Taquet, an NIHR academic clinical fellow and one of the authors of the analysis.https://interactive.guim.co.uk/charts/embed/nov/2020-11-09T14:42:11/embed.html
The calculations were made on the basis of roughly 70m US health records, including more than 62,000 […]
