Pressed on Surging Covid-19 Cases and Test Shortages, Trump Says U.S. Is 'Envy of the World'
19 July
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Two medical workers wearing PPE are seen changing their gloves at a free coronavirus testing location outside Washington Square Parkas the city soon moves into Phase 4 of re-opening following restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic on July 18 in New York City.. Alexi Rosenfeld / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
President Donald Trump claimed in a newly aired Fox News interview Sunday that the United States is the "envy of the world" when it comes to Covid-19 testing capacity, a boast that came as state and local leaders continue to raise alarm about widespread test shortages and delays as coronavirus infections surge nationwide.
<p>Pressed by Fox News' Chris Wallace on rising Covid-19 infections, shortages of testing kits and personal protective equipment for frontline workers, and rapidly dwindling hospital capacity, Trump — who is <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/18/should-tell-you-all-you-need-know-trump-attempting-block-billions-new-funding-covid" target="_blank">attempting to block</a> billions of dollars in new funds for testing and contact tracing — said he takes responsibility for how the U.S. has handled the pandemic but added that "some governors have done poorly."</p>
<p>"They're supposed to have supplies ... I supplied everybody," the president said. "Now we have somewhat of a surge in certain areas. In other areas we're doing great. But we have a surge in certain areas. But you don't hear people complaining about ventilators, we've got all the ventilators we could use, we're supplying them to other countries."</p><p>"We have more tests by far than any country in the world," Trump said. When Wallace pointed out that the Covid-19 positivity rate is rising sharply even as more tests are conducted, Trump said dismissively: "Many of those cases are young people that would heal in a day. They have the sniffles and we put it down as a test."</p>
<p>"Cases are up because we have the best testing in the world," Trump said, once again <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/06/22/no-more-testing-doesnt-explain-rise-covid-19-cases-us/" target="_blank">falsely blaming</a> the increase in testing for the growing number of positive coronavirus cases in the U.S., which now leads the world in confirmed infections. "No country has ever done what we've done in terms of testing. We are the envy of the world."</p><p>Watch:</p>
<div id="e4bf9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="71c3f5954eeea1446cd7f05eece3edff"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1284838878185246720" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">"Ready? Will you please get me the mortality rate? Kayleigh is right here... I heard we have the best mortality rat… https://t.co/x3bxd02OIT</div> — Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar)<a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/statuses/1284838878185246720">1595164434.0</a></blockquote></div><p>As the Associated Press <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/07/18/us/politics/ap-us-virus-outbreak-trump-testing.html" target="_blank">reported</a> Saturday, Trump's portrayal of the U.S. coronavirus testing system as the "best in the world" is undermined by the realities numerous states are facing as Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations spike:</p><blockquote>Here are some snapshots from what President Donald Trump describes as the nation with the "best testing in the world" for the coronavirus:<br>In Sun Belt states where the virus is surging, lines of cars with people seeking tests snake for hours in the beating sun, often yielding results so far after the fact that they're useless.<br>In Pittsburgh, adults who are afraid they've been exposed to the coronavirus are being asked to skip testing if they can quarantine at home for 14 days to help reduce delays and backlogs.<br>In Hawaii, the governor will wait another month to lift a two-week quarantine on visitors because of test supply shortages and delays that potential visitors are facing in getting results.<br></blockquote><p>Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, told AP that "it's essentially worthless to have a test result that comes back after 48 hours."</p><p>"We are nowhere near being able to rein in this virus with the amount of testing we have available at the moment," said Wen. "Testing is the linchpin."</p>
<div id="cc3fc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3cfb0f8c911dc0c6aef5b040b06235e9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1281594357905158150" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Is your state doing enough testing?
Great to have @collinskeith use our @harvardgh approach
Short answer: 39 stat… https://t.co/O7300KAqmO</div> — Ashish "The pandemic is still with us" Jha (@Ashish "The pandemic is still with us" Jha)<a href="https://twitter.com/ashishkjha/statuses/1281594357905158150">1594390880.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Blair Holladay, CEO of the American Society for Clinical Pathology, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/07/18/covid-testing-delays-worsen-labs-struggle-keep-pace-demand/5415468002/" target="_blank">told</a> USA Today on Saturday that because the Trump administration has <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/17/disturbing-new-trump-plan-reopen-economy-contains-no-national-covid-19-testing" target="_blank">failed to implement</a> a national testing strategy, "states are duking it out for supply chains."</p><p>"It's the Wild, Wild West," said Holladay.</p><p>In an <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/full-polis-national-testing-scene-is-a-complete-disgrace-87958597546" target="_blank">appearance</a> on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday morning, Colorado's Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said "the national testing scene is a complete disgrace."</p><p>"Every test we send out to private lab partners nationally, Quest, Labcorp, seven days, eight days, nine days — maybe six days if we're lucky," Polis said of the amount of time it typically takes to get test results back. "Almost useless from an epidemiological or even diagnostic perspective."</p><p>"Fortunately, our state lab has done yeoman's work," Polis continued. "We're running three shifts a day there, 24 hours a day. So while some are still sent out of state, and unfortunately that takes a long time and we can't count on it and our country needs to get testing right, we're trying to build that capacity in Colorado."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/19/pressed-surging-covid-19-cases-and-test-shortages-trump-says-us-envy-world" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The endangered Gray Wolf, being a keystone predator, is an integral component of the ecosystems to which it typically belongs. USFWS Endangered Species
A little more than a month after the Trump administration announced a major rollback of the Endangered Species Act, 17 states are suing to stop it.
<p>The administration's changes would remove the blanket rule giving threatened species the same protections as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a>, allow regulators to calculate the economic cost of protecting any given species and make it harder to protect species from the impacts of the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. They were announced months after a major UN <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" target="_self">biodiversity</a> report <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/biodiversity-report-ignored-2638037822.html" target="_self">warned</a> that one million species could go extinct because of human activity.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a><br><br>Democratic AGs across the country just took action to save the Endangered Species Act! <br><br>So far, Dem AGs have taken more than 250 actions to combat the ongoing climate crisis and stop the Trump admin's dangerous rollbacks in environmental policy! <a href="https://t.co/haNg8INfQV">pic.twitter.com/haNg8INfQV</a></p>— Democratic AGs (@DemocraticAGs) <a href="https://twitter.com/DemocraticAGs/status/1176956543876685826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 25, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>"As we face a climate emergency and global extinction crisis threatening more than a million species, the Trump Administration is gutting Endangered Species Act protections to pave the way for oil and gas developments," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/09/25/trump-administration-weakened-endangered-species-act-rules-today-state-attorneys-general-sued-over-it/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. "We are suing to defend federal law and protect our imperiled <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> and environment."</p><p>Massachusetts was one of the states that led the suit filed Wednesday, along with Maryland and California. They were joined by Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington state, along with Washington, DC and New York City.</p><p>"We don't challenge these actions because we want to pick a fight," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a press conference announcing the suit. "We challenge these actions because it is necessary. We're coming out swinging to defend this consequential law. Humankind, and the species with whom we share this planet, depend on it."</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="df67ef26838258c9438cb008ca1680ac"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SgTDe4ovNY8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>In suing, the states are fulfilling a promise made in August, when the changes were first announced, according to The Washington Post. Their action follows on a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/environmental-groups-sue-endangered-species-2639956307.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="_self">similar lawsuit</a> brought by environmental groups last month.</p><p>The Department of the Interior (DOI), for its part, defended the changes.</p><p>"These are long overdue and necessary regulatory changes that will recover more imperiled species facing extinction than previously accomplished over the span of this law," DOI spokesman Nick Goodwin said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/states-lawsuit-endangered-species-act_us_5d8b92fbe4b0c6d0cef532dc?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAKlKxYs9iNfye6jw1dioADfvazaC6S1AhI4EP8jim8AJEeWN61en-9FPOJ2nOZVcnGA9cFU_zQOMh8Q2vo6t7zcl3mjZC30MBzvEJ0EaOOCZmOol3vO9MMjZO9FLgYkmcu8ou6WJt0L3n76J8Ps7wZjG1LfpJYFd3u_Fv9a6V5bF" target="_blank">HuffPost</a>. "We will see them in court, and we will be steadfast in our implementation of this important act to improve conservation efforts across the country."</p><p>Privately, however, senior DOI officials have spoken distastefully of the entire 1973 law, calling it a "sword to tear down the American economy," HuffPost reported.</p><p>The states' suit came a day before the changes are scheduled to start taking effect, <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/09/25/endangered-species-act-17-states-sue-trump-administration-over-changes/2443508001/" target="_blank">USA Today reported</a>.</p><p>Since it was passed, the Endangered Species Act has saved 99 percent of the plants and animals under its protection from extinction. It has been linked to the recovery of iconic species like the bald eagle and gray wolf, and currently protects more than 1,600 species.</p><p>"As we face the unprecedented threat of a climate emergency, now is the time to strengthen our planet's biodiversity, not to destroy it," Becerra said in a statement reported by USA Today. "The only thing we want to see extinct are the beastly policies of the Trump administration putting our ecosystems in critical danger."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Trump?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Trump</a>'s rules are a dream-come-true for polluting industries and a nightmare for endangered species" <a href="https://t.co/L3Nu5TCZU5">https://t.co/L3Nu5TCZU5</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CenterForBioDiv?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CenterForBioDiv</a></p>— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) <a href="https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/1164734077276172288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 23, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Energy efficient led lamps at an exhibition. Yurou Guan / Moment / Getty Images
The Trump administration is rolling back energy efficiency standards for light bulbs that would have kept millions of tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, CNBC reported Wednesday.
<p>The Department of Energy (DOE) <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2019-18940.pdf?utm_source=federalregister.gov&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pi+subscription+mailing+list" target="_blank">announced Wednesday</a> it would reverse a requirement that three-way, recessed can, candle-shaped and round bulbs switch from incandescent and halogen bulbs to more energy-efficient LED varieties. The requirement would have gone into effect in January 2020 and would have impacted bulbs that fill 2.7 billion U.S. sockets, nearly half the sockets in the country, the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/noah-horowitz/latest-doe-attempt-save-inefficient-bulbs-makes-no-sense?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=twee&utm_campaign=EnergyEfficiency" target="_blank">Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) explained</a>.</p><p>The DOE also said it would not update standards for bulbs still included in a light-bulb efficiency regulation, like common pear-shaped bulbs. Together, the two decisions will add $14 billion to yearly U.S. energy bills up to 2025 and consume at least 25 power plants worth of energy annually, the NRDC calculated.</p>
<div id="a0e31" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="B0KDW51576661512"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1169275339635380224" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">BREAKING: The Dept. of @Energy announced it will proceed with rolling back energy-saving standards for everyday lig… https://t.co/VuG9VJ4Lpg</div> — NRDC 🌎 (@NRDC 🌎)<a href="https://twitter.com/NRDC/statuses/1169275339635380224">1567611939.0</a></blockquote></div><p>"The Energy Department flat out got it wrong today," <a href="https://www.ase.org/" target="_blank">Alliance to Save Energy</a> President Jason Hartke said of the rollback, as CNBC reported. "Instead of moving us forward, this rule will keep more energy-wasting bulbs on store shelves and saddle the average American household with about $100 in unnecessary energy costs every year. Wasting energy with inefficient lightbulbs isn't just costly for homes and businesses, it's terrible for our climate."</p><p>The reversed regulation has its origins in a bill that passed Congress and was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2007. That bill aimed to phase out incandescent and halogen bulbs by 2020, according to the NRDC. It was updated in 2017 to include the reflector, candle-shaped, three-way and round bulbs that the DOE is now excluding.</p><p>The NRDC claims the rollback is illegal because it violates the "anti-backsliding" provision that says the DOE cannot weaken standards once they are put in place.</p><p>"We will explore all options, including litigation, to stop this completely misguided and unlawful action," Noah Horowitz, director of the NRDC's Center for Energy Efficiency Standards, said in a statement reported by CNBC.</p><p>However, DOE spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/climate/trump-light-bulb-rollback.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> that the 2007 law only mandated the department issue standards when "economically justified." She argued that the reversed standards were not.</p>
<p>The rollback "will ensure that the choice of how to light homes and businesses is left to the American people, not the federal government," she said.</p><p>The National Electrical Manufacturers Association, the trade association for light bulb makers, praised the DOE's decision and said it "will not impact the market's continuing, rapid adoption of energy-saving lighting."</p><p>But Andrew deLaski, executive director of the <a href="https://appliance-standards.org/" target="_blank">Appliance Standards Awareness Project</a>, questioned the motives of the light bulb makers. He told <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/09/04/757623821/trump-administration-reverses-standards-for-energy-efficient-light-bulbs?utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR36qz7pZjf8RiucgUtQ5dpt7LWmLMIKb2Pq1npcDqZWwJlZKo28Q1rhva8&fbclid=IwAR0loyXf3_u7xfsK7qgPFIAwLRb1z9tSMzwF3NTse2O06zHb5I1-HhCdll0" target="_blank">NPR</a> that a single LED light bulb can last a consumer 10 years or more, which means the companies have an interest in encouraging the continued use of shorter-lasting, less efficient bulbs.</p><p>But for everyone besides the light bulb makers, preserving inefficient bulbs is wrong-headed.</p><p>"The Trump administration is trying to protect technology that was first invented in the 1800s. It's like trying to protect the horse and buggy from the automobile technology. It makes no sense to go back to technology from two centuries ago, when we have new technology today which saves consumers money and helps protect the environment by reducing the amount of power that we need," deLaski told NPR.</p>
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Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin shakes President Trump's hand as Vice President Mike Pence watches on July 19 in DC.
SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD
By Elliott Negin
On July 19, President Trump hosted Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins and their families, along with the family of their deceased colleague Neil Armstrong, at a White House event to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon.
<p>"Tomorrow will represent 50 years from the time we planted a beautiful American flag on the moon," Trump <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/watch-trump-meets-with-apollo-11-astronauts-buzz-aldrin-and-michael-collins" target="_blank">said</a>. "And that was an achievement, possibly one of the great, considered one of the great achievements ever."</p><p>Trump's fractured syntax notwithstanding, the Apollo program was indeed a stunning triumph of federal science, <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA" target="_blank">involving</a> more than 34,000 National Aeronautics and Space Administration employees and 375,000 industry and university contractors. It was one of many spectacular <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dont-take-federal-science_b_4146736" target="_blank">achievements</a> by federal and federally funded scientists over the last half-century, such as the creation of the internet, fiber optics and magnetic resonance imaging technology, not to mention the role those scientists played in providing the technical underpinning for health and environmental <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/environmental-protections-save-lives-create-jobs-and_b_58dc4a1ee4b04ba4a5e25098" target="_blank">standards</a> that save lives and protect critical ecosystems and <a href="http://ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" rel="noopener noreferrer">wildlife</a> habitats.</p><p>Trump's lauding of the Apollo 11 mission rang a particularly discordant note given the lengths to which his administration has gone to destroy federal science by censoring scientific findings, gagging agency scientists and fostering a hostile working environment. Since taking office, the administration has launched more than <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/center-science-and-democracy/attacks-on-science" target="_blank">100 attacks on science</a>, according to my organization, the <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/" target="_blank">Union of Concerned Scientists</a> — more than the George W. Bush administration <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/center-science-and-democracy/promoting-scientific-integrity/abuses-science-case-studies" target="_blank">amassed</a> over its two four-year terms.</p><p>Just a day before Trump's Apollo photo op, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/climate/epa-chlorpyrifos-pesticide-ban.html" target="_blank">announced it would reject</a> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17116700" target="_blank">scientific evidence</a> and the recommendation of its own staff scientists by not banning <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chlorpyrifos" target="_self">chlorpyrifos</a>, the widely used agricultural pesticide shown to hamper childhood brain development. It was the agency's second scientifically indefensible chemical-related decision of the year. In April, it overruled <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/815-e-p-a-memos-on-asbestos/12c87a96be998db10048/optimized/full.pdf#page=1" target="_blank">the advice</a> of its own scientists who urged the agency to follow the example of <a href="https://tinyurl.com/y5x2k32p" target="_blank">55 other countries</a> in completely banning <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/asbestos" target="_self">asbestos</a>, a known carcinogen.</p>
Sidelining Science
<div id="a0046" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="KTL07A1576661585"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1164145122381950977" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">“By allowing chlorpyrifos to stay in our fruits and vegetables, Trump’s @EPA is breaking the law and neglecting the… https://t.co/DCZpzQKdi9</div> — On Capitol Hill (@On Capitol Hill)<a href="https://twitter.com/EarthjusticeDC/statuses/1164145122381950977">1566388800.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Today's EPA offers a stark example of the Trump administration's crusade to dismantle science-based agencies. Nearly 1,600 employees <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/with-a-shrinking-epa-trump-delivers-on-his-promise-to-cut-government/2018/09/08/6b058f9e-b143-11e8-a20b-5f4f84429666_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.580c7cd37b13" target="_blank">left the EPA</a> during the first year and a half of the EPA administration, while only 400 were hired, according to data obtained by The Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act request. Of 1,600 employees <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-workers-trump-administration-2603730765.html">who left</a>, at least 260 were scientists, 185 were "environmental protection specialists" and 106 were engineers. The <a href="https://www.epa.gov/planandbudget/budget" target="_blank">total number of employees</a> at the agency today — 14,172 — is the lowest in 30 years.<br></p><p>Besides chopping staff, the EPA has dramatically reduced the role of outside science advisers. Last fall, EPA Administrator <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/andrew-wheeler">Andrew Wheeler</a>, a former coal industry lobbyist, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/11/climate/epa-disbands-pollution-science-panel.html" target="_blank">disbanded</a> a 20-member scientific advisory committee on particulate matter, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060102455" target="_blank">failed</a> to convene a similar panel on ozone, and <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060102455" target="_blank">packed</a> a seven-member advisory committee on air quality standards with industry-friendly participants.</p><p>The EPA is not the only agency pushing scientists out the door. The same day the EPA made its chlorpyrifos announcement, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/07/18/many-usda-workers-quit-research-agencies-move-kansas-city-brain-drain-we-all-feared/?utm_term=.c549e94ec861" target="_blank">announced</a> that nearly two-thirds of 395 Washington, D.C.-based employees in its Economic Research Service, which provides analyses on a range of issues, and National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which oversees $1.7 billion in scientific funding, will quit rather than relocate to Kansas City.</p><p>The department's dubious rationale for moving the Research Service and National Institute is placing researchers closer to farmers and <a href="https://www.aaea.org/UserFiles/file/Report-MovingUSDAResearchersWillCostTaxpayers-AAEAReport2019june19final.docx.pdf" target="_blank">cutting costs</a>, but its ulterior motive is to hollow out their staffs, hindering their ability to carry out their missions. Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff, acknowledged as much during a <a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?463060-1/mick-mulvaney-addresses-south-carolina-republican-party-gala&start=2412" target="_blank">speech</a> he gave at an Aug. 2 Republican fundraiser in South Carolina.</p><p>"You've heard about 'drain the swamp.' What you probably haven't heard is what we are actually doing," he said. "I don't know if you saw the news the other day, but the USDA just tried to move, or did move, two offices out of Washington, D.C…. Guess what happened? More than half the people quit…. What a wonderful way to sort of streamline government, and do what we haven't been able to do for a long time."</p>Capitol Hill Science Defenders
<p>Some members of Congress are fighting back. Late last month, for example, the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress — a temporary committee with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans — <a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/modernizing-congress/2019/07/house-modernization-committee-recommends-bringing-back-office-of-technology-assessment/" target="_blank">unanimously approved</a> a recommendation to resurrect the Office of Technology Assessment, a congressional watchdog agency that then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich <a href="https://ota.fas.org/2012/01/31/gingrich-said-to-decimate-congressional-expertise/" target="_blank">killed</a> in the mid-1990s.</p><p>The select committee's recommendation comes on the heels of a draft House <a href="https://appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/appropriations-committee-releases-fiscal-year-2020-legislative-branch-funding" target="_blank">spending bill</a> for the 2020 fiscal year that includes $6 million to jumpstart the agency, which provided Congress with <a href="https://ota.fas.org/otareports/" target="_blank">analyses</a> on a range of topics, from acid rain to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a> to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" rel="noopener noreferrer">renewable energy</a>, from 1972 to 1995.</p><p>Meanwhile, House Democrats and Republicans alike voiced their support for protecting federal science during a recent Science, Space and Technology Committee <a href="https://eos.org/articles/hearing-garners-bipartisan-support-for-scientific-integrity" target="_blank">hearing</a> on scientific integrity. <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ostp/library/scientificintegrity" target="_blank">Two dozen</a> federal agencies have adopted scientific integrity policies since 2010, but they are inconsistent and difficult to enforce, so some members of Congress want to codify protections in a law.</p><p>"Allowing political power or special interests to manipulate or suppress federal science hurts, and hurts all of us," <a href="https://eos.org/articles/hearing-garners-bipartisan-support-for-scientific-integrity" target="_blank">said</a> New York Rep. Paul Tonko at the July 17 hearing. "It leads to dirtier air, unsafe water, toxic products on our shelves, and chemicals in our homes and environment. And it has driven federal inaction in response to the growing climate crisis."</p><p>Earlier this year, Tonko introduced the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1709/text?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22scientific+integrity+act%22%5D%7D&r=1&s=1" target="_blank">Scientific Integrity Act</a>, which would guarantee federal scientists the right to share their findings with the public, ensure the accuracy of government science-related communications, and protect scientific research from political interference.</p><p>Federal science has taken an unprecedented beating during the Trump administration and remains a long way from its glory days half a century ago when it landed men on the moon. Tonko recognizes that protecting scientific integrity is a critical first step to rebuilding American scientific enterprise and that it deserves bipartisan support.</p><p>"Scientific integrity is a longstanding concern that transcends any one party or political administration," Tonko <a href="https://eos.org/articles/hearing-garners-bipartisan-support-for-scientific-integrity" target="_blank">said</a>. "The abuses directed by this president and his top officials have brought a new urgency to the issue, but the fact remains whether a Democrat or Republican sits in the [House] speaker's chair or the Oval Office, we need strong scientific integrity policies."</p>From Your Site Articles
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Trump Complains Puerto Rico Getting 'Too Much' Disaster Aid as More Than 1 Million Face Food Crisis
27 March 2019
Food
Petra Gonzalez, 85, spends hours of the day standing and walking on the potholed road that runs past her house. To get food to cook, Gonzalez has to hike to a refrigerator up the hill, covered only by a blue tarp,, Aug. 28 2018. Sarah L. Voisin / The Washington Post / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
With more than a million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico facing devastating food stamp cuts as Congress fails to provide necessary hurricane relief funding, President Donald Trump reportedly complained to Republican senators on Tuesday that the island is receiving "too much" aid — a position that was decried as both false and cruel.
<p><span></span>"The president continues to show his vindictive behavior towards Puerto Rico and he continues to make the humanitarian crisis worse," <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1110749533716140034" target="_blank">said</a> San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. "He is ensuring that people don't have food to put on the table."</p>
<p>Trump's remarks came during a private lunch with Republicans Tuesday, during which — <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-complains-to-senators-that-puerto-rico-is-getting-too-much-hurricane-relief-funding/2019/03/26/c8c09c30-4fd3-11e9-8d28-f5149e5a2fda_story.html" target="_blank">according to</a> the Washington Post — the president <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/26/trump-seems-inflate-price-tag-puerto-ricos-recovery-deny-funding-puerto-ricos-recovery" target="_blank">inflated the amount of aid</a> Puerto Rico has received since Hurricane Maria and pushed lawmakers to limit funding to the island.</p><p>"At the lunch Tuesday, Trump rattled off the amount of aid that had been designated for other disaster-hit states and compared it with the amount allocated for Puerto Rico following the 2017 hurricane, which he said was too high," the Post reported.</p><p>After claiming that Puerto Rico has received $91 billion in federal aid — <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/26/trump-seems-inflate-price-tag-puerto-ricos-recovery-deny-funding-puerto-ricos-recovery" target="_blank">it is unclear where he got this number</a> — Trump reportedly said "one could buy Puerto Rico four times over for $91 billion."</p><p>Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló responded with outrage to Trump's reported comments in a <a href="https://twitter.com/JStein_WaPo/status/1110748151407960066" target="_blank">statement</a> late Tuesday.</p><p>"People from all over the nation, and the world, have witnessed the inequalities Americans face on the island," Rosselló said. "The federal response and its treatment during these past months in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria is clear evidence of our second-class citizenship."</p><p>"Mr. President: Enough with the insults and demeaning characterizations," he added. "We are not asking for anything more than any other U.S. state has received. We are merely asking for equality."</p><p>Trump's complaint about aid to the storm-ravaged island comes as an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/puerto-rico-faces-food-stamps-crisis-as-trump-privately-vents-about-federal-aid-to-hurricane-maria-battered-island/2019/03/25/ade500fe-4cb3-11e9-b79a-961983b7e0cd_story.html" target="_blank">estimated 1.3 million</a> Puerto Ricans — including <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/27/v" target="_blank">hundreds of thousands of children and elderly people</a> — have had life-saving food aid cut amid inaction and obstruction from the White House and congressional Republicans.</p><p>"We just don't have the money right now," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/puerto-rico-faces-food-stamps-crisis-as-trump-privately-vents-about-federal-aid-to-hurricane-maria-battered-island/2019/03/25/ade500fe-4cb3-11e9-b79a-961983b7e0cd_story.html" target="_blank">said</a> Myrna Izquierdo, an administrator at a Puerto Rican health clinic that relies on food stamp funding. "It's very hard. It is so unfair. That cut is going to kill us."</p>
<div id="d1db4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="260R401576664189"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1110515154570088450" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The amount of reporting we have about the president's willful neglect of American citizens in Puerto Rico should be… https://t.co/W2zT6HhooN</div> — Steadman™ (@Steadman™)<a href="https://twitter.com/AsteadWesley/statuses/1110515154570088450">1553602419.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Late Tuesday afternoon, the Senate advanced a disaster relief bill that Democrats said is far from adequate to address the crises in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. According to <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/05/29/harvard-study-puts-hurricane-deaths-puerto-rico-nearly-6000-people-70-times-official" target="_blank">one study</a>, the storm may have killed nearly 6,000 people.</p><p>"The lack of leadership and coordination, combined with delays in meeting the basic needs of the island, more than 18 months after receiving a presidential disaster declaration, has left far too many children and elderly citizens in unhealthy and unsafe conditions, families in severely damaged homes and communities without adequate infrastructure to sustain a decent quality of life," Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) wrote in a <a href="https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/minority/leahy-schumer-blast-trump-administration-for-abysmal-response-to-puerto-rico-recovery-and-demand-timeline-for-correcting-its-uncoordinated-long-delayed-response" target="_blank">letter</a> to the White House on Tuesday.</p><p>Despite the island's dire situation, Trump has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/puerto-rico-faces-food-stamps-crisis-as-trump-privately-vents-about-federal-aid-to-hurricane-maria-battered-island/2019/03/25/ade500fe-4cb3-11e9-b79a-961983b7e0cd_story.html" target="_blank">reportedly said</a> that he "doesn't want another single dollar going to the island."</p><p>"Puerto Rico is in dire need of increased food assistance funding," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/1110275935532707841" target="_blank">wrote</a> on Twitter this week. "It's unconscionable that we've allowed our fellow Americans to suffer for so long without the full resources of the U.S. government. We must act now to end this crisis."</p>
<p> <em>Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/27/vindictive-behavior-trump-complains-puerto-rico-getting-too-much-disaster-aid-over" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em><em></em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas is not only a sanctuary to some 200 species of butterflies, it's also a home for the area's other unique wildlife.
With border wall construction imminent, the center posted a two-minute video featuring a bobcat living in the facility's southern 70 acres that will be cut off by the barrier once it's built.
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="827f596e171511304b59e582a6532bd6"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/natbutterflies/videos/250932149165313/" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div>
<p>"Little does this bobcat know," the center states in the video, "its ability to hunt, find shelter, find a mate and raise its young is about to be drastically affected by a concrete and steel wall it will never be able to get past."<br></p><p>
What's more, the center noted, the floodlights that will be installed along the wall will "light up the entire area like a war zone all night long."
</p><p>
<span></span>The underlying message of the clip is the U.S.-Mexico barrier's negative impact to native species and the surrounding environment.
</p><p>
<span></span>The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump">Trump</a> administration waived 28 environmental laws including the Endangered Species Act in order to build 33 more miles of wall in the Rio Grande Valley, including a 5.5-mile concrete and steel barrier through the butterfly refuge. The project was funded by last year's congressional appropriations.
</p><p>
<span></span>The National Butterfly Center Director Marianna Wright told the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/13/butterfly-sanctuary-border-wall-mission-texas" target="_blank">Guardian</a> that the wall's construction would harm the butterflies as well as other species like the Texas tortoise, Texas indigo snake and Texas horned lizard that also find refuge on the center's land.
</p><p>
The butterfly sanctuary has filed an emergency restraining order on Monday to halt the construction, the <a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/butterfly-trump-restraining-order-lawsuit-border-wall-texas/" target="_blank">Texas Observer</a> reported. The center is also urging supporters to call their senators and representatives to stop any further border wall funding.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="0e401" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7FHWVW1576662272"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1095384451960446978" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A 2017 study by the Center for Biological Diversity looking at the potential impact of the wall on 93 threatened or… https://t.co/wJzVEDBhA6</div> — Center for Bio Div (@Center for Bio Div)<a href="https://twitter.com/CenterForBioDiv/statuses/1095384451960446978">1549994979.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Meanwhile, the center wrote in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/natbutterflies/posts/2336844076349304?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBrKxfdh_oakopn03Odak9DYo3GpeqsXvz2Upli_9EJQciHOm_THx75fWZowsYhhg7NIulW7GVxlDW5GtEzVbOCXmM6EvQyS0FAqGqB3_in31QqeiwCkIB4ZxVeckOM-nm9ABZY9SQX3bkvv35WQ-LWUFN-IXnHD5BkG1JZOjKRQlmKEk-SNx7nfxAUrHo9zzQ-0v-sU11n3-P6_suUunlC6eErrHMGUJAbMNOaBglOVoGRpZDefAxyMxZFOQb6OVlDC4kuC_9MHk2p5LdsvYomzjal7fvQcCtQIH8XLpfuGKEG3MGLV0uz4LdbQ3JG8QC_DuYzORSivPQNLGW0OIWwK4JLTj1TFBHaMg&__tn__=-R" target="_blank">Facebook post</a> on Thursday that trees were being taken down in their section of the Lower Rio Grande Valley Wildlife Conservation Corridor, "a remnant of native habitat set aside for species protection."
</p><p>
The post also included a Facebook live video from writer and conservation photographer <a href="https://www.facebook.com/krista.schlyer?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARAgyWISSRxOdGcpYO7OGhyN9vx_42Z373Vb9vMz9Fqyu2OWRhzozkOfpwnrFJX2cnthHiX8GhKPc2G1&fref=mentions&__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARCXbkhpdF-H4b9TDwnfldnrzTv3hVOlKSS0J1dRtSZjo9oAwRVPQuQQ-_5yR9coB_Mvse8JCZvMSRliwws2mSEY4sBlcp9GSAsfVE3AdG_79mRkJlnZVLmfpzSeO_tjWeLHmDDD14ddlmJ02CGIy35czZRat7vTDeW_5XvujRi65GBSfrYWuLL8UpSAwylWoSKJZZJ14g2jDT7KIoI-i75fEyDMmb1ay_uzxbfpaPwzDddYS366Am4PsDN5_YCowkdwEf96zCGJ4r9NRAidAPJFTKoPQixPKs4x60E8GPVFKD52gsKSYwZMddOeLEWm0YP5n0hMof2n_LWgeKTCzBieigetbLhkswM5_w" target="_blank">Krista Schlyer</a>, who went to the site to observe the construction work. Schlyer said in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/krista.schlyer/videos/10156046106228779/" target="_blank">later video</a> that authorities escorted her away from the construction site.
</p><p>
"They really don't want me to see what's going on back there," she said.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="e37d2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="HL35YZ1576662272"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1096051230516920320" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Construction of #borderwall began this morning on the La Parida tract of the Lower Rio Grande Refuge. The forest is… https://t.co/F9CuOvfNhs</div> — krista schlyer (@krista schlyer)<a href="https://twitter.com/kristaschlyer/statuses/1096051230516920320">1550153951.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p>
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Border wall prototypes near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego. Mani Albrecht / U.S. Customs and Border Protection
A federal appeals court on Monday sided with the Trump administration's bypassing of numerous environmental laws to expedite border wall construction projects in southern California.
In a 2-1 decision (pdf), the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an earlier district court ruling that determined the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has broad authority under the Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to waive statutes such as the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act and many more environmental rules to build border barriers.
<p>
"Because the projects are statutorily authorized and DHS has waived the environmental laws California and the environmental groups seek to enforce, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment to DHS," judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote in the majority opinion.
</p><p>
<span></span>A Justice Department spokesperson told <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/429444-appeals-court-sides-with-trump-in-border-wall-prototype-dispute" target="_blank">The Hill</a> that the ruling was "a victory for the Trump administration, for the rule of law, and above all, for our border security."
</p><p>
<span></span>The lawsuit was originally <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/border-wall-09-06-2017.php" target="_blank">filed</a> in 2017 by multiple conservation groups and the state of California in response to the <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2017/08/01/dhs-issues-waiver-expedite-border-construction-projects-san-diego-area" target="_blank">federal government's waiver</a> of 37 environmental regulations to build prototypes of the planned border wall in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego County, as well as a replacement for existing border infrastructure along a 15-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico boundary south of San Diego.
</p><p>
<span></span>The<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank"> Center for Biological Diversity</a>, one of the litigants, was disappointed by Monday's court ruling, especially as the challengers tried to take the case to the Supreme Court but was <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/419445-supreme-court-rejects-greens-challenge-to-border-wall-law" target="_blank">rejected in December</a>.
</p><p>
"Congress has ceded its authority to Trump, who has swept aside fundamental public safety and environmental laws to build walls that won't work," Brian Segee, a Center for Biological Diversity attorney, said in a statement to The Hill after the decision. "This lawlessness is destroying irreplaceable ecosystems and militarizing communities."
</p><p>
The Center found in a 2017
<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/international/borderlands_and_boundary_waters/pdfs/A_Wall_in_the_Wild.pdf" target="_blank">study</a> (pdf) that more than 90 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species">endangered</a> or threatened species would be threatened by proposed wall construction along the 2,000-mile border.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="0e401" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="689PR41576662558"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1095384451960446978" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A 2017 study by the Center for Biological Diversity looking at the potential impact of the wall on 93 threatened or… https://t.co/wJzVEDBhA6</div> — Center for Bio Div (@Center for Bio Div)<a href="https://twitter.com/CenterForBioDiv/statuses/1095384451960446978">1549994979.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Environmental concerns about the controversial border wall are on full display in Texas, where
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/no-border-wall-butterfly-center-2628185754.html" target="_blank">construction is imminent</a> at the <a href="https://www.nationalbutterflycenter.org/" target="_blank">National Butterfly Center</a>—the most diverse butterfly sanctuary in the U.S.
</p><p>
A planned 5.5-mile section of concrete and steel border wall that was funded by the the 2018 Omnibus spending bill will cut off 70 percent of the 100-acre property.
</p><p>
Some 200 species of butterflies find a home there each year, including the Mexican bluewing, the black swallowtail and the increasingly imperiled
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/monarch-butterflies" target="_self">monarch</a>.
</p><p>
On Monday, the nonprofit filed a temporary restraining order against the federal government to halt construction until a lawsuit filed by the center has been resolved, according to the
<a href="https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Butterfly-Center-files-restraining-order-against-13609866.php" target="_blank">San Antonio Express-News</a>.
</p><p>
The Trump administration also waived 28 environmental laws including the Endangered Species Act in order to build 33 more miles of wall in the lower Rio Grande Valley, including the section through the butterfly center.
</p>
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An excavator shows up at the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas. National Butterfly Center / Facebook
Construction equipment has arrived to build a border wall through the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas, a protected habitat for more than 200 species of wild butterflies and other unique wildlife.
A planned 5.5 mile section of concrete and steel border wall that is already funded will cut off 70 percent of the 100-acre property. The barrier will be built on top of a levee of the Rio Grande that runs through the sanctuary.
<p>
An excavator and eight law enforcement units arrived around the center on Sunday, the National Butterfly Center wrote in a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/natbutterflies/posts/2319958811371164" target="_blank">Facebook post</a>.
</p><p>
"Effective Monday morning, it is all government land," a Mission police department officer said, according to the post.
</p><p>Bulldozing for the wall, which is expected to be about three stories tall, will commence any day now, the center wrote in another
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/natbutterflies/posts/2322889944411384?__xts__%5B0%5D=68.ARBy6zZb58xzCn-uDj2-gWZru7SG7aP2op2O7GviX--14o934idK-m9mdmBKlOkMcr7RNYk-Fce3I2ul1VP8sobGQwahc2ymCA2iqLSKxK5HYlz5o8c62dQ-pJTq5_pU2YHA3o4VJepsHPfaO9uzCtOEdXscQMPu4TcDbrSFl6V9g-3kkfYVhaLbfssGVC-7AB6-tn54p-H1ls5qORumzrHbsvhqUVX3w8THPSkHmfLuEasxasgdWdnmRnOEqbLJD0DP5D7YuPGKBAmMn3v6I6le7793h8eXVa-UhGEMn71b8fT4yz06rG3qXxVZgQJxPO7rQTnKSKdFEAjkmEEHmj3V6YWGzAHZisZhrIsITGYXkJQkqe2M2UClK8ZsixroXI4R5xKJ1f4NkVqBRPbVwJQPjo_kvTVxSA5ShiUMWCL0vbrQQj90uopZV9yeh3CGxslYPnnJgfW-02YWlWOCvt7kA6rrd_7nQrzfb4tu3c3u1sr7Uc3ZRaqzYiDc2Ctk4yrozV4rHvqA6mJf6Cs7DC0KsPK78MZ1cSE0aYSmPw&__tn__=-R" target="_blank">post</a> on Tuesday.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="32d4609a7f276c5004b9facbdc327673"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xzgh-mOlLx4?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">National Butterfly Center faces uncertainty as heavy equipment arrives</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzgh-mOlLx4" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>On Monday, as the construction equipment was off-loaded, roughly 35 local tribal members marched to the center in protest of the project, the
<a href="https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/First-signs-of-border-wall-construction-spotted-13587300.php" target="_blank">San Antonio Express-News</a> reported.<br></p><p>
Juan Mancias, the tribal chair of Carrizo Comecrudo, told the publication he did not expect construction to begin "this soon."
</p><p>
"You come over here, you see the butterflies here, the animals here, and you also see gravesites that have been here since 1865," Mancias said.
</p><p>
In federal documents seen by the publication, the barrier's construction includes a 150-foot-wide "enforcement zone" that could negatively impact gravesites of Mancias' ancestors buried at a nearby cemetery.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="fb710" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="S5UTM51576683766"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1092470110416236544" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Native American protesters marched to the National Butterfly Center in South Texas this morning to protest border w… https://t.co/VQsZIijpqP</div> — Gus Bova (@Gus Bova)<a href="https://twitter.com/bova_gus/statuses/1092470110416236544">1549300146.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
The butterfly center's fate was sealed in December when the Supreme Court declined to hear a case brought by the
<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>, the <a href="https://aldf.org/" target="_blank">Animal Legal Defense Fund</a> and <a href="https://defenders.org/" target="_blank">Defenders of Wildlife</a> to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/border-wall-mexico-2540848560.html" target="_self">appeal a federal court</a> decision that the Trump administration can waive 28 environmental laws including the Endangered Species Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, in order to build 33 more miles of wall, including the section that runs through the refuge. </p><p>The project was funded in the 2018 Omnibus spending bill in March.</p><p>
In a recent Facebook Live with EcoWatch, Marianna Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center said morale on the ground was "pretty bad."
</p><p>
<span></span>"The potential impacts are devastating," Wright continued. "Especially for animals like the ocelot where we have fewer than 80 known in existence."
</p><p>
If you'd like to help, the center has started a
<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/protect-the-national-butterfly-center" target="_blank">Go Fund Me</a> to protect <span></span>the site.
</p><div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="71c8d530611eae4e0e706daf1e79e91a"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/EcoWatch/videos/345706262651120/" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div>
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- What Will It Take to Stop Trump From Bulldozing Most Diverse ... ›
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'As Trumpian As it Gets': Coal Lobbyist Andrew Wheeler Moves Closer to Full-Time EPA Spot
05 February 2019
Insights + Opinion
Win McNamee / Getty Images
Acting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Andrew Wheeler is one step closer to deregulating the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The former coal lobbyist, who critics say is even worse for the environment than his scandal-plagued predecessor Scott Pruitt, secured a key approval by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on Tuesday, sending President Trump's nominee to the full Senate for approval.
<p>
The committee voted
<a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases-republican?ID=2A9ECE67-F5C9-4EE9-801C-04E0A852E2AF" target="_blank">11-10</a> along party lines to advance the nomination.
</p><p>
"Mr. Wheeler has done an outstanding job leading the Environmental Protection Agency these past six months," Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works,
<a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases-republican?ID=2A9ECE67-F5C9-4EE9-801C-04E0A852E2AF" target="_blank">remarked today</a>. "I urge my colleagues to vote in support of his nomination to be the administrator."
</p><p>
Wheeler has been at the post since Pruitt resigned amid a
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/scott-pruitt-resigning-scandals-2584354558.html">flurry of alleged ethical breaches</a> in July. But unlike Pruitt, whose tenure was sullied by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/pruitt-epa-communications-2490136462.html">sketchy use of taxpayer money</a> on 'round-the-clock security, a soundproof phone booth and premium flights, the consummate Washington insider has advanced the interests of the fossil fuel industry and other corporate polluters by quietly weakening or rolling back federal regulations.</p><p>Civil fines charged to polluters under the Trump EPA fell 85 percent during the last fiscal year when compared to the average annual amount charged over the past two decades, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/civil-penalties-for-polluters-dropped-dramatically-in-trumps-first-two-years-analysis-shows/2019/01/24/7384d168-1a82-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.fba827ddbf9a" target="_blank">The Washington Post recently reported</a>. That makes last year the lowest average year for penalties since 1994.</p><p><span></span>At his Senate Environment and Public Works Committee confirmation hearing last month, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) asked if Wheeler agreed with the scientific community's belief that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate change</a> is "one of the great crises facing our planet." </p><p><span></span>"I would not call it the greatest crisis, no sir," Wheeler responded. "I consider it a huge issue that has to be addressed globally." </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="132fd" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="W4C0OM1576662185"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1092826151809093637" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Wheeler has relentlessly pushed to advance the pro-polluter agenda launched by Scott Pruitt, the worst administrato… https://t.co/t49nvNXStX</div> — NRDC 🌎 (@NRDC 🌎)<a href="https://twitter.com/NRDC/statuses/1092826151809093637">1549385032.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>Wheeler previously worked as a lobbyist for the coal mining conglomerate Murray Energy Corporation. His other previous clients include natural gas firms Xcel Energy and Bear Head LNG, uranium mining company Energy Fuels Resources and the Nuclear Energy Institute, according to <a href="https://www.bna.com/new-epa-chief-n73014477151/" target="_blank">Bloomberg BNA</a>.</p><p><span></span>As acting EPA administrator, Wheeler has not grasped "that saving coal is not part of that mission and not his job," said Sen. Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, as quoted by the
<a href="https://www.apnews.com/9ae7c505e3c240ffbfa7225133a6a84b" target="_blank">Associated Press</a>.<br></p><p>Environmental groups are in vehement opposition the nomination.<br></p><p>
"Putting a coal lobbyist in charge of the EPA is about as Trumpian as it gets," Paulo Lopes, public lands policy specialist at the
<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>, told EcoWatch in a statement after the vote. "This isn't just the fox guarding the henhouse. This is unlocking the door, opening the cages and letting the fox waltz right in to have his way. It's going to be a disaster."
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="07275" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="IO9A6F1576662185"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1092809160599584768" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Key Senate Panel Approves Andrew Wheeler, Former Coal Lobbyist, To Be EPA Chief. "The man who recently said he’d ha… https://t.co/bz5VdVKYS7</div> — Ken Cook (@Ken Cook)<a href="https://twitter.com/EWGPrez/statuses/1092809160599584768">1549380981.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
A report from
<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-wheeler-meetings/like-predecessor-trumps-new-epa-pick-packs-schedule-with-industry-meetings-idUSKCN1PQ5SR" target="_blank">Reuters</a> revealed that Wheeler has held nearly 20 times more meetings with companies or industry groups than with conservationists during his first two months on the job.
</p><p>
The
<a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> is urging the full Senate to reject Wheeler's nomination.
</p><p>
<span></span><i>"</i>The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee should have voted unanimously to reject the nomination of a fossil fuel lobbyist who has spent his career undermining the vital safeguards that keep our air and water clean," Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune said in a <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/press-releases/2019/02/sierra-club-senate-must-reject-dangerous-wheeler-nomination" target="_blank">press release</a>. "As his nomination moves to the Senate floor, we urge Senators to consider the clean air and water protections their constituents rely on, among them safeguards from toxic mercury, PFAS pollution, and emissions from cars and trucks, and vote no on this dangerous nomination."<span></span>
</p>
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Trump wants to build a seawall on a public beach to protect his luxury golf resort in Ireland. Anne Estonilo / mouseROAR 2018
Before fixating on the U.S.-Mexico border, Donald Trump has sought for years to build a wall to protect his luxury golf resort in the west of Ireland.
In December 2017, the Trump International Golf Links in Doonbeg received approval from Clare County Council to build two 2,067-feet and 853-feet seawalls in length on a public beach for "coastal erosion management works." The walls are meant to protect the property from "global warming and its effects," according to its 2016 permit application.
<p>
Not only is that ironic for the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-tweet-global-warming-2627422039.html">Cimate-Denier-in-Chief</a>, the project has been criticized for its potential harm to the environment and wildlife (<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/border-wall-mexico-2540848560.html" target="_blank">much like Trump's controversial U.S. border wall</a>.)
</p><p>
In response, the <a href="https://www.savethewaves.org/" target="_blank">Save the Waves Coalition</a> and its environmental partners filed separate appeals to Ireland's national planning board, An Bord Pleanála. A year after their appeals, the case still remains undecided and the groups are pressuring the board to take action.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="92972" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="Q2CH0V1576663992"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1090748514630389760" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The proposed seawalls by Trump International Golf Links would have severe, negative implications for… https://t.co/axubDqVtdR</div> — Save The Waves (@Save The Waves)<a href="https://twitter.com/SaveTheWaves/statuses/1090748514630389760">1548889685.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>The opponents argue that the seawalls could threaten the area's sensitive sand dune ecosystem that's home to rare species such as the tiny narrow-mouthed whorl snail.<br></p><p>
"What we're faced with is the end of the sand dune system. The building of a coastal defense along the shoreline will stop the dunes from growing as they should," said Tony Lowes, director of Friends of the Irish Environment, in a press release.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7ee79bd5c3448c661a80e2e17cadd6b4"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YLRk-7N_-pg?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">'A Walk On the Beach' - Stop Donald Trump's Seawall!</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRk-7N_-pg&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><p>
The walls could also accelerate erosion in adjacent areas and cause a "domino-effect" that will ultimately call for more wall and additional construction works.
</p><p>
<span></span>"Before you know it, we end up armoring much bigger areas than we originally intended," Andrew Cooper, a professor of coastal studies at Ulster University, said in the release.
</p><p>
Trump's initial proposal to build a much longer 3-kilometer (1.86-mile) seawall was rejected in 2016 after a major opposition campaign that gathered 100,000 petition signatures.
</p><p>
Surfers are worried that walls will diminish the surf quality of Doughmore beach and even cause the popular surf spot to one day disappear.
</p><p>
“You hear about building a wall on a sand dune as supposedly a solution, but it's really just about trying to save someone's business for a few years,' Fergal Smith, a surfer, activist and Clare County local, said in the press release. "It doesn't really matter how much money it makes. If it destroys the ecosystem and if it's damaging this area, then there's no business."
</p>
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Former California Gov. Jerry Brown, left, and former Secretary of Defense William Perry unveil the Doomsday Clock. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Doomsday Clock is still set at two minutes to midnight due to a lack of progress on nuclear weapons and climate change, as well as growing concerns of "information warfare," the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announced Thursday, describing this bleak time as "the new abnormal."
<p>
Midnight is "the symbolic point of annihilation," the non-profit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said. Last year, the clock was also set two minutes to Armageddon, the closest it's been since 1953 in the height of the Cold War.
</p><p>"The 'new abnormal' that we describe, and that the world now inhabits, is unsustainable and extremely dangerous," according to the 2019 Doomsday Clock statement.
</p><p>
<span></span>Former California Gov. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jerry-brown">Jerry Brown</a>, the executive chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, the chair of the organization's board of sponsors, helped unveil the Doomsday Clock in Washington, DC Thursday.
</p><p>
"Humanity faces two dire and simultaneous existential threats: nuclear weapons and climate change. The longer world leaders and citizens thoughtlessly inhabit this abnormal reality, the more likely it is that we will experience the unthinkable," Brown said in a press release.
</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><div id="ed050" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="OBMUZA1576662572"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1088473466557345803" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Read the op-ed penned by @JerryBrownGov and @SecDef19 detailing the motivations behind the decision to keep the 201… https://t.co/PJTSIrDaTP</div> — Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (@Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)<a href="https://twitter.com/BulletinAtomic/statuses/1088473466557345803">1548347271.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p></p><p>
Perry added, "Brash leaders, intense diplomatic disputes, and regional instabilities combine to create an international context in which nuclear dangers are all too real."
</p><p>
Since its inception in 1947, the Doomsday Clock was set at seven minutes to midnight. The minute hand ticked the farthest away in 1991 when the clock was 17 minutes to midnight, due to the end of the Cold War. But in recent years, we seem to be striking much closer to doom.
</p><p>
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/doomsday-clock-trump-2216983060.html" target="_self">In 2017</a>, the clock ticked forward two and a half minutes to midnight mostly because of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump">President Donald Trump</a>. The nuclear danger of a Trump presidency, combined with his and his administration's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-denier" target="_self">climate denialism</a>, heightened the risk of a global catastrophe, the group warned then.
</p><p>
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists included a <a href="https://thebulletin.org/2019/01/press-release-welcome-to-the-new-abnormal/" target="_blank">number of recommendations</a> on how to rewind the clock.
</p><p>
<span></span>On the climate front, the group called on U.S. citizens to demand that their government to acknowledge and act on global warming and for President Trump to revisit his decision to withdraw the United States from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement">Paris climate agreement</a>.
</p><p>
Countries were also urged to "act promptly and redouble efforts" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with their Paris pledges.
</p><p>
<span></span>"The world security situation can be improved, if leaders seek change and citizens demand it," the Bulletin's statement continues. "It is 2 minutes to midnight, but there is no reason the Doomsday Clock cannot move away from catastrophe. It has done so in the past, because wise leaders acted—under pressure from informed and engaged citizens around the world."
</p>
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