Point of No Return? Republican's Environmental Agenda

EPA nominee Scott Pruitt addresses the 2014
Annual Meeting of ALEC (Yes, that ALEC)

Being somewhat superstitious by nature, it comes as something of a relief to have Friday the 13th off - even if it does mean I have to work on a chilly Saturday when we're expecting snow.

Tonight it's supposed to dip back down into the upper 20's here in central New Jersey, a far cry from yesterday when it got up into the lower 60's.

Last night I stepped out for a few beers at my local, as I stood outside in a short sleeve shirt admiring the exceptional brightness of January's full moon (also known as the Wolf Moon), I couldn't help but reflect on the fact that this is the last full moon under a rational president with actual experience as an elected leader.

It was, to say the least, a rather sobering thought that sent a chill down my spine.

Experiencing mild spring-like weather in the middle of January reminded me that Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Trump's new pick to head up the Environmental Protection Agency, is on record as denying the scientific consensus that human activity affects global warming.

Pruitt, a former college baseball player whose professional resume includes stints as a lawyer, general managing partner of a AAA baseball team, state politician and attorney general, is not a scientist - so maybe he should read Jeff Goodell's interview with James Hansen, the former head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, in the latest issue of Rolling Stone.

As Goodell notes in his RS article, Hansen, one of the world's leading experts on climate change and the first scientist to present hard data that human activity related to the burning of fossil fuels is heating up the Earth's atmosphere, warns that mankind is dangerously close to a 'point of no return' unless massive systematic changes to how we govern ourselves, consume energy and appropriate resources can be enacted.

As Hansen observes, "We're close to that point of no return, Whether we've passed it or not, I don't know...We've passed it in the sense that some climate impacts are going to occur, but we have not necessarily hit the disastrous level, which would knock down global economies and leave us with an ungovernable planet. But we are close."

Seriously, what part of "ungovernable planet" do Republicans who deny climate change not get?

Chart tracking temperature changes as recorded by four
international science agencies including NASA & NOAA

According to studies of climate change research conducted by NASA (folks who actually ARE rocket scientists), "Multiple studies conducted in peer-reviewed scientific journals show that 97% or more of actively publishing scientists agree: Climate warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities." 


But Scott Pruitt disagrees with stuff like scientific research based on facts.

Pruitt was one of a group of Republican attorneys general from other states with Republican governors and majority-Republican legislatures that formed secretive alliances with some of the nation's biggest energy companies to challenge federal regulations that protect water, soil and air from pollution caused by fossil fuel extraction and production.

As Coral Davenport and Eric Lipton reported in a New York Times article back in December, Pruitt is on record as saying, "Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connections to the actions of mankind. That debate should be encouraged - in classrooms, public forums and the halls of Congress."

Actually, it's not a debate, but that's the mindset that this lackey of the fossil fuel industry and member of the American Legislative Exchange Council will bring to the EPA - nominated by a man who thinks climate change is a "hoax."

Clinton email Obsession? GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz

But it's not just the federal regulatory agencies that will be impacted by radical conservative ideology.

You can be certain that the Republican-majority 115th Congress is already at work chipping away at laws that protect environmental safety, or making it more difficult to hold those who commit environmental crimes accountable.

Increases in subsidies to oil and natural gas companies are almost a given.

Remember the crusading Republican Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz who chairs the powerful House Oversight Committee?

Same guy who did everything he could to theatrically draw out a Congressional investigation of Hillary Clinton's use of a personal server to store emails during the presidential campaign season?

Despite multiple Congressional investigations of the same issue for over a year, in addition to a lengthy and highly public FBI investigation that concluded that nothing illegal had taken place, Chaffetz recently announced that he will continue his dogged pursuit to further investigate Clinton's emails.

As CNN reported, Chaffetz said, "Just because there was a political election doesn't mean it goes away." 

But what's interesting about Chaffetz's apparently unquenchable thirst for the truth is that it magically (and for conservatives) conveniently seems to coincide with the broader partisan political needs of the Republican Party.

Republicans stopped investigating this?

Oh and speaking of thirst...

Just one day after the Trump transition team cancelled a planned December 15th press conference where the new PEOTUS would lay out a plan to sever his ties from his hundreds of businesses amid public outrage and media frenzy over his potential unprecedented conflicts of interest, Chaffetz quietly and quickly decided to end a Congressional investigation into the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.


Which of course was caused by Republican Governor Rick Snyder and other state Republican politicians and officials who stripped Flint citizens of the right to govern themselves by appointing an "emergency manager" for the city who ordered Flint's fresh water supply to be switched to the polluted Flint River.

Why?

As part of an effort to slash state spending on government in order to fund tax cuts for the wealthy; fiscally irresponsible efforts which have proved disastrous in Kansas and were designed by none other than the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Remember, the Flint water crisis resulted in people dying, and exposed thousands of Flint residents to toxic levels of lead poisoning - and it's still going on.

Republicans on Capitol Hill famously fought efforts to provide $600 million in federal funding to fix Flint's toxic water supply system before eventually approving $170 million in relief.

Flint residents still get drinking water like this

So Jason Chaffetz ended a House Oversight investigation into an environmental crime of monumental proportions that affected 100,000 people and is still happening now as you read these words.

But he's continuing a bogus partisan witch hunt over how Hillary Clinton stored her private email correspondence when she was Secretary of State over three years ago?

That, and the nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the EPA pretty much sums up the Republican stance on the environment in a nutshell and as hard as it is to imagine, James Hansen could be right.

The inauguration of Trump a week from today along with the clown car of kleptocrat cabinet picks he's bringing with him, coupled with Republican majorities in the House and Senate, plus a conservative-leaning Supreme Court doesn't bode well for our environment.

Should Trump follow through on his campaign pledge to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement and causes other large-scale fossil fuel burners like China and India to pull out, it could very well mark the beginning of the 'Point of no return' for our environment and the climate.

All in the name of narrow-minded political ideology and short-term financial profits for a small fraction of the Earth's population.

"Making America Great Again?" Not so much.

Dark Clouds and Stranger Things

The unsettling dark cloud that has settled over the Republican party since their ultra-depressing convention in Cleveland two weeks ago only got worse this past week.

On Thursday Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced charges against six more current and former employees of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health and Human Services for their role in the poisoning of the  water supply in Flint, Michigan with lead.

An environmental crime that directly resulted from Republican efforts to enact drastic budget cuts by switching the fresh water supply to the toxic Flint River.

On Friday a federal court of appeals struck down restrictive voter ID laws passed by North Carolina's extremist-dominated state legislature, toppling GOP efforts to intentionally block thousands of people of color from voting in the critical southern swing state.

But on this steamy last day of July, I'd rather close out the month by talking about the much more ominous cloud that hangs over (or perhaps under...) the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana in the amazing must-see new Netflix series 'Stranger Things'.

Now if you're one of those people who've been curious to see highly-acclaimed original Netflix shows like 'House of Cards' or 'Orange Is the New Black' but have held off on signing up for a monthly Netflix membership, 'Stranger Things' is really your cue to quit stalling and sign up.

There is literally nothing like this on network television and if you enjoy quality sci-fi and a genuinely creepy storyline (and monster) as much as I do, you've got to check this show out.

The Duffer brothers (Matt and Ross) have successfully created and written a show that's a fascinating and entertaining take on the classic American sci-fi genre that's at once fresh and cutting edge that also elicits a sense of nostalgia for someone who grew up in the late 70's and 80's as I did.

Lucas, Dustin, Mike & Eleven in 'Stranger Things'

Set in a small fictional indiana town in 1983, the story and aesthetics combine an interesting mix of elements from familiar TV and film cultural landscapes like 'The Goonies', 'The X-Files', and 'Stand By Me' - with more than a dash of 'Twin Peaks' thrown in for good measure.

The premise is simple and reels you in quickly.

A local boy named Will Beyers (played by Noah Schnapp) mysteriously vanishes after an evening of playing Dungeons and Dragons with his three best friends.

His disappearance coincides with the escape of a strange entity from a local facility run by by the Department of Energy - which in true 'X-Files' style is staffed by poker-faced government types.

Winona Ryder's performance as Will's distraught mother Joyce Byers (pictured below) is her best in years, and worthy of Emmy and SAG award nominations; it anchors an excellent cast that includes Matthew Modine as a mysterious government scientist and David Harbour as police chief Jim Hopper.

Winona Ryder in 'Stranger Things'

When Will's disappearance sends the town into a frenzy, a strange girl named Eleven (played with impressive composure by Millie Bobby Brown) with unusual mental abilities appears, and joins Will's friends Mike (played by Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (played by Caleb McLaughlin) and Dustin (played by Glen Matarazzo) to try and find Will.

And with that it's eight episodes of fast-paced, addictive creepy fun that culminate in a genuinely emotional climax that sets the tone for season two - which I already can't wait for.

For me personally, it was nice to see a distinctively African-American character, Lucas, as one of the central characters.

One that I saw as reflective of my younger self: a black kid living in suburbia who plays Dungeons and Dragons, collects comic books and spends his time outdoors on his dirt bike with his best friends.

As I've mentioned before, I unplugged from cable years ago as I loath commercials and the glut of crappy TV.

But shows like 'Stranger Things' justify my decision and make the $9.99 a month fee for unlimited Netflix streaming more than worth it.

That said I'm honestly not sure what's scarier, the weird things that happen in the fictional town of Hawkins, or today's Republican party with Trump as their nominee.

A Slap In the Face - Environmental Racism in Flint

What does environmental racism taste like?

Michigan Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow didn't mince words over the outrageous efforts of Republican senators in Washington to actively obstruct the approval of $600 million in emergency federal funding for the city of Flint, Michigan to address the massive crisis resulting from the city's tainted water system by attaching unrelated partisan spending measures to the passage of the pending energy bill currently being debated on Capitol Hill.


"I personally feel it's an insult, it's being done to embarrass us."

Considering that thousands of children in Flint have potentially been exposed to toxic levels of lead poisoning, it's more than an insult, it's a crime.

As Jordain Carney reported in an article for TheHill.com last week, Jim Inhofe, the climate change- denying Republican Senator from Oklahoma, had the gall to introduce an amendment to the energy bill that would authorize the appropriation of emergency federal relief money for the people of Flint only if that money is taken out of funds that were previously allocated to the Department of Energy's budget for alternative vehicle research.

What do funds to research the development of vehicles that run off of alternative energy sources have to do with safe drinking water for thousands of people in Flint, Michigan? Absolutely nothing.

But some of Inhofe's top campaign contributions in 2013-2014 came from companies, PAC's or individuals with ties to the petroleum industry.

According to campaign finance data tracked by OpenSecrets.org, Inhofe's top contributors include Exxon-Mobil, BP, Koch Industries, Occidental Petroleum, Devon Energy, the American Chemistry Council, WPX Energy and Murray Energy.

Inhofe brings cutting-edge science to the Senate floor

Inhofe, the chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, famously brought a snowball onto the floor of the U.S. Senate chamber (really) as scientific evidence that human-influenced climate change does not exist.

Leave it to a guy like that to use the allocation of federal funds for providing fresh water for citizens in Flint and repairing damaged infrastructure as an opportunity to shamelessly shill for the oil industry. Pathetic.

As of last Monday the leaders of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Democrat Maria Cantwell of Washington, said both sides were still at odds on approving funds for Flint to pass the stalled energy bill.

To me, all this politicking and righteous indignation about approving funds for Flint on the part of Republicans is a glaring example of how the issue of environmental racism happens in this country.

Remember, this whole debacle in Flint wouldn't have happened if Republican Governor Rick Snyder hadn't allowed an unelected "emergency manager" to switch the source of the city's water from Detroit's water system to the polluted Flint River as a "cost-saving measure" in the first place.

Actions that are part of the nationwide effort of extremist conservatives to use Republican-dominated state legislatures to shrink the size of government to finance tax relief for the wealthy and gut environmental regulations that protect our water, land and atmosphere to increase the profit margins for the nations biggest polluters.

The language and tactics these conservative politicians use is little more than a ruse.

Republican Texas Senator John Cornyn

According to Carney's Hill.com article, Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn also joined his conservative climate-change-denying cohort Jim Ihofe in politicizing the providing of fresh drinking for the mostly poorer African-American and Hispanic residents of Flint, Michigan.

As Cornyn told members of the press:

"Adding additional debt to our tab, especially for something that's a local and state responsibility...strikes me as a bad idea."

Seriously, when did authorizing emergency funds for fresh water become a "bad idea" in this country?

It shouldn't come as a shocker that Ole' Johnny has raised $46,817,109 from campaign contributions between 2001 - 2016, want to take a guess at who his top five contributors are?

According to OpenSecrets.org they include Exxon-Mobil, JP Morgan Chase and Lock Lorde, LLP - an international law firm based in Dallas with more than 1,000 attorneys that specializes in among other areas, environmental law, antitrust law, banking regulation, securities, white-collar criminal defense and energy laws.

It should also be noted that back in November, John Cornyn was one of four sitting U.S. Senators identified by the global hacktivist collective Anonymous whose names were affiliated with KKK organizations around the nation in a list that was released online.

He denied the allegations of course but when you read about his dismissing the request for emergency funds to address the crisis in Flint as "additional debt to our tab" and a "bad idea", it makes you wonder.

A Flint mom comforts a child being blood tested for lead

In the meantime thousands of middle and low income families and individuals in Flint are stuck in a once-thriving manufacturing hub that is now shackled by high unemployment, bleak job opportunities, plummeting home values and a municipal water system that's so toxic that millions of bottles of drinking water are being shipped in from as far as California until city, state and federal officials can hammer out a strategy to fix it.

So far Republicans have managed to sidestep responsibility for this man-made health crisis.

After all, it's the Republican's unhealthy obsession with shrinking government (which at this point borders on a kind of delusional paranoia), and their alliance with corporate contributers that put fiscal savings ahead of the health and well being of thousands of innocent people and the care and maintenance of critical infrastructure.

As numerous media sources reported earlier this week, serious investigations are gearing up which could put pressure on Washington Republicans to quit stalling and authorize emergency funds for Flint.

On Tuesday Michigan attorney general Bill Schuette, special counsel for the AG's office investigating the crisis Todd Flood, chief investigator Andrew Arena and deputy chief investigator Ellis Stafford held a press conference to announce that involuntary manslaughter charges could be filed against government officials found guilty of gross negligence or breach of duty.

After all, the human cost in Flint is already shocking. At least nine deaths have been attributed to Legionnaire's disease contracted as a result of lead poisoning to the municipal drinking water supply.


According to an informative but heart-wrenching article by Abby Goodnough in The New York Times two weeks ago, a staggering 8,000 children under the age of six years-old could be affected by lead poisoning that could stunt their mental development and have grave physical consequences on their future health.

In the meantime the investigation continues, the bottled water continues to be shipped in and anxious residents can only wait while heartless conservative Republicans like Jim Inhofe and John Cornyn hold their allegiance to the petroleum and energy industry over the health of the residents of Flint, Michigan.

As Democratic Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow told TheHill.com, "It's a slap in the face."