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Bernie Sanders announces he is suspending his campaign via a livestream Wednesday. berniesanders.com via Getty Images
Bernie Sanders, the Independent Vermont Senator who campaigned for aggressive action on the climate crisis and environmental justice, has dropped out of the 2020 Democratic primary race.
<p>His announcement, made Wednesday morning during a conference call with his entire staff, means the more moderate former Vice President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/joe-biden" target="_self">Joe Biden</a> will face off against President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> in November, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/08/bernie-sanders-suspends-his-presidential-campaign-175137" target="_blank">POLITICO reported</a>. In a speech livestreamed to supporters, Sanders said his campaign had won the "ideological battle" on issues ranging from universal health care to climate action, but that he could see no clear way to secure the nomination.</p><p>"Together we have transformed American consciousness as to what kind of nation we can become, and have taken this country a major step forward in the never-ending struggle for economic justice, social justice, racial justice and environmental justice," he told his supporters, according to a transcript provided by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/politics/bernie-sanders-concession-speech.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
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<p>When Sanders first entered the race in February of 2019, he <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bernie-sanders-2020-2629410846.html" target="_self">promised</a> to release his own version of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bernie-sanders-2020-2629410846.html" target="_self">Green New Deal</a>, an ambitious plan to transition the U.S. from fossil fuels to renewable energy while providing jobs and addressing inequality.</p><p>When his <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/sanders-green-new-deal-2639955047.html" target="_self">plan dropped in August</a>, many said it was the most progressive of the proposals of the Democratic candidates contending for the nomination. <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/22/20828794/bernie-sanders-green-new-deal-2020-elections-climate-change" target="_blank">Verge summed it up</a> at the time:</p><blockquote>At $16.3 trillion spent over 15 years, Sanders' climate deal is by far the priciest of all the Democratic candidates left in the primary race. It's also arguably the most progressive — pushing for the US to have a carbon-free economy by 2050. The senator from Vermont also set a 2030 benchmark goal of reaching 100 percent renewable energy in the country's two most carbon-intensive industries, transportation and the power sector, by investing in solar, wind, and geothermal power. Sanders' plan would also declare climate change a national emergency, bring the US back on board with the Paris climate agreement, and commit $200 billion in funding to help developing nations cut their emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change.</blockquote>
<p>His plan earned a 94 out of 100 on <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/" target="_blank">Greenpeace</a>'s <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/climate2020/" target="_blank">climate scorecard</a> and an <a href="https://medium.com/sunrisemvmt/sunrise-movement-endorses-bernie-sanders-for-president-b6bdb68ba408" target="_blank">endorsement</a> from pro-Green New Deal group the <a href="https://www.sunrisemovement.org/" target="_blank">Sunrise Movement</a>.</p><p>But after early primary victories in New Hampshire and Nevada, Sanders began to falter beside the more moderate Biden, who won in South Carolina, and then in 10 out of 14 Super Tuesday states after other more moderate contenders threw their support behind him, POLITICO explained. Biden continued to do well throughout March, and now has 1,127 delegates compared to Sanders' 914, according to the most recent delegate count from <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/elections/delegate-count-primary-results.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>Biden's climate policies are more moderate than Sanders' as of now. His plan has a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/sanders-biden-climate-coronavirus-2645497732.html?rebelltitem=4#rebelltitem4" target="_self">much lower price tag</a> of $1.7 trillion dollars and a score of 72 out of 100 from Greenpeace. The organization applauded his commitment to achieving climate neutrality by 2050, investing in clean energy and restoring international climate leadership, but faulted him for not promising to ban all oil and gas drilling on public lands and to end all federal permits for fossil fuel infrastructure.</p><p>There is a chance Biden will ultimately run on a more ambitious plan, however. Sanders said he would keep his name on the ballot in the remaining primaries to boost his delegate count in order to have more influence over the party platform.</p><p>The Biden campaign is also working to bring in Sanders' supporters by incorporating some of his policies, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/us/politics/biden-sanders-campaign-policy.html?auth=login-google" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. In a virtual fundraiser Wednesday, Biden hinted he would add some more progressive ideas to his climate plan, and POLITICO reports he is in talks with the Sunrise Movement.</p><p>The Sunrise Movement is also one of a coalition of youth-led groups that sent a letter to Biden urging him to endorse certain policies including a Green New Deal.</p>
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<p>"If Joe Biden is going to be the nominee on the Democratic side, we are going to champion Joe Biden and put all muscle behind" his election, Sunrise Movement Executive Director Varshini Prakash told The New York Times. But then she addressed Biden directly, suggesting he also had work to do. "You haven't earned our vote yet," she said.</p>
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Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which has restricted the ability to gather in peaceful assembly, a Canadian company has moved forward with construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, according to the AP.
<p>As <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-2645607020.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">EcoWatch</a> reported, last week Canada-based TC Energy said it would start construction despite the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate</a> impacts of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" target="_self">pipeline</a> and the concerns about transporting construction crews during the coronavirus outbreak.</p><p>The construction that began yesterday involved around 100 workers in a remote border crossing between Montana and Canada, which is home to cattle ranches and wheat fields, according to a spokesperson from TC Energy, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a> reported. The number of people involved in the construction is supposed to grow into the thousands as construction advances.</p>
<p>The government in Alberta is throwing in $1.1 billion to support construction of the pipeline, which will stretch 1,210 miles from the town of Hardisty, in Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska, and will begin operating in 2023, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/490419-controversial-keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-to-proceed" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported. The investment from Alberta's government will support construction through 2020 and triggered the surprise announcement that construction would begin. The pipeline is predicted to carry 830,00 barrels of crude every day for transfer to refineries and export terminals in the Gulf of Mexico.</p><p>Alberta will also guarantee a $6 billion loan to TC Energy.</p>
<p><br>On Friday, Montana's Department of Environmental Quality issued the final state permits the company needed, agency spokeswoman Rebecca Harbage said, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>Even though the pipeline has been delayed for some time as it has been held up in court and demand for oil has plummeted, and even though Montana is under "stay-at-home" orders, the pipeline was granted an exception to Gov. Steve Bullock's order. The "stay-at-home" directive did not address worker camps, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>The plans for the pipeline call for 11 worker camps, some housing up to 1,000 people. Local officials and tribal leaders for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples" target="_self">indigenous people</a> say the camps could potentially spread the coronavirus into the area. Gov. Bullock, who is concerned about the virus spreading, "would want those concerns addressed prior to TC Energy and their contractors finalizing their plans of operations for those segments of construction," said spokeswoman Marissa Perry to the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>TC Energy said it would check all workers for fever and ensure they practice social distancing.</p>
<p>However, as Bill McKibben, founder of 360.org, noted in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/05/climate-crisis-villains-oil-industry-big-banks-pipelines" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, the worker camps on the edge of Native American territory bring up memories of introduced epidemics that wiped out 90 percent of the Native American population.</p><p>"As Faith Spotted Eagle of the Yankton Sioux put it, 'this causes eerie memories for us [of] the infected smallpox blankets that were distributed to tribes intentionally,'" McKibben wrote.</p><p>Environmental activists agreed with that assessment.</p><p>"This is a shameful new low," Catherine Collentine, associate director of the Sierra Club's Beyond Dirty Fuels campaign, said in a statement, as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/490419-controversial-keystone-xl-pipeline-construction-to-proceed" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported. "By barreling forward with construction during a global pandemic, TC Energy is putting already vulnerable communities at even greater risk."</p>
<p><br>A hearing to block the work is scheduled for April 16. In January, the federal judge who will hear arguments did not issue an order to stop work because TC Energy said there were no immediate plans to begin work, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a>.</p><p>Stephan Volker, an attorney for the environmental groups asking the judge to intervene, said the company's decision to "jump the gun" before next week's hearing was an insult to U.S. District Judge Brian Morris, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/953d36b581092315a55aab0a87f59fef" target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p>"We are confident the court will not be bullied, and will overturn President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump">Trump</a>'s second approval, just as he overturned President Trump's first approval, as unlawful," Volker said.
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Trump Administration Finalizes Car Rule Which Will Worsen Economy, Public Health
01 April
Insights + Opinion
ROBYN BECK / AFP / Getty Images
By Dave Cooke
So, they finally went and did it — the Trump administration just finalized a rule to undo requirements on manufacturers to improve fuel economy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from new passenger cars and trucks. Even with the economy at the brink of a recession, they went forward with a policy they know is bad for consumers — their own analysis shows that American drivers are going to spend hundreds of dollars more in fuel as a result of this stupid policy — but they went ahead and did it anyway.
The Rule, by the Numbers
<p>The administration recognizes this is a bad deal for the country — even their own cooked books couldn't make this look like a good idea:</p><ul><li>American drivers will burn an additional 2 billion barrels of oil, resulting in 900 million metric tons of additional global warming emissions;</li><li>Vehicle prices could be reduced by $1,000, but consumers would pay more than $1,400 more in fuel, a net loss and obviously a terrible deal;</li><li>Accounting for miles traveled, the rule results in more premature deaths from air pollution (up to 1600), than offset by the agencies' (optimistic) estimate of less than 800 avoided traffic fatalities;</li><li>The rule cuts automotive revenue by $50 billion dollars, resulting in job losses in the auto sector of 10,000-20,000 in 2030, a number which excludes the <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/don-anair/auto-standards-rollback-oil-companies-win-everyone-else-loses" target="_blank">even worse macroeconomic job losses</a> which would accrue;</li><li>The net benefits of the rule are actually negative, resulting in $10-20 billion in net monetized harm to the country, which is actually a worse outcome than most of alternatives the agency considered!</li></ul><p>And on top of all this, the EPA and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NSHTA) found time to incorporate special corporate giveaways to the fossil fuel industry, <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/don-anair/auto-standards-rollback-oil-companies-win-everyone-else-loses" target="_blank">the only industry slated to benefit from this rule</a> in the first place.</p>The Final Rule Is Not Necessarily Better Than the Proposal
<p>There will likely be a lot of reporting that says that this final rule is better for the environment than the proposal, but this is wrong. On paper, the Trump administration has replaced its proposal to halt required progress entirely after 2020 with a rule that requires 1.5 percent improvement per year, a rate which is of course <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-cooke/most-fuel-efficient-cars-a-win-for-consumers-pockets-the-economy-and-climate-but-whats-next" target="_blank">lower than the automakers have averaged now for more than a decade</a>. But paper targets don't matter — what matters is what happens in the real world. And all this rule is doing is maintaining the status quo.</p><p>While ostensibly increasing the requirements of the rule, the Trump administration has also increased flexibilities and credits granted to automakers compared to the proposal, credits which the industry requested and which we've shown <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/dave-cooke/congress-is-pushing-back-on-the-trump-fuel-economy-rollback-why-arent-auto-companies" target="_blank">could be as bad as the rollback</a>. Incredibly, they've even granted credits that no automaker asked for, for natural gas vehicles that no one currently sells (of course, that was a handout to the oil industry, just like the rest of this rule). While they didn't grant all automaker requests, they did extend through 2026 the decision to ignore emissions from the electricity powering EVs and increased the number of technologies eligible for credits not captured by standards test procedures (so-called "off-cycle credits") while simultaneously reducing the public scrutiny on those emissions, even though recent data on some of these credits <a href="https://theicct.org/publications/US-2025-off-cycle" target="_blank">calls into question their value</a>.</p><p>Awarding automakers these flexibilities and loopholes makes the miniscule change in stringency completely toothless. Consumers will continue to be railroaded by this change in policy.</p>The Economy Is in a Tenuous Position — This Rule Will Make It Worse
<p>Right now, the economic outlook is uncertain — we are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/26/upshot/coronavirus-millions-unemployment-claims.html" target="_blank">shedding jobs by the millions</a>, and even after we come out of this pandemic, we will <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2020-03-17/coming-coronavirus-recession" target="_blank">likely be dealing with a recession</a>. The administration's policy just compounds that economic pain for consumers by ensuring they pay more at the pump. This is exactly the wrong policy at the worst time — what we need to be doing is helping consumers pay less in fuel so they can put those saving back to work in our local economies.</p><p>Consumers will pay thousands more for fuel as a result of this rule, which hurts the economy and <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/don-anair/auto-standards-rollback-oil-companies-win-everyone-else-loses" target="_blank">negatively impacts job growth</a>. The only people that benefit from the administration's finalized rule are the oil companies.</p>The Safe Rule Is Unsafe
<p>One of the biggest, dumbest points made in the original proposal was that this rule would save lives. But the administration admits now that such claims were total nonsense. Even by their own fuzzy math, the "tens of thousands of lives saved" from the proposal have been reduced to just a few hundred, and now that they've finally bothered to calculate the adverse health impacts, they've found that up to 1600 people would die prematurely thanks to the additional air pollution from this rule (a number that is <a href="http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/files/2019/05/FINALGHGREPORT.pdf" target="_blank">likely a significant underestimate</a>).</p><p>We are in the middle of a public health crisis that's devastating our economy, and the administration is finalizing a rule that will undermine both public health and the economy. If that isn't some of the most backwards nonsense ever, I don't know what is.</p>Fighting It out in the Courts
<p>As with <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/trump-has-lost-more-than-90-percent-of-deregulation-court-battles.html" target="_blank">so many of the administration's wrongheaded rollbacks</a>, this one will end up in the courts. There continue to be a mountain of errors in the policy and a number of corners cut to <a href="https://yosemite.epa.gov/sab/sabproduct.nsf/LookupWebProjectsCurrentBOARD/1FACEE5C03725F268525851F006319BB/$File/EPA-SAB-20-003+.pdf" target="_blank">avoid public scrutiny</a> and <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/02/an-inside-account-of-trumps-fuel-economy-debacle/606346/" target="_blank">sideline the administration's own experts</a>.</p><p>This policy is bad for consumers, bad for public health, and bad for the environment. And we will continue to fight it in the courts because this country deserves better.</p>From Your Site Articles
- Trump Fuel Efficiency Proposal Is Attack on Global Climate and ... ›
- Trump Expected to Announce Weakened Fuel Efficiency Rules ... ›
- 'This Will Be the Biggest Loss of Clean Water Protection the Country ... ›
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Trump Expected to Announce Weakened Fuel Efficiency Rules, Increasing Air Pollution
31 March
Politics
Traffic moves across the Brooklyn Bridge on Aug. 2, 2018 in New York City. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
The Trump administration is expected to unveil its final replacement of Obama-era fuel-efficiency standards for cars and light trucks Tuesday in a move likely to pump nearly a billion more tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over the lifetime of those less-efficient vehicles.
<p><br>The Obama-era policy was the first federal policy aimed at combating the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a> by reducing emissions, and is the federal policy that would have been the most effective, since transportation is the nation's leading source of carbon pollution, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/climate/trump-fuel-economy.html" target="_blank">The New York Times pointed out</a>. It would also have had the added benefit of reducing <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution" target="_self">air pollution</a> at a time when the country is battling the spread of the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a>, which can cause pneumonia.</p>
<p>"[Even] given the catastrophe they're in with the coronavirus, they're pursuing a policy that's going to hurt <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> and kill people," former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="_self">EPA</a>) senior official over emissions and mileage standards Chet France said in an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/administration-to-release-final-rule-on-mileage-rollback/2020/03/31/390753fc-7306-11ea-ad9b-254ec99993bc_story.html" target="_blank">Associated Press story published by The Washington Post</a>. "This is [the] first time that an administration has pursued a policy that will net negative benefit for society and reduce fuel savings."</p><p>The move furthers the Trump administration's efforts to reduce regulations designed to fight the climate crisis, such as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-begins-withdrawal-paris-agreement-2641223963.html" target="_self">withdrawing from the Paris agreement</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/clean-power-plan-trump-epa-2638927020.html" target="_self">weakening rules</a> for coal fired plants.</p>
<p>"In the march of rollbacks of climate rules, this is the biggest step," David Victor, director of the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation at the University of California, San Diego, told The New York Times.</p><p>The administration originally <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-fuel-efficiency-proposal-2592345279.html" target="_self">wanted to cap fuel efficiency standards</a> at 2020 levels, but feared such a move would not be possible to defend in court, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-03-30/trump-rolls-back-car-pollution-standards" target="_blank">The Los Angeles Times reported</a>. Instead, the policy is expected to require fuel efficiency increases of 1.5 percent a year, ending with a 40 mile-per-gallon average by 2026. That's still well below the Obama-era mandate of a 5 percent efficiency increase every year, leading to an average of 54 miles per gallon by 2025.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump is expected to defend the rule as a boost to an economy crippled by the coronavirus pandemic, according to The New York Times.</p><p>"When finalized, the rule will benefit our economy, will improve the U.S. fleet's fuel economy, will make vehicles more affordable, and will save lives by increasing the safety of new vehicles," EPA spokeswoman Corry Schiermeyer told The Associated Press Monday.</p><p>However, internally, the move's economic advantages has been harder to prove. A draft sent to the White House in January found that, while the rule would lower the price of new cars by around $1,000, it would increase the amount of money Americans spent on gas by around $1,400, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>Over the weekend, there was a push to justify the rule based on the amount the auto industry would save by not being forced to produce and sell fuel-efficient vehicles less popular with American consumers, two people familiar with the situation told The New York Times.</p><p>However, administration forecasts also show that the auto industry could lose jobs by building cars less efficient than the requirements in China and the EU, according to The Los Angeles Times.</p><p>"From everything we know, the administration has been absolutely flailing in their justification of this new rule," senior vehicles analyst for the <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/" target="_blank">Union of Concerned Scientists</a> David Cooke told The Los Angeles Times. "And they still can't fudge the numbers enough to make it look like a good idea."</p><p>Despite these difficulties, the administration is under pressure to announce a rule this week for two reasons:</p><ol><li>Any vehicle regulations have to be finalized by April 1 to apply to the 2022 model year for car makers.</li><li>Any rule passed after May 19 could be invalidated by the next Congress under the Congressional Review Act.</li></ol>However, Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, the senior Democrat on the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, criticized the administration for rushing out the new rules: "[It's] the height of irresponsibility for this administration to finalize a rollback that will lead to dirtier air while our country is working around the clock to respond to a respiratory pandemic whose effects may be exacerbated by air pollution," Carper told The Associated Press. "We should be enacting forward-looking environmental policy, not tying our country's future to the dirty vehicles of the past.
<p>The future of the new regulations is already in doubt. Around 20 states are expected to sue to stop them, which means their fate will likely be decided by the Supreme Court, according to The New York Times.</p>
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Trump Says Keeping U.S. Coronavirus Deaths to 100,000 Would Be a 'Good Job'
30 March
Health + Wellness
U.S. President Donald Trump listens as Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases speaks in the Rose Garden for the daily coronavirus briefing at the White House on March 29 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
Just over a month after proclaiming that the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. would soon "be down to close to zero," President Donald Trump said during a press briefing on the White House lawn Sunday that limiting U.S. deaths from the pandemic to between 100,000 and 200,000 people would mean his administration and the country as a whole did "a very good job."
<p>Speaking as the death toll from the novel coronavirus climbed above 2,300 in the U.S. — which has the most confirmed cases of the virus in the world — Trump cited <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/17/terrifying-new-research-warns-22-million-could-die-coronavirus-us-without-drastic" target="_blank">recent research</a> warning that 2.2 million people in the U.S. could die from COVID-19 if the nation's government and population take no action to mitigate the threat.<em></em></p>
<p>"You're talking about 2.2 million deaths, 2.2 million people from this," the president said. "And so, if we can hold that down, as we're saying, to 100,000 — that's a horrible number — maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100- and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job."</p><p>Watch:</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" id="twitter-embed-1244429399300112385" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1244429399300112385&created_ts=1585530063.0&screen_name=sparksjls&text=%E2%80%9CIf+we+have+between+100%2C000+and+200%2C000+we%E2%80%99ve+all+together+done+a+very+good+job%2C%E2%80%9D+Trump+says%2C+about+up+to+200%2C000+A%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FrSNCRLuAna&id=1244429399300112385&name=Jason+Sparks" frameborder="0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b66b3c365e3ffe5ea9bada1fdbee2d18"></iframe><p>Critics condemned Trump's remarks as remarkably cruel and callous, particularly coming from someone who has repeatedly downplayed the threat of the virus — at one point suggesting it was a "<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/29/trump-cries-hoax-nurses-california-warn-quarantines-124-health-workers-show-us" target="_blank">new hoax</a>" perpetrated by the Democratic Party — and urged Americans to get back to work despite warnings from medical professionals.</p><p>"There really are no words for this level of insensitivity and inhumanity. A serial killer would be jealous," <a href="https://twitter.com/cidelson/status/1244401810426589184" target="_blank">said</a> Charles Idelson of National Nurses United in response to Trump's comments.</p><p>Others reacted with similar alarm and disgust:</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" id="twitter-embed-1244392119206322176" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1244392119206322176&created_ts=1585521175.0&screen_name=Susan_Hennessey&text=JFC.+The+president+is+holding+out+100%2C000+US+DEATHS+as+a+metric+of+%2Asuccess%2A.+Completely+terrifying.+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Fl4xeg1cZhm&id=1244392119206322176&name=Susan+Hennessey" frameborder="0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="1ed3be17bb1ae4e45f56f51f7b6d9ab9"></iframe><p>Trump <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-guidelines.html" target="_blank">announced</a> Sunday that the White House is extending federal social distancing guidelines to at least April 30, a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-coronavirus-guidelines-easter-elmhurst/2020/03/29/c15c21f2-7215-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html" target="_blank">retreat</a> from the president's <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/24/packed-churches-all-over-our-country-i-think-it-will-be-beautiful-declares-trump" target="_blank">insistence last week</a> that the country could be "rarin' to go" by Easter — April 12.</p><p>Noting the president's rapidly shifting goalposts, CNN reporter Daniel Dale <a href="https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1244389881612308487" target="_blank">tweeted</a> late Sunday, "Trump has come a long way from the 15-cases-but-we're-going-down-to-zero."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/30/after-repeatedly-downplaying-threat-trump-now-says-keeping-us-coronavirus-deaths" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Donald Trump and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listen to White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx speak in the Rose Garden for the daily coronavirus briefing at the White House on March 29, 2020 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
President Donald Trump has bowed to the advice of public health experts and extended social distancing measures designed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus till at least April 30.
<p>Trump had originally signaled a desire to return to business as usual by Easter Sunday — April 12—even as the U.S. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-coronavirus-cases-2645581630.html" target="_self">became the new global epicenter of the outbreak</a>, but reversed course Sunday during the White House coronavirus task force press briefing.</p><p>"Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won," Trump said, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/mar/29/coronavirus-us-live-new-york-cases-quarantine-news-updates-trump?page=with:block-5e811df88f081e5eda2392bf#liveblog-navigation" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. "That would be the greatest loss of all. Therefore the next two weeks, and during this period it's very important that everyone follow the guidelines. The better you do, the faster this whole nightmare will end."</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" id="twitter-embed-1244405247306588160" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1244405247306588160&created_ts=1585524305.0&screen_name=WhiteHouse&text=The+peak+of+this+virus%27+death+rate+is+likely+to+hit+in+two+weeks.+%0A%0AWe+MUST+stay+the+course+and+keep+following+the%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FdmPamju197&id=1244405247306588160&name=The+White+House" frameborder="0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b34b9029dfefbaea0c0ce1ba7c981be4"></iframe>
<p>The extended measures advise Americans to avoid non-essential travel, going to work, restaurants or bars and gathering in groups of 10 or more, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/29/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-guidelines.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. They were set to expire Monday after a two-week period but will now continue at least until the end of April.</p><p>Trump's reversal comes two days after a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/end-campaign-against-social-distancing-2645583234.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">group of more than 800,000 doctors</a> wrote a letter to the president urging him not to relax social distancing guidelines by Easter. It also comes based on the advice of his own top health experts: Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Dr. Deborah Birx, the response coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force.</p><p>"Dr. Birx and I spent a considerable amount of time going over all the data, why we felt this was a best choice for us, and the president accepted it," Fauci told The New York Times.</p><p>Fauci and Birx's advice was based on models showing that, even with social distancing, as many as 200,000 Americans could die of COVID-19 and millions could become infected, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/29/821976925/coronavirus-cases-soar-across-the-u-s-and-officials-say-worse-is-yet-to-come" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>. Without social distancing, around 2.2 million Americans could die.</p><p>"The idea that we may have these many cases played a role in our decision in trying to make sure that we don't do something prematurely and pull back when we should be pushing," Fauci told The New York Times.</p>
<p>Trump's reversal breaks with past precedent. He has <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-infections-trump-2645393552.html" target="_self">downplayed</a> his own agencies' warnings over the course of the coronavirus outbreak and has contradicted his own scientists in the past, especially on the issue of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. He <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-rejects-us-climate-report-2621629346.html" target="_self">dismissed</a> his government's own National Climate Assessment with the words, "I don't believe it."</p><p>When asked about his earlier Easter goal, Trump refused to say it was a mistake.</p><p>"It was just an aspiration," Trump said, according to NPR.</p><p>Trump on Sunday shifted his hopes for recovery till early June.</p><p>"We can expect that by June 1st, we will be well on our way to recovery, we think by June 1st. A lot of great things will be happening," he said, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/29/politics/trump-coronavirus-press-conference/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN</a>.</p><p>According to <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Monday morning</a> figures from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, there have been 724,945 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the world and 143,055 in the U.S. Worldwide, more than 34,000 have died. The U.S. death toll doubled over the weekend from slightly more than 1,000 on Thursday to 2,114 on Saturday, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-us-death-toll-cases-latest-trump-update-a9432381.html" target="_blank">The Independent reported</a>.</p>
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Workers build a makeshift morgue outside of Bellevue Hospital in New York City on March 26, 2020. The COVID-19 outbreak in New York City has quickly overwhelmed local hospitals with patients of the coronavirus. Ron Adar / Echoes Wire / Barcroft Media via Getty Images
The U.S. passed a grim milestone Thursday when it became the country with the most confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, overtaking both China and Italy.
<p>The U.S. now has at least 85,381 cases to China's 81,340 and Italy's 80, 539, according to data provided by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/world/coronavirus-maps.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> and updated at 4:34 a.m. Friday Eastern Standard Time. And its death toll has also risen past 1,000.</p><p>"We are the new global epicenter of the disease," Johns Hopkins Medicine infectious disease specialist Dr. Sara Keller told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/health/usa-coronavirus-cases.html?campaign_id=51&emc=edit_MBE_p_20200327&instance_id=17105&nl=morning-briefing&regi_id=88631294&section=topNews&segment_id=23018&te=1&user_id=d8eb7cee9d3c5ab39515239b6ec54d19" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>The new coronavirus has so far infected more than 523,700 people in at least 171 countries worldwide, according to The New York Times' figures. It has killed nearly 24,000. The U.S. death toll still lags behind that in Italy, Spain and China, which have reported around 8,000, 4,000 and 3,000 deaths respectively.</p><p>President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> responded as the news of the world-leading U.S. caseload broke during a press briefing Thursday by attributing the surge to robust testing for the virus that causes COVID-19.</p><p>"It's a tribute to the amount of testing that we're doing," Trump told reporters, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/26/coronavirus-outbreak-us-latest-trump" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>. "We're doing tremendous testing, and I'm sure you're not able to tell what China is testing or not testing. I think that's a little hard."</p>
<p><br>But <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts say the surge in U.S. cases could have been avoided if the administration had responded more effectively when the disease first emerged. Even before the outbreak, the Trump administration had <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/corona-virus-us-trump-admin-2644963520.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">cut funding</a> for public health and disease response agencies and dismantled the National Security Council team in charge of pandemic response. Once the outbreak began, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-infections-cdc--2645381740.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">was criticized</a> for rolling out ineffective tests and setting up extremely narrow criteria for who could be tested.</p>
<p>"This could have been stopped by implementing testing and surveillance much earlier — for example, when the first imported cases were identified," Columbia University virologist Angela Rasmussen told The New York Times. "If these are the cases we've confirmed, how many cases are we still missing?"</p><p>Those failures have taken a toll on the health and daily lives of people across the U.S. In New York City, the U.S. epicenter of the outbreak, more people died on Wednesday of the new disease than Americans killed in the war in Afghanistan in the last five years, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/coronavirus-new-york-deaths-how-many-nyc-us-afghanistan-hospital-a9428146.html" target="_blank">The Independent reported</a>.</p>
<p>Hospitals in the city are overwhelmed and are around 90,000 beds short of what it is predicted they will need, according to <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-hell-at-new-yorks-covid-19-ground-zero-11963761" target="_blank">Sky News</a>.</p><p>"It's hell, biblical. I kid you not," Dr. Steve Kasspidis, who works at Mount Sinai Hospital in Queens, told Sky. "People come in, they get intubated, they die, the cycle repeats. The system is overwhelmed all over the place."</p><p>Outside of the hospitals, daily life has ground to a halt in many places. Twenty-one states have told residents to stay at home, according to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52056586" target="_blank">BBC News</a>. The subsequent economic disruption has meant that a record 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment last week, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/26/us-unemployment-rate-coronavirus-business" target="_blank">The Guardian reported Thursday</a>. That's a jump of almost three million compared to the 281,000 applications filed the week before, the largest week-long jump in history.</p>
<p>Trump has said he wanted to get the country back to work by Easter Sunday, April 12, but this approach has been criticized as ignoring scientific advice for how to reduce infections, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/25/politics/donald-trump-coronavirus/index.html" target="_blank">CNN's Stephen Collinson pointed out</a>.</p><p>"If the White House were to relax the social distancing measures 'soon,' well ahead of the necessary timeline to have a significant impact on our view, it would raise the risk of increasing the peak or delaying the time to peak," a report issued Tuesday by investment bank Morgan Stanley warned.</p>
<p>Still, the U.S.'s new role as disease epicenter hasn't stopped Trump from touting a return to work in the near future.<br></p><p>"They [the American people] have to go back to work, our country has to go back, our country is based on that and I think it's going to happen pretty quickly," he said Thursday, according to BBC News. "We may take sections of our country, we may take large sections of our country that aren't so seriously affected and we may do it that way."</p><p>He said any return would still accommodate social distancing measures and promised more details next week.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Keller of Johns Hopkins told The New York Times what the country had to do now that it had failed to prevent the spread of the disease.</p><p>"Now, all we can do is to slow the transmission as much as possible by hunkering down in our houses while, as a country, we ramp up production of personal protective equipment, materials needed for testing, and ventilators," she said.</p>
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The Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp in North Dakota on the day it was slated to be raided, Feb. 22, 2017. Michael Nigro / Pacific Press / LightRocket via Getty Images
Nearly four years after massive protests drew worldwide attention to the struggle of indigenous peoples to protect their land from fossil fuel projects, a federal judge has ordered a full environmental review of the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).
<p>Wednesday's <a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/standing-rock-sj.pdf" target="_blank">ruling</a> is a long-deferred victory for the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/standing-rock" target="_self">Standing Rock</a> Sioux Tribe, who have been concerned the pipeline will leak where it runs below the Missouri River just upstream of their reservation, contaminating their <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drinking-water" target="_self">drinking water</a>, as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/03/25/821643911/judge-orders-environmental-review-of-controversial-dakota-access-pipeline?t=1585214009596" target="_blank">NPR explained</a>.</p>
<p>"After years of commitment to defending our water and earth, we welcome this news of a significant legal win," Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Chairman Mike Faith said in a <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/standing-rock-sioux-tribe-prevails-as-federal-judge-strikes-down-dapl-permits" target="_blank">press release</a> announcing the decision. "It's humbling to see how actions we took four years ago to defend our ancestral homeland continue to inspire national conversations about how our choices ultimately affect this planet. Perhaps in the wake of this court ruling the federal government will begin to catch on, too, starting by actually listening to us when we voice our concerns."</p>
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<p>Permits for the pipeline <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/army-corps-permit-dakota-access-pipeline-2128363393.html" target="_self">were denied</a> by the Obama administration following massive protests in 2016, and the the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was set to conduct a full environmental review, as <a href="https://apnews.com/37c60bfb22580ec7921454e225ee5c1f" target="_blank">The Associated Press explained</a>. But when President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> took office, he <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-dakota-access-pipeline-2211697835.html" target="_self">rushed through</a> the pipeline approval process via executive order and the review was jettisoned, until now.</p><p>Judge James Boasberg said the approval process was "highly controversial" and ordered a thorough review.</p><p>"The many commenters in this case pointed to serious gaps in crucial parts of the Corps' analysis – to name a few, that the pipeline's leak-detection system was unlikely to work, that it was not designed to catch slow spills, that the operator's serious history of incidents had not been taken into account, that the worst-case scenario used by the Corps was potentially only a fraction of what a realistic figure would be – and the Corps was not able to fill any of [the gaps in the analysis]," Boasberg argued, according to NPR.</p>
<p>The more than 1,000-mile pipeline carries crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois and is owned by Energy Transfer Partners. But the company and the Army Corps lawyers declined to comment on the case to NPR and The Associated Press.</p><p>Oil has been flowing through the pipeline since June 2017, and it is not clear if it will stop while the review takes place. Boasberg has ordered both the tribe and the Army Corps to submit briefs making their case.</p><p>But Earthjustice attorney Jan Hasselman, who represents the tribe, vowed to ultimately stop that flow.</p><p>"This validates everything the Tribe has been saying all along about the risk of oil spills to the people of Standing Rock," Hasselman said. "The Obama administration had it right when it moved to deny the permits in 2016, and this is the second time the Court has ruled that the government ran afoul of environmental laws when it permitted this pipeline. We will continue to see this through until DAPL has finally been shut down."</p>
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President Donald Trump gives a press conference on the coronavirus. Alex Wong / Getty Images
In a move that undercut and possibly delayed the U.S. response to the new coronavirus, the White House designated crucial meetings about the outbreak as classified, four Trump administration officials told Reuters Wednesday. The classified nature of the meetings meant that some government experts could not attend.
<p>"We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go," one official told Reuters. "These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary."</p><p>The meetings were held from mid January about topics ranging from quarantines to the extent of the disease's spread in a secure room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS). The fact that they were classified meant that a HHS lawyer with expertise about quarantine could not attend a meeting because he did not have the right security clearance. His input was therefore postponed. The secrecy surrounding the meetings also meant that HHS staffers were not up-to-date on coronavirus developments.</p><p>According to former officials, this is not usual practice for the U.S. government.</p><p>"[I]t's not normal to classify discussions about a response to a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> crisis," a former official who worked under President George W. Bush told Reuters.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-coronavirus-cover-up-us-cases-fake-news-2020-election-white-house-a9395901.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a> suggested that President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> might have sought secrecy to stabilize the market. His own businesses could be hurt by decreases in travel and social gatherings, and a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-global-recession-2645437654.html" target="_self">falling stock market</a> may hurt his chances of reelection.</p><p>The news of the secret meetings came the same day that the <a href="https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020" target="_blank">World Health Organization declared</a> COVID-19 to be a pandemic, an <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-pandemic-epidemic-outbreak-2645448420.html" target="_self">epidemic that has spread to multiple countries or regions</a>. As of that announcement, the new disease had sickened more than 118,000 people in 114 countries and killed 4,291.</p><p>This isn't the first time the Trump administration has faced scrutiny for its response to COVID-19, which has so far sickened 938 people in 38 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and killed 29, according to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html" target="_blank">most recent figures</a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC has come under fire for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-infections-cdc--2645381740.html" target="_self">botched and limited testing</a>, while the White House has ordered public health experts <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-public-health-experts-2645341522.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">not to speak without prior approval</a>.</p><p>Trump himself has also issued misleading statements. Last week, he <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-infections-trump-2645393552.html" target="_self">said</a> that some people with the new coronavirus could recover while going to work, contradicting CDC guidelines that anyone exhibiting symptoms stay home.</p>
<p>For some, the president's response to the coronavirus reflects his and his administration's broader hostility to science.</p><p>"[T]his is President Trump's approach to nearly every public health and environmental threat: find some way to exclude the experts, stop them from speaking publicly, and make decisions in a vacuum," Center for Science and Democracy Deputy Director Michael Halpern <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/white-house-removes-public-health-experts-from-coronavirus-discussions?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb&fbclid=IwAR1LcbEZvVpj_jZOVyNJ4KDLC9JgR1EWH514g5wB4P13Zic-qJsQYdvwZ-o" target="_blank">wrote in a blog post</a>. "The deliberate sidelining of public health experts and science leads to bad policy, and ultimately, to more sickness and death."</p><p>Officials told Reuters that the order to classify the meetings came from the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president.</p><p>"This came directly from the White House," one official said.</p>
<p>Both the NSC and HHS defended their work on the coronavirus to Reuters, saying that all meetings of the coronavirus task force had not been classified.</p><p>"From day one of the response to the coronavirus, NSC has insisted on the principle of radical transparency," NSC spokesman John Ullyot told Reuters.</p><p>However, neither agency spokesperson directly responded to questions about the classified meetings.</p>
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As CDC Says 'Do Not Go to Work,' Trump Says Thousands With Coronavirus Could Go to Work and Get Better
05 March
Health + Wellness
US President Donald Trump looks on next to Anthony Fauci, director of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during a meeting at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland on March 3, following up on the COVID-19, coronavirus, outbreak. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
Running roughshod over the advice of trained medical professionals and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, President Donald Trump Wednesday night suggested to millions of Fox News viewers that people infected with coronavirus could still go to work and recover, comments that were immediately condemned as irresponsible and dangerous.
<p>"A lot of people will have this and it's very mild. They'll get better very rapidly," Trump told Fox's Sean Hannity. "They don't even see a doctor, they don't even call a doctor. You never hear about those people."<em></em></p>
<p>"So you can't put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and/or virus," Trump continued. "So you just can't do that. So, if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work. Some of them go to work, but they get better."</p><p>The CDC has <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/steps-when-sick.html" target="_blank">advised</a> that anyone exhibiting <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/symptoms.html" target="_blank">symptoms</a> of coronavirus such as a fever, coughing, and/or shortness of breath stay home from work, avoid public areas as much as possible, and seek medical attention.</p><p>"You should restrict activities outside your home, except for getting medical care," the CDC's website states. "Do not go to work, school, or public areas. Avoid using public transportation, ride-sharing, or taxis."</p><p>Trump also claimed in the interview with Hannity that the World Health Organization's (WHO) estimate of a 3.4% global death rate from coronavirus is a "false number."</p><p>"This is just my hunch," the president said.</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" id="twitter-embed-1235411751950221312" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1235411751950221312&created_ts=1583380089.0&screen_name=atrupar&text=In+this+clip%2C+Trump%3A%0A1.+Denies+WHO%27s+coronavirus+death+rate+based+on+%E2%80%9Chunch%22%0A2.+Calls+coronavirus+%22corona+flu%22%0A3.+S%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FmkSwCySBr0&id=1235411751950221312&name=Aaron+Rupar" frameborder="0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="V9Z3NC1583421934"></iframe><p>"These are really dangerous lies," <a href="https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/1235412718787547138" target="_blank">tweeted</a> The Nation's Jeet Heer.</p><p>"Trump has had briefings from the nation's best doctors and scientists on COVID-19 and he still spouts total, dangerous bullshit," <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterGleick/status/1235424496896573440" target="_blank">added</a> climate scientist Peter Gleick.</p><p>Trump's remarks came just hours after California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency following the death of a 71-year-old man, the first U.S. coronavirus fatality reported outside of Washington state.</p><p>"This is not something that I say hyperbolically," Newsom said of the emergency declaration during a press conference Wednesday. "The proclamation is to serve to help advance our resources."</p>
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" id="twitter-embed-1235379032302084097" src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1235379032302084097&created_ts=1583372288.0&screen_name=ABC&text=LATEST%3A+Gov.+Gavin+Newsom+declared+a+state+of+emergency+after+announcing+California+had+53+confirmed+cases+of+novel%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2Ff17kNyu699&id=1235379032302084097&name=ABC+News" frameborder="0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="KMDAL11583421934"></iframe><p>As Trump and other White House officials have attempted to downplay the severity of the outbreak and hurled <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-identifies-the-real-coronavirus-victim-his-presidency" target="_blank">accusations of fearmongering</a> — the president <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/28/trump-calls-coronavirus-outbreak-a-hoax-and-links-it-to-immigration-at-rally#maincontent" target="_blank">said</a> at a rally last week that Democrats' criticism of his handling of the health crisis is a "new hoax" — coronavirus has spread to at least 15 states in the U.S. and killed 11 people.</p><p>"The death rate so far—which includes more than 3,000 deaths [globally]—is many times higher than the mortality rate of the seasonal flu, which is 0.1%," the Los Angeles Times <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-03-04/coronavirus-hits-critical-moment-in-u-s-more-death-but-still-time-to-contain" target="_blank">reported</a> Wednesday. "WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that is at least partly because COVID-19 is a new disease, and no one has built up an immunity to it."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/05/cdc-says-do-not-go-work-trump-says-thousands-coronavirus-could-go-work-and-get?cd-origin=rss">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Spotted turtles (seen above) are one of the animals listed in a new lawsuit against the Trump administration which claims they have failed to protect 241 plant and animal species under the Endangered Species Act. Mark Wilson / The Boston Globe / Getty Images
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior have failed to protect 241 plant and animal species under the Endangered Species Act, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week by the Center for Biological Diversity, as Bloomberg Environment reported.
<p>Four years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services created a framework to address the backlog of more than 500 species that were slated to receive protections, including the 241 species listed in the lawsuit. In the filing, the Center for Biological Diversity claims that the Trump Administration prevented the Fish and Wildlife Service from working its way through the list, as <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/environmental-group-trump-administration-241-species-1489713" target="_blank">Newsweek</a> reported. </p>
<p>One of the most pernicious things that can happen for species that need direct protection or habitat protection is for the federal government to do nothing. By systematically doing nothing, the administration has allowed 241 species to reach the brink of extinction, according to <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/02/trump-has-been-very-bad-for-vulnerable-animals-the-administration-may-finally-have-to-change-its-behavior/" target="_blank">Mother Jones</a>. Most of the species listed in the lawsuit have been awaiting protections for a decade or longer. </p>
<p>Among the species listed in the suit are spotted turtles in the Great Lakes and on the Eastern seaboard, moose in the Midwest, a western bumblebee that has declined by 84 percent, and a tiny freshwater fish in Chesapeake Bay that flips stones with its nose to find food, according to a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-attacks-trump-failure-protect-241-species-extinction-2020-02-26-2020-02-27/" target="_blank">statement</a> from the Center for Biological Diversity. The Center also created an <a href="http://center.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=f92a9c81130c4a05bb180fe1a683b619" target="_blank">interactive map</a> of the U.S. that details which species are living in each state.</p>
<p>"As moose and golden-winged warblers and hundreds of other species fight the rising tide of the extinction crisis, Trump officials won't lift a finger to help," Noah Greenwald, the Center for Biological Diversity's endangered species director said. "This administration's ugly contempt for wildlife and the Endangered Species Act threatens our country's entire web of life. Every day of delay brings these incredible, irreplaceable plants and animals one step closer to extinction."</p>
<p>The Center for Biological Diversity ran the numbers and calculated that the Trump administration has only approved 21 species to be listed on the Endangered Species list, which averages less than seven per year, as <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/02/trump-has-been-very-bad-for-vulnerable-animals-the-administration-may-finally-have-to-change-its-behavior/" target="_blank">Mother Jones</a> reported. That number is the lowest of any administration this far into its presidential term, slightly outpacing the Bush administration, which added protections for about eight species per year. By contrast, the Obama administration added about 45 species per year and the Clinton administration approved 65 species per year.</p><p>"The extinction crisis gets worse by the day, but Trump officials are twiddling their thumbs as plants and animals fade away," Greenwald said in a <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-attacks-trump-failure-protect-241-species-extinction-2020-02-26-2020-02-27/" target="_blank">statement</a>. "It's a moral failure of epic proportions. And it's hurting future generations in ways that can never be undone."</p><p>Greenwald identified several sources of the backlog to <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/02/trump-has-been-very-bad-for-vulnerable-animals-the-administration-may-finally-have-to-change-its-behavior/" target="_blank">Mother Jones</a>. He said, "There are these various political appointees in different positions [there] who have a very long record of opposition to the protection of endangered species, and I think they just end up hanging up decisions by asking questions: 'Well, are we sure about the range of the species?'; 'Are we sure this threat is really impacting them?'"</p><p>The <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/pdfs/241-species-complaint.pdf" target="_blank">lawsuit</a> simply asks that the courts require the Fish and Wildlife Service to end the backlog for 231 species, finalize a determination for six in limbo, and finalize critical habitat protections for four other species. </p>
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