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Lawsuit Launched to Protect Wolves in Northern Rocky Mountains

7. Februar 2024 - 18:21

Four conservation and animal protection groups today notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that they plan to sue over the agency’s denial of their petition to protect gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains under the Endangered Species Act.

“It’s beyond frustrating that federal officials are harming wolf recovery by denying wolves in the northern Rockies the powerful federal protections they deserve,” said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Unlike the Fish and Wildlife Service, we refuse to sanction the annual slaughter of hundreds of wolves. Allowing unlimited wolf killing sabotages decades of recovery efforts in the northern Rockies, as well as those in neighboring West Coast and southern Rockies states.”

The groups’ petition sought to relist gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains or across the West under the Endangered Species Act. The Service denied the petition, relying largely on outdated and unambitious recovery goals for the northern Rocky Mountains wolf population.

The Service also ignored the best available science that shows why the agency cannot reasonably rely on state overestimates of the northern Rockies wolf population and that aggressive, unregulated killing threatens wolf viability across the West. Wolf populations in West Coast and Rockies states rely on wolves traveling from the northern Rockies to increase genetic diversity and promote a healthy, stable future for the species.

“Nearly 30 years after wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, wolves in the region are once again in danger of extinction,” said Margie Robinson, staff attorney for wildlife at the Humane Society of the United States. “The Humane Society of the United States will not idly stand by while the federal government permits northern Rockies states to wage war on wolves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must make decisions that protect precious native wildlife for generations to come, rather than allowing states to cater to trophy hunters, trappers and ranchers.”

Under recently passed laws, Montana extended the wolf-trapping season by four weeks and established a bounty program to pay hunters and trappers for costs associated with killing wolves. Montana hunters and trappers killed 258 wolves during the 2022 season and have already killed more than 235 wolves this season, which runs until March 15.

Idaho law allows the state to hire private contractors to kill wolves, lets hunters and trappers kill an unlimited number of wolves and permits year-round trapping on private land. It also allows hunters and trappers to kill wolves by chasing them down with hounds and all-terrain vehicles. In 2022 and 2023 Idaho hunters and trappers killed more than 560 wolves.

Across most of Wyoming gray wolves are designated as “predatory animals” and can be killed without a license in nearly any manner and at any time. Wyoming hunters have legally killed numerous wolves within 10 miles of the border with Colorado, where wolves are finally returning to the state through dispersals and historic releases.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service failed to recognize how the harmful methods that Idaho and Montana have implemented will drive down wolf numbers drastically,” said Nick Gevock, Sierra Club field organizer for the northern Rockies. “The regimens these states have pursued are reminiscent of the 1800s effort to eradicate wolves, and they have no place in modern wildlife management. No other species is treated this way, and it's reversing what was a great conservation success story.”

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed in its commitment to advance the long-term survival of wolves in the northern Rockies — instead bowing to the demands of those who prioritize profit over wildlife,” said Gillian Lyons, director of regulatory affairs for Humane Society Legislative Fund. “Gray wolves are iconic residents of the Rocky Mountains who deserve federal protections, and we will continue this fight on behalf of the millions of Americans who value these intelligent, social creatures.”

Today’s notice of intent to sue gives the Fish and Wildlife Service 60 days to remedy its legal violations. If the agency fails to do so, the groups will file a lawsuit in federal district court.

Background

Wolves in Idaho, Montana, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and northern Utah lost federal protections through a congressional legislative rider in 2011. Following a court battle, wolves in Wyoming also lost federal protection in 2012. Since losing Endangered Species Act protection, wolves in the northern Rockies have suffered widespread persecution.

In 2021, after Idaho and Montana enacted even more aggressive wolf-killing laws, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society Legislative Fund and Sierra Club petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to again protect gray wolves in the northern Rockies. The petition asked for immediate relisting of wolves under the Endangered Species Act, saying the new, destructive wolf-killing state laws will cause steep wolf population declines, threatening the wolves with endangerment.

In August 2022, wildlife conservation groups were forced to sue the Service for failing to make a final decision on whether gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains warrant federal protection under the Act. The agency’s denial, announced last week, comes in response to a court-imposed deadline resulting from that lawsuit.

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

EPA Strengthens Air Pollution Rule to Protect Communities from Soot

7. Februar 2024 - 14:43

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) strengthened regulations for particulate matter air pollution, commonly known as soot, as part of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Under the Clean Air Act, NAAQS set baseline national air quality standards for six common, harmful pollutants, including soot and ground-level ozone, also known as smog. The EPA updated the annual standard from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to a more protective standard of 9 micrograms per cubic meter.

This final rule will reduce the harms of deadly air pollution for communities across the country, including for those who already experience disproportionate pollution burdens, such as Black, Latinx, and low-income households. The more protective standard is a critical advancement for public health and an important first step in reducing the disparities experienced by these communities. According to EPA estimates, the rule will prevent thousands of premature deaths and new asthma cases, as well as reduce the number of hospital visits due to bad air quality. The EPA data analysis shows billions of dollars in savings across the board, though the true benefits are incalculable for communities across the country who are harmed by air pollution.

“Particulate matter pollution is deadly, especially for children and older Americans. The Biden administration’s new air quality standards will save thousands of lives and help address unjust disparities in air quality for communities of color and low-income communities,” said Patrice Simms, Earthjustice’s Vice President of Litigation for Healthy Communities. “We applaud EPA for issuing a rule that will help reduce heart disease, asthma, and other serious illnesses. We look forward to EPA’s implementation efforts, which must include robust enforcement and rigorous monitoring.”

Soot pollution stems largely from burning fossil fuels for electricity, manufacturing, transportation, and agriculture. Fine particulate matter pollution kills nearly 50,000 people in the United States every year and is linked to cancer, asthma attacks, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits for cardiopulmonary diseases. Soot pollution can harm entire ecosystems and cause haze that blights scenic vistas and public lands.

Industry polluters routinely exaggerate and make misleading claims about costs, but real-world data shows that air pollution reductions and economic growth are not mutually exclusive. In contrast, when people are subjected to health harms and premature death because the air where they live or work is unsafe to breathe, the costs are astronomical. Estimates vary, but poor air quality may cost the U.S. about $886 billion a year, according to a 2019 study. The highest costs come from early deaths.

The NAAQS rule on soot comes over three years after the previous administration kept outdated 2012 standards in place, despite clear evidence that this would put people’s lives and health in jeopardy. Shortly after, Earthjustice and allies sued on behalf of health and environmental advocates. In June 2021, the EPA said it would reconsider whether stronger standards were needed. This January, Earthjustice along with 100 other organizations sent a letter to the administration urging it to finalize a strong rule that protects communities across the country. Today, the administration delivered a major step to clean up the air we breathe and address inequitable exposures to air pollution.

The EPA must now diligently and promptly proceed with reviewing and enhancing smog standards to further advance efforts in reducing harmful air pollution.

See national data on soot and smog pollution.

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

Biden Administration Strengthens Health Standard for Soot Pollution

7. Februar 2024 - 14:22

The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule today to tighten one national limit for soot pollution in the United States. It set the annual health standard for soot, otherwise known as fine particulate matter air pollution, or PM2.5, at 9 micrograms per cubic meter. The standard defines how much soot pollution is medically unsafe to breathe and sets the level to which this pollution must be reduced across the country.

Following is reaction from Manish Bapna, president and CEO of NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council):

“This will help save lives today and improve the health of generations to come. Soot puts tens of millions of Americans at risk, disproportionately harming low-income communities and people of color. It’s especially dangerous to children, the elderly and people coping with compromised health.

“The EPA is putting public health first by requiring polluters to cut soot from the air we all breathe.”

BACKGROUND

The current annual health standard for PM2.5 pollution, 12 micrograms per cubic meter, was set over a decade ago. EPA’s expert science advisors, the Clean Air Science Advisory Committee, had recommended that EPA tighten the annual standard to between 8-10 micrograms per cubic meter, with 8 being the safest level, and that EPA also strengthen the 24-hour health standard.

Soot air pollution from car and truck tailpipes, power plants and other fossil fuel combustion seriously harms human health, damaging the heart, brain and cardiovascular system and causing premature deaths. Air pollution limits under the Clean Air Act help the country avoid 370,000 premature deaths annually.

A recent NRDC analysis of EPA air monitoring data finds, among other things:

  • At least 57 million people live in areas with currently legal but still unhealthy levels of soot air pollution;
  • 20.9 million people live in areas exceeding current Clean Air Act limits for soot;
  • More than 38 million people live in 107 counties with average soot levels modeled to be within proposed legal limits but still at unhealthy levels (ranging from 8-9 micrograms per cubic meter); for 6.9 million of them, there is no direct soot monitoring happening in their counties; and,
  • 118 counties with unsafe soot pollution levels lack any monitor for directly assessing Clean Air Act compliance.

For more, here is a blog from NRDC director of applied research, Vijay Limaye.

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

EPA Advances Critical Public Health Protections by Strengthening Particulate Matter Standards; Further Action Still Required

7. Februar 2024 - 14:19

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized updates to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for particulate matter. Fine particulate matter, also referred to as PM2.5 or soot, causes severe harm to human health, including asthma, heart disease, and even premature death. People of color and people with low incomes suffer a disproportionate impact from this pollution. New PM2.5 standards are vital to protect public health, though EPA could have gone even further in setting strong standards, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

In 2019, UCS convened a panel of 20 air quality experts after their dismissal by then-EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Those experts found that existing PM2.5 standards were not strong enough to protect public health.

Below is a statement by Chitra Kumar, managing director of the Climate & Energy Program at UCS.

“Particulate matter pollution is devastating in its reach and in its effects on people. We know the sources and we know the solutions—but again and again, polluters have shown that in the absence of rigorous standards, they will continue to prioritize their own self-interest over the needs of the public. EPA has an obligation to set health-protective standards to limit the harm of this widespread pollution, much of which is due to the combustion of fossil fuels. New rules are long overdue, and today’s final rule is a step toward cleaner air and healthier communities.

“However, even with these new protections in place, too many people’s health will still be at risk from dangerous exposures to PM2.5. The administration is right to strengthen these protections, and they’ve resisted immense industry pressure by setting a new standard—but the science is clear that the agency’s work is not yet done.

“The delays in updating this standard come at a steep cost, and lingering pollution impacts are too often borne by communities of color and low-income communities already facing disproportionate cumulative pollution burdens. Those delays are due in large part to the previous administration dismissing a key science advisory board and ignoring the overwhelming evidence that the PM2.5 standard was insufficient.

“EPA has a responsibility to not just set this standard, but to monitor air quality in impacted communities and enforce the law against polluters who violate the standard. EPA must remain committed to following the science and its stated commitments to protecting at-risk communities by setting and enforcing standards that ensure people all across the country can breathe truly clean and safe air.”

Below is a statement by Beto Lugo Martinez, environmental and climate justice leader and member of Coming Clean.

“Health protections that truly protect indigenous people, people of color, immigrants and low-income communities, who are disproportionately harmed by continuous exposure to particulate matter, co-pollutants, and heat-trapping climate pollution, are long overdue. We must take into account ultrafine particulate matter, for which there is no health or regulatory standard. The science is clear—ultra-fine particles make their way into the bloodstream contributing to premature death.

“EPA action to strengthen the PM2.5 standard will not address the injustice of this pollution without enforcement and a robust review of polluter enforcement data, violations, and permits. EPA must take into account cumulative impacts of environmental health hazards on communities and identify steps to address them. The EPA needs to strategically place regulatory federal reference monitors beyond criteria pollutants, informed in direct consultation with environmental justice organizations.

“Many states utilize the Cross-State Air Pollution rule as a loophole to not implement, maintain and enforce the NAAQS and provide robust State Implementation Plans. EPA must enforce this rule strictly to ensure compliance with the standards.

“EPA must support the new standard with strong enforcement on polluters. The continued influence of polluters on EPA does not align or meet with the administration's claimed priorities on environmental justice. Weak standards and weak enforcement give a green light to polluters and the government to continue business as usual."

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

EPA Strengthens Soot Standard, Saving Thousands of Lives and Billions of Dollars

7. Februar 2024 - 14:17

Today, the EPA released updated National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter (PM2.5), taking a positive and long-awaited step toward addressing a dangerous and deadly air pollutant responsible for over 100,000 deaths in the United States every year.

EPA’s final air quality standards for PM2.5, also known as soot, lower the annual standards from 12 mcg/m3 to 9 mcg/m3, and will prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and 290,000 lost workdays per year while bringing as much as $46 billion in net health benefits in 2032, when the standards are in full effect.

The final standards do not strengthen the 24-hour standard, which is critical for protecting against dangerous short-term spikes in air pollution and provides the basis for the air quality index that millions use to determine the quality of the air they breathe on any given day.

EPA will now determine areas of the country that do not meet the new standard, and will release determinations within two years. States that do not meet the new standards will then have 18 months to develop and submit plans to comply.

Evidence shows exposure to soot pollution increases the risk of asthma, heart attacks, stroke, cancer, and premature death. 63 million people in the United States experience unhealthy spikes in daily soot pollution, and communities of color are disproportionately exposed to higher-than-average levels of this dangerous pollutant.

In response, Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous released the following statement:

“We’re glad to see the Biden Administration answered the call to reduce harmful soot pollution. The decision to strengthen the annual particulate matter standards is more than just policy; it's about securing clean and safe air for our families and communities. It's about keeping kids in school, and protecting ourselves and our neighbors from the very real risks of asthma, heart attacks, and premature death.

“It’s shameful that, in the face of such clear and compelling evidence of the public health and economic benefits of stronger soot standards, big polluters and their allies in Washington do everything in their power to undermine these commonsense air pollution standards. Their resistance is a stark reminder that the fight for clean air and a healthier future is far from over, and we will continue working to ensure the benefits of these stronger air pollution standards reach the communities that need them most.”

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

Statement: Biden administration reins in deadly air pollution

7. Februar 2024 - 14:16

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a new rule on Wednesday to reduce soot pollution. Soot, also known as particulate matter, is one of the deadliest forms of air pollution since the small particles can easily enter people’s lungs and trigger asthma attacks, heart disease, lung disease and cancer. The EPA estimates that achieving the new standards will prevent up to 4,500 premature deaths and 800,000 cases of asthma symptoms per year. Last year, Americans submitted more than 500,000 comments to the EPA in support of stronger soot standards.

In the United States, the largest human-caused sources of soot pollution are fossil fuels – coal, oil and gas – burned for electricity and transportation. Since the government last updated its standards, new research has found there may be no safe amount of air pollution and the World Health Organization cut in half its guidelines for allowable particulate matter (soot) pollution. The final rule lowers allowable soot limits for annual exposure by 25%, although it leaves the 24-hour limit unchanged, allowing for temporary pollution spikes.

In response to the new rule, Lisa Frank, executive director of Environment America Research & Policy Center’s Washington Office, released the following statement:

“Air pollution used to be the price we had to pay to heat our homes, commute or produce goods by burning coal, oil and gas. Thankfully, in the rapidly accelerating renewable energy era, that’s no longer the case. These soot standards will save lives, clear our skies and alleviate the burden of asthma and other illnesses. That’s something all Americans should celebrate.”

Andre Delattre, the senior vice president and chief operating officer for program for U.S. PIRG Education Fund said:

“For too many Americans, the very air we breathe can make us sick. This is a problem we can choose to solve. This announcement is a welcome step toward a healthier future. We thank President Biden and the EPA for heeding the science and public calls for cleaner air and finalizing strong limits on soot.”

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

Let Us Pray: God's Gullible, Ugly, Sad Army Limps to the Border

7. Februar 2024 - 4:04


As GOP House leaders trash as "a stinking pile of crap" a border deal that (unconscionably) gives them most of what they've demanded to "solve" a crisis they in fact have no interest in solving, several dozen witless MAGA nativists - a tad shy of their avowed 700,000 - joined a bedraggled "Take Our Border Back" convoy to the southern border to wave flags, preach hate, hawk merch, get baptized, hear Sarah Palin babble, and decry a migrant "invasion" that, once there, failed to materialize. SAD!

Loopily dubbed "God's Army," the parade of fervid, aggrieved patriots is the latest grim evidence of a rising tide of Christo-fascists who can't seem to abide anyone not like them - gay, trans, poor, Muslim, brown, black especially after one of them got to be president. More recent proof of our ungodly lurch to the right: Last week's National Prayer Breakfast, begun by a theocratic "Fellowship" representing "the most pernicious example of fake Christianity the world has ever seen" and now run by a foundation likely just as hateful, was for the first time held in the Capitol's Statuary Hall, "the heart of our democracy" - a move deemed "very disturbing," and one instigated by creepy Christian Nationalist Mike Johnson, who also just invited televangelist hate pastor Jack Hibbs, a raging, racist bigot who calls trans people "Satanic," to deliver the House opening prayer. In it, he beseeched God to bring "holy fear" to lawmakers for a "coming day of judgment (when) all who have been and are now in authority will answer to God." In brief, heathens, beware.

Meanwhile, the folks who love to selectively quote from a holy text commanding we love our neighbors are now wildly denouncing a border bill pending in the Senate because it doesn't go far enough - maybe machine-gun turrets on the Rio Grande? - to repel an "invasion" of poor brown people fleeing for their lives because, with the economy robust, if they agree to it what can they whine, lie, grandstand and fearmonger about for the election? Their call to #KilltheBill - ie blatant refusal to govern - comes in the face of a bill blasted by rights groups for Stephen-Miller-tinged "poison pill provisions" that would "eviscerate" asylum protections," expel people without due process, throw Dreamers under the bus, grant unbridled executive power to close the border and give them everything they want but a pony. One Dem: "They literally demanded specific policy, got it, and then killed it." With the bill linked to Urkaine aid, another said of their "breathtaking" cynicism, "People will die, today." Still, say a cabal of opportunistic pinheads, the bill is "DEAD on arrival," "an unmitigated disaster," "betrayal," "INSANE."

Speaking of. The much-ballyhooed God's Army was initially heralded as a 700,000-strong "mighty force" of crusaders forging their noble way from Virginia to three border states to halt a pernicious invasion of "millions and millions" of brown-skinned hordes across Sleepy Joe's invitingly, entirely open border in order to steal their jobs, sell their fentanyl, rape their neighbors and otherwise wreak havoc on our pristine white shores. Its leaders were right-wing crackpots and "patriot-world influencers" - conservative radio hosts, homophobic white-nationalist "Mike America" and his "Exiled Patriots," a Mike Flynn ally who promoted it on Alex Jones' and Tucker Carlson - and its rhetoric was apocalyptic. "God’s army is rising up," said one organizer on a planning call. "We all have been chosen for this time." The event was billed as "a biblical, monumental moment (put) together by God" because "we are besieged on all sides by dark forces of evil." "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God," she said per the Book of Revelation. "It is time for the remnant to rise."

According to chats on the right-wing Telegram channel, many peacemakers also felt it was time to start "exterminating” migrants, or at least tracking them down, bounty-hunter style. While organizers insisted the protest would be peaceful, its website called on "all active & retired law enforcement and military," also veterans, along with "mama bears," ranchers, truckers, bikers etc; its ranks included many militia members - they were told their "side arms" were welcome but long guns were not - and rallies would all be held on private property to ensure they could police things as they saw fit. Still, a sense of paranoia ran deep: Many worried the convoy was a federal government "setup" to "entrap" patriots, a “psyop” stacked with trolls and feds and infiltrators, just like Jan. 6, but they assured communicants that instigators would face “the wrath of the Navy SEALs and the Green Berets on the ground." Above all, "People need to pray for discernment about this" - a big ask of a ragtag assemblage of fervid conspiracy theorists, bellicose xenophobes, and pig-ignorant MAGA flunkies, but God knows they tried.

The timing of the convoy was inadvertently auspicious: Before they set out, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, ever intent on keeping out the brown horde, had illegally erected razor wire around the vital Eagle Pass crossing, thus blocking federal Border Patrol access to it. When a migrant woman and two children drowned in the river - reportedly because feds couldn't get to her - and SCOTUS ruled the wire had to go, Texas embarked on a "hold-the-line" battle with the federal government quickly joined by over a dozen rabid, pro-razor-wire GOP governors who started comparing the fascist Abbott to feckin' Gideon's Army. It was all enticing fodder for a self-declared God's Army - aka "the world’s most gullible imbeciles," a MAGA "joke without a punchline," a "comically disorganized and useless parade of con artists and the conned drifting from one apocalyptic grievance to the next" - firing up to sweep in many thousands of trucks to a border where "our language and culture are being destroyed." One starry-eyed woman: "I would love to see a million Americans show up (and) link arms."

A million. 700,000. Reality bites. In truth, the "biblical, monumental moment" got off to a decidedly underwhelming start, with photos showing about 20 forlorn vehicles turning up at Virginia Beach to do God's will and "Take Our Border Back" from the hungry and desperate. Anarchy Princess: "Guys, this is the fucking convoy. 19 vehicles." (Or 699,981 fewer than 700,000.) From the start, mayhem and ineptitude reigned in what promptly became a "slow-rolling PR nightmare," with believers mostly "battling each other, paranoia and their GPS system." The first day, some patriots woke to find their tires slashed; after a motel parking lot prayer from a wingnut pastor with Church Militant, the convoy pulled out an hour late led by a MAGA-bedecked bus trailing flags and signs: "Join the God Fight, Trump Won, He Will Be Back, Fuck Biden," a razor-wire-wrapped Jesus hugging a flag. They lost a car, lost each other at a Buc-ee’s, bickered about where to spend the night, scrubbed and moved meetings, and at one point pulled over to abruptly eject a rider, reportedly a Jan. 6 devotee, without his wallet.

Despite raising about $157,000 from "private donors" - no word on where it went - there were glitches and letdowns. Someone sent an urgent plea for online reinforcements: "We need keyboard warriors. If you’re sittin’ at home, you’re on your phone, we want you to be warriorin’ fer us." Someone got scammed and charged the convoy was made up of "grifting, motherfucking live-streamers." Most dishearteningly - much like the truckers who thumped into DC to protest already -lifted COVID restrictions only to get stuck in Beltway traffic and cussed out by commuters - nobody could agree on just why they were there. They were "a show of force," "a gathering of patriots just here to have a good time," "protecting each other," "listening to God," "there'll be prayers and stuff," "the mission here is the border," "we're all going to the border." Except, umm, not. En route, organizers tweaked their plan to terrorize migrants at the border - bummer - and declared their final stop was a children’s ranch in Quemado, Texas (pop.162) where they would "have prayer" and "a redress of grievances against an out-of-control federal government."

First, though, they held a rally at a whiskey distillery in Dripping Springs, Texas, where about 27 people got a mug of free beer, browsed the booths of hucksters - Grifting the Easily Grifted! - selling Trump flags, hats, t-shirts, posters, and eventually settled in folded chairs to feebly cheer on the speakers on a stage proclaiming the convoy's arrival on "February 3th." Cue a dolled-up, very squawky, utterly incoherent Sarah Palin (!!) screeching about "a foreign invasion of our country" and "God-given rights" and "every violation of our charters of liberty that is goin' on right now like Article 1, umm, Article 4 and different clauses" and "if that's not treason I dunno what treason is!" and "we have to stand tall!" Then she introduced "ridiculously patriotic,” also eloquent, Ted Nugent, who played one shrill note on his guitar, bemoaned “compromise bullshit" that let “the snakes take over our country," apologized "to we the people for allowing this piece of shit to get into the White House," and callied President Biden a “devil scum snake.” As always, he seems so nice.

Sunday they finally arrived, not at the devoutly-to-be-wished border, but the small, ministerial Cornerstone Children's Ranch in Quemado, about 20 miles from the Eagle Pass border crossing; a guy on horseback waving a Christian flag led a small crowd akin to "a county fair on a slow day." There were confounding signs - "Collecting Democrat (sic) Votes One Dead Stiff At A Time" and "Heaven Has Walls, Hell Has Open Borders" - group prayers, more swag, loud bad music, many tearful baptisms evidently aimed at stopping the barbarians: "You can't make this shit up." Some of what Jeff Tiedrich eloquently terms the "dipshit vigilantes" offered incisive analysis to explain their pointless presence. "We love legal immigrants, but these illegals are keeping us from having jobs," said one, dutifully echoing every "yammering blowhard" on Fox News. Another called Mexicans "wonderful beautiful people" before she added, "But it seems like, once they come here...they become militants. You know, they become angry. They do robbery, burglaries and stuff."

Some members of the convoy, curious or defiant, went on to Eagle Pass, where Abbott and other GOP governors had gathered to holler about their racist rights. In an interview, Misty Gregory said actually seeing the border - with no hordes in sight but a few small, brown, crying children, clutching water bottles, being loaded on buses - was "eye-opening." How so, asked the reporter. Said a confused Misty, "Well, it wasn't as bad as I expected." No shit, Sherlock. Meanwhile, residents of Eagle Pass - a largely Latino community where folks from Piedras Negras across the river daily come to work, shop, see friends - berated "dangerous, violent groups" coming there "to preach hate." "This is not who we are, said Jessie Fuentes. "We are constantly being told we’re being invaded, and that never felt true until today when the convoy came to town. This is political theater by outsiders." As Dr. Phil's helicopter hovers above, Marco Castillo bitterly echoes him. "What is all of this for? Show," he says, and blames Abbott's malevolent, gratuitous, razor-wire avengers. "Look what they brought."

Zealots sport a flag-hugging, barbed-wire-encircled Christ to help them Take Back the Border Photo by SERGIO FLORES/AFP via Getty Images

Defying the separation of church and state, Mike Johnson and cohorts pray on the House floor for guidance on establishing a Christian theocracy to rule us all. Photo from Getty Images

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Kategorien: Externe Ticker

Federal Court Halts Spraying of Monsanto’s Dicamba Pesticide Across Millions of Acres of Cotton, Soybeans

6. Februar 2024 - 23:13

In a sweeping victory for family farmers and dozens of endangered plants and animals, a federal court today revoked approval of the notoriously volatile, weed-killing pesticide dicamba.

The drift-prone pesticide has damaged millions of acres of crops and wild plants every year since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) first approved it in 2017 for spraying on cotton and soybean crops genetically engineered by Monsanto (now Bayer) to survive what would otherwise be a deadly dose. Today’s ruling by the U.S. District Court of Arizona in Tucson overturns the EPA’s 2020 reapproval of the pesticide, which included additional application restrictions that have nonetheless failed to prevent the ongoing drift damage.

“This is a vital victory for farmers and the environment,” said George Kimbrell, Center for Food Safety’s (CFS) legal director and counsel in the case. “Time and time again, the evidence has shown that dicamba cannot be used without causing massive and unprecedented harm to farms as well as endangering plants and pollinators. The Court today resoundingly re-affirmed what we have always maintained: the EPA’s and Monsanto’s claims of dicamba’s safety were irresponsible and unlawful.”

Since dicamba was approved for “over-the-top” spraying its use has increased twentyfold. The EPA estimates 65 million acres (two-thirds of soybeans and three-fourths of cotton) are dicamba-resistant, with roughly half that acreage sprayed with dicamba, an area nearly the size of Alabama. Much of the unsprayed crops are planted “defensively” by farmers to avoid dicamba drift damage.

In today’s decision, the court cancelled dicamba’s over-the-top use, holding that EPA violated FIFRA’s public input requirement prior to the approval. This violation is “very serious,” according to the court, especially because the Ninth Circuit previously held EPA failed to consider serious risks of over-the-top dicamba in issuing the prior registration. The court outlined the massive damage to stakeholders that were deprived of their opportunity to comment, such as growers that do not use over-the-top dicamba and suffered significant financial losses and states that repeatedly reported landscape-level damage yet, in the same 2020 decision, lost the ability to impose restrictions greater than those imposed by the federal government without formal legislative and/or rulemaking processes. As a result, the court found “the EPA is unlikely to issue the same registrations” again after taking these stakeholders’ concerns into account.

The court also criticized the EPA’s assessment of the 2020 registrations’ widespread harms. Monsanto and the EPA claimed this “over-the-top” new use of dicamba would not cause harm due to its new restrictions on use. But the court found the EPA’s “circular approach to assessing risk, hinging on its high confidence that control measures will all but eliminate offsite movement, [led] to its corresponding failure to assess costs from offsite movement.” And instead, just as independent researchers had warned, the restrictions failed, and dicamba continued to vaporize and drift.

“I hope the court’s emphatic rejection of the EPA’s reckless approval of dicamba will spur the agency to finally stop ignoring the far-reaching harm caused by this dangerous pesticide,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “Endangered butterflies and bee populations are going to keep tanking if the EPA keeps twisting itself into a pretzel to approve this product just to appease the pesticide industry.”

“We are grateful that the court held the EPA and Monsanto accountable for the massive damage from dicamba to farmers, farmworkers and the environment, and halted its use,” said Lisa Griffith of the National Family Farm Coalition. “The pesticide system that Monsanto sells should not be sprayed as it cannot be sprayed safely.”

“Every summer since the approval of dicamba, our farm has suffered significant damage to a wide range of vegetable crops,” said Rob Faux, a farmer and communications manager at Pesticide Action Network. “Today’s decision provides much needed and overdue protection for farmers and the environment.”

Background

This is the second time a federal court has found that the EPA unlawfully approved dicamba. An earlier case resulted in a court of appeals overturning the agency’s prior approval of the pesticide. The EPA reapproved the same uses of the pesticide in 2020, leading to the current lawsuit.

Today’s ruling outlaws dicamba products sprayed over emerged soybeans and cotton crops that are genetically engineered to withstand the spray. Since 2017 the pesticide has caused drift damage to millions of acres of non-genetically engineered soybeans as well as to orchards, gardens, trees and other plants on a scale unprecedented in the history of U.S. agriculture.

Dozens of imperiled species, including pollinators like monarch butterflies and rusty patched bumblebees, are also threatened by the pesticide.

The EPA admitted in a 2021 report that its application restrictions to limit dicamba’s harm had failed and the pesticide was continuing to cause massive drift damage to crops.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that up to 15 million acres of soybeans have been damaged by dicamba drift. Beekeepers in multiple states have reported sharp drops in honey production due to dicamba drift suppressing the flowering plants their bees need for sustenance.

The plaintiffs are National Family Farm Coalition, Pesticide Action Network, Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity. They are represented by legal counsel from the Center for Food Safety and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

Chemical industry throws temper tantrum over ‘polluter pays’ tax to cover cleanup of its toxic sites

5. Februar 2024 - 23:38

Chemical industry lobbyists spent more than $131 million between 2022 and 2023 urging Congress to back its interests, including opposition to a newly reinstated and fair tax forcing companies to pay for cleanup at some of the most polluted sites in the U.S.

Despite spending eye-watering amounts of money to get lawmakers on their side, the same industry is now whining that its members won’t be able to afford their share of the “polluter pays” tax without consumers suffering. Reading from the tired anti-tax playbook, the sector says it will have no choice but to pass the cost on via higher product prices.

The chemical industry cryfest is detailed in a recent report by NJ Spotlight News

that highlights the astronomical lobbying dollars – a “near-record sum,” as the author notes.

For years, the industry used lobbying funds to help keep the long-expired polluter pays tax in the past. But the bipartisan infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden in November 2021 revived the tax

, finally putting companies back on the hook to pay for cleaning up their messes.

The tax works by charging chemical manufacturers and others whose toxic waste created the most contaminated industrial sites in the U.S., known as Superfund sites. The money goes to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund cleanup program. Reinstating the tax finally ends the burden on taxpayers to pay for many cleanup costs, which they have carried for the past 20 years.

“The chemical industry and their apologists in Congress have treated American taxpayers like the cleanup crew for decades, leaving them to cover the costs of remediating these contaminated sites,” said EWG President and Co-founder Ken Cook.

“It’s high time the culprits, not the public, foot the bill for mopping up the toxic waste plaguing countless communities across the country that pose substantial threats to human health and the environment," said Cook.

The chemical industry, of course, is apoplectic for once again being forced to pay a portion of the costs to clean up the toxic mess it’s made in communities across the country.

Jennifer Scott, spokesperson for the American Chemistry Council, the industry’s main lobby group, believes the revived polluter pays tax is misguided, suggesting taxpayers, and not polluters, should be stuck with cleanup costs.

“We would note that the program has operated for the past 25 years without the tax, based upon general revenues and fund reimbursements,” Scott told NJ Spotlight News.

She also warned that the price of the tax will be passed onto consumers in the form of higher costs for products – a tired line that opponents of fair taxes frequently bring up.

Congress passed legislation in 1980 that created the Superfund program and the polluter pays tax that helped clean up some of the most contaminated sites in the U.S., including Love Canal, in upstate New York, and Silver Bow Creek, near Butte, Mont.

The tax expired in 1995

and Congress, led by then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), refused to reauthorize it. At the time, the program’s coffers contained an estimated $4 billion collected from polluters, but the fund finally went dry in 2003, placing the entire burden to cover cleanups squarely on the backs of U.S. taxpayers.

An estimated 78 million Americans live within 3 miles of a Superfund site

, including 24 percent of all children under the age of 5, putting them at greater risk of being exposed to any number of highly toxic substances. These sites are also disproportionately located close to communities of color and the cause of a host of environmental and health problems.

There are more than 1,100 locations on EPA’s National Priorities List of Superfund sites

that need to be cleaned up. The recently renewed polluter fee will require those companies responsible for the pollution to help cover the costs and finally kickstart action at these sites.

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

Sierra Club Joins 100+ Advocacy Groups in Demanding Banks, Insurance Companies & Private Equity Firms End Backing of LNG

5. Februar 2024 - 19:23

More than 100 frontline and climate groups have written to the biggest banks, insurance and private equity firms backing liquefied methane gas (LNG), demanding they follow the dramatic change in U.S. policy on the sector and to end their financial support.

The organizations, including Sierra Club, Texas Campaign for the Environment, Rainforest Action Network and Friends of the Earth, cite financial risk and reputational damage through continued funding of LNG in letters to U.S., Japanese, Canadian and European banks, insurance companies and private equity. The companies include Citi, Bank of America, Royal Bank of Canada, Mizuho, Chubb, Liberty Mutual, and KKR.

The groups are demanding an end to funding and insurance underwriting “for new and expanding liquified methane gas projects and their parent companies, including all projects that have not been built or reached a final investment decision”.

The letters warn the future of LNG is in “serious doubt and the potential of new facilities quickly becoming stranded assets is real”. Companies should follow President Biden’s urging to listen to frontline communities and young people fighting the LNG build out, the letter adds. The groups have given the banks, insurance and private equity firms until February 15 to reply.

Without the backing of financial institutions, LNG expansion would be unviable. The top 60 banks have provided $122 billion in loans and bond underwriting to LNG projects and companies involved in the sector since 2016. Fossil fuel insurance earned the industry around $21.25 billion in 2022. Nearly 86% of the operating LNG export terminals in the country have some private equity investment.

Quotes from advocacy groups

Adele Shraiman, Senior Campaign Strategist for the Sierra Club’s Fossil-Free Finance campaign:

“U.S. regulators are finally reevaluating their approach to the dangerous and destructive methane gas industry. With the Department of Energy stopping the rubber stamping of new LNG export projects in order to consider their full impact on our climate, communities and economy, it's time for the financial sector to do the same. The message is clear: there is no place for LNG expansion in a net-zero future.”

Bill McKibben, co-founder of Third Act, a climate action group for people over 60:

“The world said in Dubai it was time to transition away from fossil fuels--this means that no one should view LNG as safe, either for the climate or as an economic asset. The world has begun to move, and that move will accelerate."

Roishetta Ozane, the founder of Vessel Project of Louisiana, a mutual aid organization and gulf fossil finance coordinator for Texas Campaign for the Environment:

“Families and communities that live beside methane flaring, leaks and even explosions welcome the change in US policy, but it’s just the start. It’s now up to the financiers and insurers of LNG to listen to us, hear stories of the impact on our kids’ health and end the financial backing of this dying industry.”

Hannah Saggau, Senior Climate Finance Campaign with Stand.earth, a climate and environmental organization based in the U.S. and Canada:

“Major fossil fuel financiers like Citi and RBC should read the signs that the fossil fuel era is over, and end their financing for methane gas expansion now. Liquefied methane gas is toxic for the health of frontline and climate-impacted communities, and a bad investment for banks. It’s time for fossil banks like Citi and RBC to stop holding us back from a climate-safe world.”

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

Northern Rockies Gray Wolves Denied Endangered Species Act Protection

2. Februar 2024 - 20:07

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today denied a listing petition from the Center for Biological Diversity and other wildlife conservation groups seeking federal protection for gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains.

“I’m incredibly disappointed that the Fish and Wildlife Service is turning a blind eye to the cruel, aggressive wolf-killing laws in Montana and Idaho,” said Kristine Akland, northern Rockies program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “By denying protections to these beautiful creatures the Service is letting northern Rockies states continue erasing decades of recovery efforts.”

The petition sought to relist gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains under the Endangered Species Act. This would have stopped states like Idaho, Montana and Wyoming from allowing the widespread killings of wolves, which is currently allowed under state laws.

Idaho law lets the state hire private contractors to kill wolves, lets hunters and trappers kill an unlimited number of wolves and permits year-round trapping on private land. It also allows hunters and trappers to kill wolves by chasing them down with hounds and all-terrain vehicles. In 2022 and 2023 alone, Idaho hunters and trappers killed more than 560 wolves.

In Montana, wolf hunters and trappers can now use night-vision scopes and spotlights on private land, strangulation snares on public and private land, and bait to lure wolves. A single hunter can purchase up to 10 wolf-hunting licenses, and trappers have a bag limit of 10 wolves. That means someone who has both hunting and trapping tags can kill 20 of the animals.

Montana’s new laws also extended the wolf-trapping season by four weeks and established a bounty program to reimburse hunters and trappers for costs associated with killing wolves. Montana hunters and trappers killed 258 wolves during the 2022 harvest season and have already killed nearly 200 wolves in the 2023 harvest season, which runs until March 15.

Across most of Wyoming gray wolves are designated as predatory animals and can be killed without a license in nearly any manner and at any time. Wyoming hunters have legally killed numerous wolves within 10 miles of the border with Colorado, where wolves are finally returning to the state through dispersals and historic releases.

“Unlike the Service, we won’t stand idly by and watch as northern Rockies wolves are slaughtered year after year,” said Akland. “Wolves are an invaluable part of their ecosystems and deserve strong federal protections.”

The Center is considering a legal challenge to the Fish and Wildlife Service’s denial of the listing petition.

Background

Wolves in Idaho, Montana, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and northern Utah lost federal protections through a congressional legislative rider in 2011. Following a court battle, wolves in Wyoming also lost federal protection in 2012. Since losing Endangered Species Act protection, wolves in the Northern Rockies have suffered widespread persecution.

In 2021 the Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society of the United States, Humane Society Legislative Fund and Sierra Club petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service to again protect gray wolves in the northern Rockies after Idaho and Montana enacted aggressive wolf-killing laws. The petition asked for immediate relisting of wolves under the Endangered Species Act, saying the new, destructive wolf-killing state laws made federal protection necessary.

In August 2022 wildlife conservation groups were forced to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to make a final decision on whether gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains warrant federal protection under the Act. The Service’s denial comes in response to a court-imposed deadline resulting from that lawsuit.

Kategorien: Externe Ticker

Groundwork Calls for Rate Cuts Following Another Stellar Jobs Report

2. Februar 2024 - 17:47

The first jobs report of 2024 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the economy added 353,000 jobs and unemployment remained at 3.7%. In response, Groundwork Collaborative’s Director of Policy and Research Bilal Baydoun released the following statement:

“Today’s stellar jobs report marks two straight years of unemployment below 4% and 18 months of cooling inflation, an achievement many economists did not think was possible. The data is very clear that we never had to sacrifice jobs for lower prices.

“High interest rates will only slow our clean energy transition and put families in more debt. Chair Powell must change his tune and cut rates in March.”
Kategorien: Externe Ticker

Racist Morons 'R Us

2. Februar 2024 - 8:15


There's so much malignant idiocy abroad in the land we don't usually bother to stop and smell the stench. But the travesty of insensate Tom Cotton channeling his inner Joe McCarthy during a Senate hearing ostensibly about children's online safety - in order to mindlessly badger Tik Tok's Singaporean CEO on his alleged ties to Chinese Communists because all Asians look kinda the same and are probably Communist spies, right? - was Just Too Much. Have you no sense of decency, sir? Clearly, not.

Cotton's deeply stupid, even more deeply racist hissy-fit came during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled "Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis," during which lawmakers grilled five tech big-wigs - including TikTok's Shou Zi Chew, X's Linda Yaccarino, and a craven Mark Zuckerberg - about protections for young people on their platforms. The hearing comes in the wake of last year's report by the Tech Oversight Project finding that Google, YouTube, Twitch, Apple et al are rife with multiple offenses, from violating children's privacy to sexual harassment to complicity in pornography and drug sales even as Congress has repeatedly failed to pass laws that would actually protect kids online. Because Republicans love grandstanding and commie-baiting - and hate Tik Tok for being based in China and popular with generally liberal young people - several zeroed in on Chew.

But none came close to the bullying Sen. Cotton of Arkansas, who sees Marxists everywhere and whose wee little brain seemed to struggle with the fact that Chew could be Asian but not Chinese. Ominously noting it was "a hell of a coincidence" Chew was appointed CEO of Tik Tok shortly after the Chinese Communist Party bought a stake in the site’s parent company ByteDance, Cotton went in for the idiotic kill. Noting that, "You often say you live in Singapore" - a small, independent, Asian nation that is not and never has been part of China - Cotton asked, "Of what nation are you a citizen?" Chew, matter-of-fact: "Singapore." "Are you a citizen of any other nation?" "No, Senator." After determining that, yes, Chew has a passport from Singapore, and no, he doesn't have any other passports, Cotton wildly, repeatedly pivoted to the ever-lurking-in-his-wee-little brain "Chinese Communist Party."

Had he ever been a member of the Chinese Communist Party? Chew, getting exasperated, "No, I'm Singaporean." Had he ever been "associated or affiliated with" the Chinese Communist Party? Chew, more exasperated, "No, Senator, again, I'm Singaporean." Etc etc. After a while, Cotton made several other crackpot pivots: To the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square - where Chew likely had something to do with it even though he was 6 or maybe nothing to do with it but wasn't it terrible? - and to the Chinese genocide of the Uyghur people and does Chew agree yes or no it's genocide yes or no. Chew (Harvard Business School 2010) is stunned by the stupid and ugly. We are in the Red Scare of the 1950s, and special counsel Joseph Welch, likewise stunned, is lashing out at Joe McCarthy for his senseless, power-mad malevolence: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” Still, not.

One final pivot: Amidst such toxic goings-on, we mark the 130th birthday of iconic director, Maine native, New Dealer, sometime reactionary, four-time Oscar winner and resolute crank John Ford, whose politics, like his now-classic movies, veered all over the place. He pushed back against the blacklist - the FBI listed him as a "fellow traveler” - but joined a right-wing film alliance, called himself "a liberal Democrat and rebel" but voted for Goldwater, made schmaltzy westerns but also the pro-IRA The Informer, the pro-union How Green Was My Valley, the "apology Western" Sergeant Rutledge, the Trail of Tears Cheyenne Autumn. He was a self-declared "Irish son-of-a-bitch" who praised his nephew, fighting with the Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War, for sharing the family's "peculiar passion for justice." And he made The Grapes of Wrath, celebrating empathy, community, "the one big soul that belongs to everybody." Except Tom Cotton.

Edinburgh_Clip Tom Joad Speech www.youtube.com

People of the land in John Ford's Grapes of Wrath try to understand what Tom Cotton's problem is.Still from Grapes of Wrath by John Ford

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Kategorien: Externe Ticker