Is Scott Pruitt's Toxic EPA Tenure About To End?

No less an expert in scandals than former New Jersey Gov. Chris "Krispycreme" Christie opined on the fate of EPA Administrator mortician Scott "Swamp Thang" Pruitt after only his most recent ethical/ legal fail:

CHRISTIE: Listen, I don't know how you survive this one. And if he has to go, it's because he never should have been there in the first place.

"[T]his one" refers to Swamp Thang's sweetheart Capitol Hill townhouse rental from the wife of a lobbyist for the only liquefied natural gas plant in the U.S.  Liquefied natural gas is odorless, so what's that smell, you ask:

[T]he first sign of trouble came when Pruitt took a first-class trip to Morocco late last year – it cost $40,000 and you paid for it – in order to have the EPA chief pitch “the potential benefit of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports on Morocco’s economy.” 

Why the head of the EPA would make economic energy recommendations to foreign countries was unclear. The answer, however, soon after seemed to come into focus.

The only LNG export plant in the country hired a lobbyist, and Scott Pruitt lived in a Capitol Hill condo – for $50 a night, far below market value – in the Capitol Hill home owned by the lobbyist’s wife. (our emphasis)

Someone posing as an "ethics" official at EPA has said this was all above board because, yes, if you pro rated the $50 across a 30- day month, it would have been $1,500 -- "fair market rate!" * That may seem like a princely sum to most, but on Capitol Hill, that wouldn't be fair market rate for a doghouse (fleas negotiable).  Here's a pic of the place that could be had for $50 a day, if you're an EPA Administrator willing to shill for your landlady's husband's business:


(via ABC News)

Swamp Thang is nothing if not a serial abuser. Media Matters has a helpful timeline of Pruitt's scandals prior to to rentgate.  Here are a few lowlights:

February 24, 2017, KOKH: Pruitt lied to senators about his use of a private email account. An investigation by Oklahoma City Fox affiliate KOKH revealed that Pruitt lied during his Senate confirmation hearing when he said he did not use a private email account to conduct official business while he was attorney general of Oklahoma, a finding later confirmed by the office of the attorney general. The Oklahoma Bar Association subsequently opened an investigation into the matter, which could lead to Pruitt being disbarred in the state of Oklahoma. [snip] 

August 28, 2017, E&E News: Pruitt gave a Superfund job to a failed banker whose bank had given loans to Pruitt. In May, Pruitt appointed Albert “Kell” Kelly to head a task force on the EPA’s Superfund program, even though Kelly had been fined $125,000 by federal banking regulators and banned for life from banking activity because of misdeeds committed when he was CEO of Oklahoma-based SpiritBank. Kelly had no previous experience working on environmental issues and, as ThinkProgress reported in February 2018, he had a financial stake in Phillips 66, an oil company that the EPA had deemed responsible for contaminating areas in Louisiana and Oregon. In previous years, Kelly’s bank had given a loan to Pruitt to purchase a share in a minor league baseball team and provided acquisition financing when the team was sold. The bank had also provided three mortgage loans to Pruitt and his wife, as The Intercept reported in December. [snip] 

September 26, 2017, Wash. Post: Pruitt spent almost $25,000 on a private soundproof booth. The EPA spent nearly $25,000 to construct a secure, soundproof communications booth in Pruitt’s office, even though there was another such booth on a different floor at EPA headquarters. No previous EPA administrators had such a setup, the Post reported. UPDATE: On March 14, the Post reported that the EPA spent more than $18,000 on the prep work required to install Pruitt’s booth, which put the booth’s total cost “closer to $43,000.” [snip] 

February 11, 2018, Wash. Post: Pruitt spent $90,000 on first-class flights and other travel in a single week. During a stretch in early June, Pruitt racked up at least $90,000 in taxpayer-funded travel costs, including first-class, business-class, and military flights. The figure did not include the cost of Pruitt’s round-the-clock security detail accompanying him on those trips. One first-class flight was for an overnight trip to New York, where Pruitt made two media appearances to praise Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement. According to the Post, “[EPA] records show that wherever Pruitt’s schedule takes him, he often flies first or business class, citing unspecified security concerns.” The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Trey Gowdy (R-SC), demanded documentation and explanation for Pruitt’s first- and business-class work travel, but Pruitt missed the chairman’s March 6 deadline to turn over documents. 

February 13, 2018, CBS News: Pruitt flew luxury business class on a foreign airline. Pruitt broke with government rules requiring employees to fly on U.S. carriers. He got a waiver to return home from Milan, Italy, in June on Emirates Airline in what CBS described as “one of the world’s most luxurious business class cabins.”

And that's only a small sample of what Swamp Thang has been up to, mis- using taxpayer dollars, gutting environmental laws and regulations, all the while selling himself (and us) to the highest bidder.  He'd have been "locked up" long ago in a "normal" administration. But, in President Spanky's, he's par for the course.

(* As friend P.E.C. clarifies in the comments, Swamp Thang only paid the $50 on nights he spent in the townhouse - such a deal!)

(Photo:  EPA's Howdy Doody Swamp Thang)

Making Your Water Polluted Again (UPDATED)

It's hard to imagine the Orwellian atmosphere inside Federal agencies, where career staff are being asked to adopt alternative facts and lie for their new overlords in the administration of demagogue and nihilist Donald "Rump" Trump. Rump has made a point of undercutting or terminating every initiative by President Obama that he can lay his little fingers on, largely out of envy and vindictiveness. The first sign was to appoint people to executive positions that were either totally unqualified (we're seeing through your "smart" glasses Rick "Oops" Perry) or were opponents of the agencies they were appointed to head. A prominent example of the latter is fossil industry shill EPA Administrator Scott "Screw It" Pruitt, who was an EPA nemesis when he was Oklahoma's Attorney General, suing the EPA some 14 times.

Employees of the EPA -- long time careerists and scientists dedicated to its mission -- have been appalled at the ham-fisted, pro-industry approach of Pruitt to eliminating regulations carefully researched and written to protect America's air and water. ProPublica takes a look inside the EPA's Office of Water, and it portrays employees struggling to fight the polluting headwinds of Pruitt:

"Since Trump was elected, dozens of environmental rules have been either opened for reconsideration or overturned altogether. These regulations would have had far-ranging effects, from banning hazardous pesticides and offshore oil drilling to stopping coal-mining debris from being dumped into local streams to forbidding hunters from shooting Alaskan wolves on wildlife refuges. They would have required infrastructure projects to be built to higher flood standards and greenhouse gas emissions to be limited and tracked."

Pruitt's actions on the rule for effluents promise real damage to water quality and people's health, while it rewards a handful of big coal polluters:

"Longtime staffers and environmental experts say it is an instance in which science and prevailing industry practices were swept aside to benefit a handful of coal-fired power plants that were having trouble meeting the new standards. [snip] Many of the rules were years or even decades in the making, and the sheer speed with which they’ve been cast aside has left the EPA staffers who helped craft them shaken."

Pruitt's secretive, non-participatory style applies to the public, not to fossil and extraction industry lobbyists, however:

"Since taking the administrator post, it’s been reported that he’s given lobbyists broad access and appointed people to key jobs who have close ties to the industries they are overseeing."

Perhaps that "access" to lobbyists is why Pruitt had a soundproof room built in his office. You know, to conduct the public's business.

UPDATE: Not all is lost, though. Some are resisting.

Flying High On The Taxpayer's Dime (UPDATED)

Various watchdogs are now looking into the champagne travel costs of three of neo- fascist incompetent Donald "Rump" Trump's well- heeled cabinet members:  EPA's Scott "Screw It" Pruitt, HHS's Tom "For Sale At Any" Price, and Treasury's Steve "Moochin'" Mnuchin.

As EPA's Pruitt methodically cuts EPA staff and budget in service to the fossil fuel industry, he's not so careful about taxpayer money when it comes to his well- cushioned ass (our emphasis throughout):

Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency chief, has been criticized for his frequent travels back to Oklahoma, where the former state attorney general is discussed as a possible candidate for governor. Although he has mostly flown commercial, the high-priced fares suggest he was probably not traveling coach. 

In the latest development, the EPA confirmed Wednesday that Pruitt flew in a private jet round trip from Denver to Durango, Colo. He also reportedly flew a military plane from Cincinnati to New York. 

Separately, the EPA — which has also been targeted for deep budget cuts — is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on Pruitt’s round-the-clock security detail.

Mnuchin, the infamous foreclosure king of California, is also facing questions about using private jets for public business:

Mnuchin, a former Wall Street executive and Hollywood producer worth as much as $350 million, married Scottish actress Louise Linton in June at Trump International Hotel near the White House. He requested an Air Force jet for his honeymoon to Scotland, France and Italy. His office said he needed access to secure communications during the trip but withdrew the request after finding another option. 

Mnuchin did take a military jet last month from New York to Washington, saying once again he needed a secure phone line. The Aug. 15 flight cost at least $25,000, ABC News reported. 

HHS's Price, however, is determined to make his fellow hypocrites look like pikers when it comes to bilking taxpayers:

Price’s trips on chartered jets could prove more problematic. He has called for deep spending and staffing cuts at the Department of Health and Human Services, including a $6-billion reduction at the National Institutes of Health, opening him to charges of both poor judgment and hypocrisy. 

Politico has documented 26 flights by Price on private charter planes at taxpayer expense since early May, estimating the cost at more than $400,000. It found frequent, low-cost airline flights on some of the routes he took, as well as train fares as low as $72 for a trip between Washington and Philadelphia — as opposed to about $25,000 for his charter. 

Two of Price’s private jet trips paid for by the government were to places where he owns property — St. Simons Island, Ga., and Nashvile, Politico reported Tuesday. A department spokesman said Price conducted official business and visited family members and colleagues.

The ethically challenged Price, you may recall, was involved in shady insider stock trades when he was a Congressman from Georgia writing legislation to benefit those companies.  He was confirmed anyway by his fellow Republican crooks and crackpots.

BONUS: The great former Congressman John Dingell weighs in:

Trump and his millionaire cronies are flying around the country on private planes YOU pay for, destroying programs and policies YOU deserve.

— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) September 27, 2017

UPDATE: Uh-oh. Interior Secretary Ryan "Stinky" Zinke has a private jet problem too.

Roundup (And) The Usual Suspects

Once again, the regime of malignant moron Donald "Rump" Trump, stands up for the health and safety of the American people:

President Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency—already accused of being "pesticide cheerleader"—threw its weight behind chemical company Bayer AG on Friday when the agency asked a federal appeals court to reverse a lower court's ruling in favor of a man who said the company's Roundup weedkiller was responsible for his cancer.

The case centers on Edwin Hardeman of California, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2015 after using the glyphosate-based pesticide, made by Monsanto, for years on his property. Bayer acquired Monsanto last year.

A federal jury in July ordered the company to pay Hardeman roughly $25 million in damages, a lower amount than the $80 million a federal judge had ordered months earlier.

The EPA maintains—to the outrage of environmental and public health groups—that glyphosate is not a carcinogen. The federal decision notwithstanding, California in 2017 agreed with the World Health Organization's 2015 classification of glyphosate as a "probable carcinogen." Trump's EPA has pushed back on the state's finding and said that product labels informing users of that cancer risk would [be] "misbranding" and announced in August of this year that the agency would not approve of labels carrying that warning.

We've all seen that Trump's regime is a rat's nest of industry insiders, lobbyists and extremists like Trump consigliere William "Low" Barr and the EPA's Administrator Andrew Wheeler, himself a former coal industry lobbyist.  In case you need to get a quick picture of Wheeler, here's what the Natural Resources Defense Council had to say about him:

Despite his claims to uphold the EPA’s mission, Wheeler has acted in line with his predecessor’s anti-environment agenda. Since his taking over, the agency has moved to weaken federal fuel-efficiency standards, air pollution safeguards, and the Clean Water Rule, which impacts the drinking water supply for millions of Americans. “He’s worked to worsen the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the heat we feel,” Cohen says, “flouting the mission of the EPA at every opportunity.”

Even with Wheeler and Barr on their side, Bayer still faces legal challenges;  as the Common Dreams article points out, there are currently some 43,000 claims related to Bayer's use of glyphosate in federal courts.  However, now that the formerly liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing the appeal, is close to having a Republican majority for the first time in memory (thanks, Moscow Mitch McConnell!), the final disposition of this particular case is hard to predict.

Regardless, it turns out "elections have consequences" can have pretty nasty consequences for a lot of innocent people, and that when the Trump regime talks about "environmental protection," they're only talking about protecting the usual suspects -- the environment's polluters, despoilers, and poisoners.

BONUS:  The Washington Post looks at the full scale of Trump's anti- environment attacks, which the malicious moron thinks is a winning political pitch.

(Image:  via NRDC)

Trump's Continued War On The Environment

Last week, Trump's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced plans to roll back regulations on methane gas emissions resulting from its the production and transportation. Methane is a more powerful greenhouse gas problem than carbon dioxide, and technologies like hydraulic fracturing aimed a producing more natural gas have also created opportunities for methane to leak into the atmosphere. In 2016, the Obama Administration issued regulations for the oil and natural gas industries to limit methane leakage in production and transportation, The regulations were actually embraced by most natural gas producers, because the regulations were aimed at the worst polluters and made economic sense to capture leaked methane gas which would be sold. Of course, the fact that the rules were instituted under President Obama made it a target for Trump's vindictive and envious action.

As to the EPA's proposed roll back, the gas industry is divided, with the biggest polluters happy with the proposed rules. It's also a small gift to Trump's coal country bitter enders, who could point to competing natural gas and claim inaccurately that methane leaks level the playing field with coal burning. The proposed regulations will be open for public comment for 60 days and the EPA will hold public hearings. As an editorial in today's Washington Post observed:

"The EPA’s proposal would substantially weaken the Obama-era rules and keep natural gas’s reputation tarnished — all to save the industry a mere $17 million to $19 million a year. It is counterproductive in every conceivable sense."

(photo: A natural gas well in Pennsylvania. Via Ars Technica)

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links to read the full articles.

Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog has a contrary view to the one expressed by Adam Davidson that we're at the end stage of the Trump presidency:

Conservatives are different. They practice the politics of "what's in it for me?" and rarely game out the long-term consequences. They couldn't imagine how the Iraq War or lack of financial oversight could cause problems because the problems hadn't happened yet -- certainly not to themselves. (Similarly, they can't understand why it's a big deal that Russia interfered in our last presidential election -- their guy won, so what's the problem?) 

Conservative voters are never going to care about Trump's corruption because it has no negative impact on them. They haven't lost any money as a result of his dealings in Brazil or Azerbaijan, so why does any of it matter?  

It may not literally be true that Trump could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any votes, but he could certainly fleece someone there, or be fleeced, and his voters wouldn't care, because it's irrelevant to them.

The Government Accountability Office has issued its report on the $43,000 secret soundproof booth that paranoid EPA Assministrator Scott "Swamp Thang" Pruitt had installed in his office.  Here's the executive summary (PDF of the full report at the link):

Section 710 of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2017 (section 710) prohibits an agency from obligating an amount in excess of $5,000 to furnish, redecorate, purchase furniture for, or make improvements for the office of a presidential appointee during the period of appointment without prior notification to the appropriations committees of Congress. The statutory language of section 710 requires notification not only for the purchase of furniture and for aesthetic changes, but also for supplying the office with other equipment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated section 710 when it failed to notify the appropriations committees prior to obligating in excess of $5,000 for the installation of a soundproof privacy booth for the office of the Administrator during the period of his appointment. Because EPA used its appropriations in a manner specifically prohibited by law, EPA violated the Antideficiency Act and should report a violation as required by 31 U.S.C. § 1351. 

Nojo at Stinque has a few words for the knuckle- draggers who've been calamitously voting for Republicans for the last 40- plus years and who now would like us to respect their actions and views:

Yeah, sorry. It’s on you. It’s all on you. 

We’re told we’re not supposed to say that. We’re told you might throw a tantrum if we dare suggest, with extensive documentation, that you have been fucking idiots for the entirety of our adult life. We’re told we must respect you and all the poor decisions you’ve made, decisions that have brought our country to the brink of predictable ruin. We’re told you’ll get all upset if we pay any mind to folks who have, and continue to be, screwed by the people you put in office. 

It can be deadly to be a journalist in Trump mentor and master Vladimir Putin's Russia:

A Russian investigative journalist who wrote about the deaths of mercenaries in Syria has died in hospital after falling from his fifth-floor flat. 

Maxim Borodin was found badly injured by neighbours in Yekaterinburg and taken to hospital, where he later died. 

Local officials said no suicide note was found but the incident was unlikely to be of a criminal nature. 

However, a friend revealed Borodin had said his flat had been surrounded by security men a day earlier. [snip]

Journalists in Russia have often been harassed or attacked in recent years for their work. On the same day that Maxim Borodin was found fatally injured, the editor of an official regional newspaper was assaulted in Yekaterinburg, reports say. 

We close as always with a recommendation to check out Infidel 753's blog round- up, your one- stop shop for the curious, the humorous, the serious and much more.

Radical SCOTUS: EPA Can't Curb Greenhouse Gases

The radical Republican Supreme Court strikes again:

The US Supreme Court restricted the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to curb greenhouse gases from power plants, siding with coal-mining companies and Republican-led states in a blow to President Joe Biden’s climate-change agenda.

The 6-3 ruling interpreting the US Clean Air Act is likely to keep the administration from imposing the type of wide-ranging emissions-cutting plan the EPA tried to put in place when Barack Obama was president. It limits the agency’s available tools amid increasing evidence that climate change is causing rising sea levels and more extreme weather patterns.

The majority said that, while the EPA can regulate power plant emissions, the agency can’t try to shift power generation away from fossil-fuel plants to cleaner sources, as Obama’s Clean Power Plan sought to do. Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts said Congress needs to speak more explicitly to give an agency that much power.  [snip]

The court’s three Democratic-appointed justices -- Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan -- dissented.

The ruling casts fresh doubt on Biden’s pledge to reduce US emissions in half by the end of decade and his goal of a carbon-free electric grid by 2035. Hitting those targets will be impossible without regulations to stifle greenhouse gases from oil wells, automobiles and power plants, as well as tax incentives designed to spur clean energy, according to several analyses. 

This ruling is a broad attack on the EPA's ability to issue regulations that have a meaningful impact on climate change, and a victory for the coal companies and polluters.  It's effect will be to make our air more unhealthy and the day of reckoning with climate change closer.  

So, to summarize two recent Republican SCOTUS decisions, clean air and saving the planet, "Bad."  Being forced to bear a rapist's baby, "Good."

(Image:  The reactionary six)

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

Today [December 2], the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a final rule that will sharply reduce methane and other harmful air pollutants from the oil and natural gas industry, including from hundreds of thousands of existing sources nationwide, promote the use of cutting-edge methane detection technologies, and deliver significant economic and public health benefits. The final action was announced by Administrator Michael S. Regan and President Biden’s National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi at COP28 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), advancing President Biden’s historic climate agenda and day one commitment to restore the United States’ global leadership on climate change. 

Oil and natural gas operations are the nation’s largest industrial source of methane, a climate “super pollutant” that is many times more potent than carbon dioxide and is responsible for approximately one third of the warming from greenhouse gases occurring today. Sharp cuts in methane emissions are among the most critical actions the United States can take in the short term to slow the rate of climate change.

EPA’s final rule leverages the latest cost-effective, innovative technologies and proven solutions to prevent an estimated 58 million tons of methane emissions from 2024 to 2038, the equivalent of 1.5 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide – nearly as much as all the carbon dioxide emitted by the power sector in 2021. In 2030 alone, the expected reductions are equivalent to 130 million metric tons of carbon dioxide – more than the annual emissions from 28 million gasoline cars. The rule would achieve a nearly 80 percent reduction below the future methane emissions expected without the rule. These reductions are greater than what was projected for the 2022 and 2021 proposals, thanks to changes that strengthen provisions to limit wasteful, polluting flaring of natural gas and analytical updates that better capture the impacts of this rulemaking.  [snip]

“bp welcomes the finalization of a federal methane rule for new, modified and - for the first time - existing sources,” said Orlando Alvarez, Chairman and President, bp America. “A well-designed rule will help drive material methane emission reductions this decade and beyond. We appreciate the collaborative way EPA, NGOs and industry worked together on this rulemaking. In the spirit of COP28, input from a broad range of stakeholders makes for more durable and effective policies. We congratulate the Administration on this important milestone and look forward to working together on the next phases of implementation.”

Now, if they could just cap the toxic emissions coming from the Malignant Loser's blow hole.

The bad:

Muslim community leaders from several swing states pledged to withdraw support for U.S. President Joe Biden on Saturday at a conference in suburban Detroit, citing his refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Democrats in Michigan have warned the White House that Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war could cost him enough support within the Arab American community to sway the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

Leaders from Michigan, Minnesota, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania gathered behind a lectern that read “Abandon Biden, ceasefire now” in Dearborn, Michigan, the city with the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the United States.  [snip]

“We are not powerless as American Muslims. We are powerful. We don’t only have the money, but we have the actual votes. And we will use that vote to save this nation from itself,” Hussein said at the conference.

The Muslim community leaders’ condemnation of Biden does not indicate support for former President Donald Trump, the clear front-runner in the Republican primary, Hussein clarified.

“We don’t have two options. We have many options. And we’re going to exercise that,” he said.

(Eyeroll) yes, a vote for a Jill Stein or a "No Labels" grifter will certainly be excellent, viable options -- if you want to see a true White nationalist Islamophobe back in the White House.  What a calm, rational, well- thought- out plan, destined to make life worse for everyone!

The ugly:

The pain of a promising season cut short last month by a gruesome injury was compounded for quarterback Jordan Travis, who said Sunday that he wished “my leg broke earlier in the season so y’all could see this team is much more than the quarterback,” and even felt compelled to apologize after learning his undefeated, ACC champion Florida State team had been passed over for one of the four College Football Playoff berths.  [snip]

“I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee’s decision today to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided they knew better than the results of the games,” Norvell said in a statement. “What is the point of playing games? Do you tell players it is okay to quit if someone goes down? Do you not play a senior on Senior Day for fear of injury? Where is the motivation to schedule challenging nonconference games? We are not only an undefeated P5 conference champion, but we also played two P5 nonconference games away from home and won both of them. I don’t understand how we are supposed to think this is an acceptable way to evaluate a team.

“I’m hurting for our players who have displayed a tremendous amount of resilience and response this season. What happened today goes against everything that is true and right in college football. A team that overcame tremendous adversity and found a way to win doing whatever it took on the field was cheated today. It’s a sad day for college football. [snip]

Florida State Athletic director Michael Alford echoed that, saying the decision gave in “to a narrative” that is “destructive, far reaching, and permanent not just for Florida State, but college football as a whole.”

“The argument of whether a team is the ‘most deserving or best’ is a false equivalence,” he continued. “It renders the season up to yesterday irrelevant and significantly damages the legitimacy of the College Football Playoff,” Alford said in a statement. “The 2023 Florida State Seminoles are the epitome of a total TEAM. To eliminate them from a chance to compete for a national championship is an unwarranted injustice that shows complete disregard and disrespect for their performance and accomplishments. It is unforgivable.” 

Sorry SEC.  Michigan. Washington. Florida State. Texas.  That was how it should have been.  And this --

Florida State scheduled an SEC powerhouse. They won a power five conference. They won all their games, overcoming adversity along the way. This isn’t figure skating, judges should never have been a part of it. #FSU #CFP

— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) December 3, 2023

 

 

Yesterday's Major Environmental Victory

In a rare instance where the corporate-serving Roberts Court ruled in favor of the public, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 2 (with Alito recusing himself, and Scalia and Thomas naturally siding with the polluters) to uphold the EPA's cross-state air pollution rules.  The rules are meant to enforce tighter air quality standards on so-called "upwind States" whose industrial and power plant air pollution travels across state lines.  The ruling gives EPA the authority to better enforce the Clean Air Act against major air polluters who have fought the regulations for years.  As the American Lung Association said, referring to the ruling: 

“People who live downwind of these major polluters need this decision, because the ozone and particle pollution in their communities threatens their lives."

 The EPA estimates that the cross-state air pollution regulations will save from 13,000 to 34,000 lives, and tens of thousands of cases of aggravated asthma and bronchitis.  It was a good day for our lungs and our nation.

Scott Pruitt "The Kato Kaelin Of Capitol Hill"

Cheap, lying, corrupt, paranoid, self- aggrandizing, right- wing ideologue -- and a deadbeat to boot:

Prior to [EPA Administrator Scott] Pruitt’s arrival in Washington, Steve Hart — an energy lobbyist who, like Pruitt, is a native Oklahoman — had been a friend and supporter of the EPA administrator. He and his wife, a health care lobbyist, viewed the six-week living arrangement as a favor for a friend. 

They drew up a lease running from February through April 1, 2017, said the people familiar with it, in order to make sure neither they nor Pruitt ran afoul of ethics rules, which prohibit political appointees from accepting gifts from lobbyists. Under the terms of that lease, Pruitt paid a cut rate of $50 per night to stay in the condominium. 

That favor turned into a headache for the couple when Pruitt repeatedly asked to extend his lease. “There were gentle questions regarding, OK, when are you going to leave and what have you ... and they even started sending him ads of places close by that he could rent,” said the first person. 

“Scott Pruitt is the Kato Kaelin* of Capitol Hill. He is the long-term house guest who takes advantage of his hosts and refuses to take a hint about when it’s time to leave,” the second person said. 

A spokesman for Pruitt did not immediately reply to a request for comment. 

The Harts eventually told Pruitt, who had to be reminded repeatedly to pay his rent, that they had plans to rent the room to somebody else — and that he needed to find another place to live, according to the people familiar with events. They also informed him in early August that they were changing the locks on their door. (our emphasis)

Here's a thought:  perhaps someone who reportedly wants Pruitt out =cough= John Kelly =cough= should follow suit and send him help wanted ads, and if that fails, have the locks changed on Pruitt's EPA suite.

(*Link for anyone not familiar with the name Kato Kaelin, the eternal houseguest.)

(h/t Mock Paper Scissors)

(Photo: The fingers are all pointing to you, Kato, er, Scott.)

Today's Cartoon (And Cartoonish Nominee)

(click on image to enlarge)


(Matt Davies, Newsday)

The latest inmate to join in running neo- fascist climate change denier Donald "Rump" Trump's administration asylum: Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to be Environmental Protection Agency Administrator:

Pruitt, who has described the science on climate change as “unsettled” (it’s not), has sued the EPA challenging its authority to regulate under the Clean Water Act, and over President Obama’s Clean Power Plan to reduce emissions from coal-fired power plants, among other issues. He argued before Congress earlier this year that states should have the primary responsibility for environmental regulation, reserving federal action only for water and air pollution issues that cross state lines. 

“Air and water quality issues can cross state lines, and can sometimes require federal intervention,” Pruitt said. “At the same time, the EPA was never intended to be our nation’s frontline environmental regulator. The states were to have regulatory primacy." [snip] 

Pruitt has made no secret of his close relationship with the oil-and-gas industry, a major player in Oklahoma, so it’s hard not to see his appointment as putting the fox in charge of the hen house. The New York Times reported two years ago that Pruitt was among several state attorneys general who were working with oil and gas industry figures to challenge federal laws and jurisdiction over regulations — including submitting letters on his attorney general stationery to the EPA that were written by energy lobbyists.

So, to repeat, there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between Clinton and Trump, there wasn't a dime's worth of diff...

Time We Didn't Have To Waste

The WaPo has an article, "Warming Is Major Threat To Humans, EPA Warns," that is simply one more confirmation of the Bush Assministration's criminal negligence when it comes to acting on global warming. Just days after EPA (under pressure from the White House) decided it would not issue regulations on greenhouse gas emissions, the EPA reported "it is very likely" that more will die from heat waves, hurricanes and pathogens resulting from warming. Every section of the country would be affected. Meanwhile every day that is lost means more greenhouse gas emissions as we get closer to the tipping point (if it hasn't already been reached). Another "legacy" for Chimpy.

A Polluter's Dream Budget

When serial liar and demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump talks about cutting regulations and "draining the swamp," a subtext is destroying those programs that protect the public from predatory behavior on the part of his corporate supporters, particularly those who want to be freed to pollute and profit off of the environment. With today's release of Rump's first budget, he's making good on his commitment to the polluter class by proposing deep cuts in the Environmental Protection Agency, eliminating some 50 programs, and cutting the budget by 31% and thousands from the staff. It's part of Rump's overall assault on environmental and climate-related programs throughout government, from EPA to the Department of Energy, to the Paris Climate Accords.

We noted recently that Rump wants to cut the climate science work done by NASA and the Weather Service, specifically their ability to monitor global climate data from space. His appointment of anti-environmental activist and oil and gas industry shill Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator was a direct assault on the agency that Pruitt is overseeing. The proposed cuts in Federal government programs that protect the environment and study climate change will be devastating if passed, and that's a real likelihood with the Rethuglican vandals in control of Congress, who are beholden to their Big Pollution donors and their angry, misinformed base. As with climate change, there is a point of no return, where consequences can't be reversed. The deep cuts proposed across Government to these programs may put us near the point of no return for building a healthy environment for generations to come.

The Great Dismantling

While incompetent narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump distracts with his inane feuds and obsessions (see post below), the true believers in his dystopian regime are busy doing the work of Putin, the Kochs and Mercers: dismantling the federal government, the main counterbalance to their fascistic power grabbing. Here are some links to follow:

Rex "Rexxon" Tillerson, Ayn Rand fan, Putin pal and owner of Putin's Order of Friendship medal, is using "reorganization" and "cost- cutting" as excuses to gut the State Department and ax hundreds of senior Foreign Service officers, weakening American "soft power" (to whose benefit?). Some are taking note:

In a letter to Mr. Tillerson last week, Democratic members of the House Foreign Relations Committee, citing what they said was “the exodus of more than 100 senior Foreign Service officers from the State Department since January,” expressed concern about “what appears to be the intentional hollowing-out of our senior diplomatic ranks.” 

Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, sent a similar letter, telling Mr. Tillerson that “America’s diplomatic power is being weakened internally as complex global crises are growing externally.” [snip] 

His small cadre of aides have fired some diplomats and gotten others to resign by refusing them the assignments they wanted or taking away their duties altogether. Among those fired or sidelined were most of the top African-American and Latino diplomats, as well as many women, difficult losses in a department that has long struggled with diversity.

Scott "Screw It" Pruitt, fossil fuel industry stooge, is combining a little old fashioned corruption with his efforts to neuter the Environmental Protection Agency:

Earlier this month, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt fired all board members who currently receive EPA grants for their research, saying they cannot remain objective if they accept agency money. In replacing them, Pruitt transformed the board from a panel of the nation’s top environmental experts to one dominated by industry-funded scientists and state government officials who have fought federal regulations. 

Pruitt removed 21 members of the advisory board, mostly academics, and replaced them with 16 experts with ties to industries regulated by the agency and two with no industry ties. Fourteen of the new members consult or work for the fossil fuel or chemical industries, which gave Pruitt nearly $320,000 for his campaigns in Oklahoma as a state senator and attorney general. 

Sleepy Ben Carson, at the neglected and abused Department of Housing and Urban Development, is okay with billions of dollars in budget cuts and wants to protect big banks from penalties on mortgage loan "errors."  Here's a long read about how this cypher is going about both passively and actively dismantling an agency whose primary constituency is low- and middle- income Americans.

You've got industry insider Ajit Pai at the Federal Communications Commission on the verge of ending net neutrality and opening the door to mega- corporation political manipulation of what you see on the Internet.

Billionaire Bible- thumper Betsy DeVos, one of the most incompetent yet dangerous Rump appointments, is moving like a wrecking ball through the Department of Education, with her agenda of turning America's public education system into a welter of religious "private" schools (at taxpayer expense, of course). She also wants colleges and universities to have more freedom to ignore claims of sexual assault. On top of all that, of course, she wants to gut the Department by gutting its budget, which was even a bridge too far for some Senate Republicans.

That, as they say, is the tip of the iceberg.  Trumpkins below the secretarial level are busy hollowing out key functions and checks on the industries they're supposedly regulating. Perhaps sensing that they have limited time before a reckoning at the polls, these sociopaths are determined to wreak as much permanent damage, both domestically and internationally, as they possibly can.

The Deep Misogyny Of Trumpworld

Item: Unhinged attention-seeker and Trump towel boy Rudy "Ghouliani" Giuliani continues to descend with his inflammatory spewings. Yesterday, in addition to describing North Korea's Kim Jong Un as getting "on his hands and knees" and begging for the summit with Putin asset Donald "Rump" Trump, he had this to say about Rump accuser Stormy Daniels:

"So Stormy, you want to bring a case, let me cross examine you. Because the business you're in entitles you to no degree of giving your credibility any weight. And secondly, explain to me how she could be damaged. I mean, she has no reputation. If you're going to sell your body for money, you just don't have a reputation..."  

Ghouliani failed to explain why, then, did his client Rump pay Ms. Daniels $130,000 under a non-disclosure agreement to remain silent about their 2006 affair if it's all a lie. Speaking of having no reputation, Ghouliani sold his cheap a long time ago. And Stormy Daniels has more integrity and courage in her little finger than he's ever had.

Item: Amid the corrupt chaos at the Environmental Protection Agency brought on by swamp man Scott "Screw It" Pruitt, there was the resignation of a top aide Millan Hupp, who was at the center of his multiple scandals, and was reportedly tired of being blamed for Screw It's corruption. When The Atlantic's Elaina Plott sought comment from the EPA, press spokes-dick Jahan Wilcox told her, "You have a great day, you're a piece of trash." Apparently, Wilcox has a history of dickery:

That's just more of the same nastiness from the EPA press shop, and Wilcox specifically: https://t.co/aNAeEWXaLx

— ErikWemple (@ErikWemple) June 6, 2018

Only the best!

Swamp Creatures: Carl Icahn Edition

The New Yorker magazine has a fascinating article (referenced briefly by Rachel Maddow last night) that looks into the dealings of billionaire investor and long-time corporate raider Carl "I Con" Icahn, who until yesterday, was an "advisor" to neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump for regulatory "reform", a euphemism for cutting regulations unpopular with corporations. What makes that particular connection galling is that Icahn -- who has long chafed under Federal regulations impacting his investments -- was more interested in boosting his profits through cutting regulations, particularly at the EPA, that were bothersome to his bottom line.

In particular, he was bleeding millions from his investment in CVR, an oil refinery in Texas, due to a requirement that ethanol be blended into their fuel or purchase "credits" from refineries that do. He wanted that requirement done away with, and he let Rump know that it was his top priority:

"Appearing on Bloomberg TV on August 16, 2016, [Icahn] vowed that Trump would put an end to 'these crazy regulations' on his first day in office. In fact, Icahn continued, he had spoken with Trump about the E.P.A. rule obliging his refiner to purchase renewable-fuel credits. If elected, Trump 'will stop that,' Icahn promised. 'That’s a hundred per cent.' Several weeks after Trump’s victory, Icahn tweeted, 'I’ve agreed to serve as a special advisor to the president on issues relating to regulatory reform.' [snip] 

In the months after the election, the stock price of CVR, Icahn’s refiner, nearly doubled—a surge that is difficult to explain without acknowledging the appointment of the company’s lead shareholder to a White House position. The rally meant a personal benefit for Icahn, at least on paper, of half a billion dollars." (emphasis added)

Icahn's brief stint as "advisor" to Rump on regulatory matters benefitted him greatly, perhaps even beyond the CVR caper. Financiers quoted in the New Yorker article joke that it was a corporate raid on Washington by Icahn, and "the cheapest takeover Carl's ever done." Drain the swamp, indeed.

Pictures Of The Day: Resist

A group of several Greenpeace activists climbed a construction crane this morning at 15th and L Streets, just blocks from the White House, and unfurled a large banner with the word "Resist" on it.

Just in the past 24 hours, con-man-in-chief and serial liar Donald "Rump" Trump approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects that will transport liquified oil shale -- perhaps the dirtiest of carbon products -- across the U.S. to the Gulf coast where it will be processed and shipped to global oil markets. Along with the nomination of climate change denier Scott Pruitt to be EPA administrator and a media blackout of EPA demanded by Rump, "Resist" will be an imperative.

(photos: top, Associated Press, bottom, Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty)

Bush "Stratergery" on Car Pollution Rebuked

Yesterday the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, rebuked the Bush Assministration's jaw-dropping claim that the Clean Air Act did not authorize the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate tailpipe emissions from new cars and trucks. The majority found that the Clean Air Act does, in fact, give the EPA that authority, and also found that states have the right to sue the EPA to challenge its decisions. The dissenters were the "Flat Earth Four," Rebunglecan troglodytes Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito, who believe the government has no power to intrude, unless it's in a recount, in the bedroom, or between a doctor and patient.

As David Doniger of the Natural Resouces Defense Council said, "this administration's legal strategy for doing nothing has been repudiated." As a result, automakers are now clamoring for national standards rather than facing the prospect of state-by-state regulations. The decision also raises the likelihood of comprehensive legislation on global warming that would provide an economy-wide approach to the problem.

Skeets Of The Day

 

Then and now --

 

A lot can happen in five months. 🇺🇸

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— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla.bsky.social) March 11, 2025 at 2:49 PM

 

Reality bites --

 

January’s drop in consumer spending is a sign that Americans are not ready to weather the inflationary and contractionary impacts of Trumps tariffs. My @morningjoe-msnbc.bsky.social Chart

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— Steve Rattner (@steverattner.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 9:19 AM

 

i think hes surprised other countries are fighting back?

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— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 8:17 AM

 

Her existence insults us -- 

 

The purest distillation of the Trump School of Economic Thought.

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— Justin Wolfers (@justinwolfers.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 4:54 PM

 

The cult  of Trump, "in your dreams" division --

 

The essence of Trumpism is inventing an imagined world in which everything is worse.

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— Philip Bump (@pbump.com) March 13, 2025 at 8:55 AM

 

The cult of Trump, "Trump/Musk are everyman" division --

 

Nothing says “party of the everyman” quite like two born-to-riches nepo baby billionaires selling $80,000+ cars on the White House lawn.

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— JoJoFromJerz (@jojofromjerz.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 9:51 AM

The cult of Trump, "Christian" child sex division --

 

Not a drag queen or a trans person

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— Mr. Gulch-Upland III (@viktorishere.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 9:56 PM

The modern Republican party can accurately be described as a group of child molesters who are stealing from us

— Joseph Fink (@planetoffinks.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 9:48 PM

 

Anti-Semite Trump uses "Palestinian" as slur against Sen. Schumer;  Arab Americans for Trump, nice work! --

So embarrassed that our country could elect such an ignorant, racist -and I’ll say it -plain dumb man: “Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian,” Trump said. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

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— Amy Siskind (@amysiskind.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 7:38 AM

 

"See you in court," mfer! --

 

Calling it the "biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history," the EPA rolled out sweeping moves Wednesday aimed at walking back environmental protections and eliminating a host of climate change regulations, some decades in the making.

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— Jon Cooper (@joncooper-us.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 8:11 AM

 

Trump administration to roll back many EPA regulations, revisit contested water rule ohiocapitaljournal.com/2025/03/12/r... Ahhhh. back to poisoned waters, dirty air and trash everywhere! trump is trash! PERIOD... the end!

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— ML Porter (@mlporter.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 9:01 AM

 

Schooling another toxic immigrant millionaire dweeb with no American civics ed.  --

 

“America is deeply unprofitable” it’s a country not a B2B startup you fucking dweeb

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— Jay Willis (@jaywillis.net) March 12, 2025 at 10:01 PM

 

Trump's next grift (it's a yolk!) --

 

Trump called his offer a “rare chance to own eggs that were inspected by the USDA before RFK Jr. fired all the egg inspectors.”

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— The Borowitz Report (@borowitzreport.bsky.social) March 12, 2025 at 8:22 AM

 

 

Tweets Of The Day

 

Smoke gets in your eyes --

#Wildfire smoke is impacting large portions of the Eastern United States. Stay up-to-date with air quality in your area: https://t.co/JqNDYaMFZT

Here’s what you can do to protect yourself when smoke is in the air ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/tSika8unkw

— U.S. EPA (@EPA) June 7, 2023

 

Not great pic.twitter.com/oZt3WudBCG

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) June 7, 2023

 

It’s amazing how it’s never ever the time to discuss issues. https://t.co/BPG0HDptDE

— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) June 8, 2023

 

The sky is the wrong color. You can *taste* the air. What more must we tell you? What more do you need to know? What? pic.twitter.com/vECvua2jTs

— Climate Defiance (@ClimateDefiance) June 7, 2023

SCOTUS decision a surprise, major victory for voting rights --  

WHOA! The Supreme Court's final decision of the day is a 5–4 ruling that AFFIRMS the Voting Rights Act's protection against racial vote dilution! Roberts and Kavanaugh join the liberals. This is a HUGE surprise and a major voting rights victory. https://t.co/qMN96f0FXr

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 8, 2023

 

In addition to adding an additional minority opportunity district in Alabama, this will also add one in Louisiana (a case from there was held pending this decision). It will also result in least one more in GA and likely several in Texas. https://t.co/DLlwVvaVAn

— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) June 8, 2023

Meanwhile, "Justice" Thomas busy scrubbing his financial disclosure report -- 

NEW: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas received a 90-day extension for his 2022 financial disclosure report, according to the administrative office for the federal judiciary. pic.twitter.com/NnQwnukfa9

— Bloomberg Law (@BLaw) June 7, 2023

"Fly Guy" Pence throws his noose in the ring --

 

Let me be clear that no one is above the law, BUUUUUUTTTTTT …” https://t.co/3fxIGI66H5

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 8, 2023

 

Pence: I should have been hanged. But they went about it the wrong way.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 8, 2023

 

Ukraine counterattacks as Russian abominations continue in Kherson region -- 

⚡️Western media: Ukraine launches counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.

Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia on June 8, ABC News reported, citing unnamed Ukrainian official sources, one of them supposedly close to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) June 8, 2023

 

Russia is deliberately shelling the square at the centre of evacuation operations in Kherson. Multiple incoming, reports of deaths, heard people shouting at the scene before leaving.

This is a level of evil that I just can’t comprehend.

(Photo from telegram) pic.twitter.com/a9UnlJGyzn

— Francis Farrell (@francisjfarrell) June 8, 2023

What's that Musk-y smell?  It's more wingnut pampering coming -- 

Eliminating blocking would render the site unusable for anyone except bots, trolls, harassers, propagandists, and extremists.

But that seems to be his goal anyway, so... pic.twitter.com/3wFc20Y1T0

— Max Kennerly (@MaxKennerly) June 8, 2023

 

elon wanting to get rid of the block function is such a perfect representation of what that crowd means by free speech. “free speech means you have listen to what i say!”

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) June 8, 2023

Thoughts on Christofascist Pat Robertson's demise --  

He blamed gay people for 9/11 and hurricanes. He said the devastating earthquake in Haiti was payback for a "pact to the devil." Pat Robertson was a piece of shit. https://t.co/xxP5vU4RvD

— @robertmaguire.bsky.social (@RobertMaguire_) June 8, 2023

 

https://t.co/rUZieS0zYO pic.twitter.com/Lkrqy5y5kg

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) June 8, 2023