Trump's damaging agenda on the environment is worse than most people realize. Like his corruption and disregard for other humans, his mission to dismantle the EPA was in plain sight before his 2016 election. Much of the media missed the story
your evergreen reminder that Trump had already promised to dismantle the EPA, called climate change a hoax, and promised to leave the Paris agreement, yet none of this was deemed worth the public's attention in presidential debates.
[this will be a longer thread when I work up the energy to relive the past four years]
... I got as far as Pruitt's confirmation hearing and I needed a breather
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Trump today is finalizing a surprise rule that bars the EPA from regulating oil and gas and refineries, deeming them "necessarily insignificant" sources of greenhouse gas pollution.
The idea Trump is finalizing these short-lived rules only to “to clog up the works and slow the Biden administration down" is sounding more likely every day motherjones.com/environment/20…
Gina McCarthy: "I'm here today because climate change isn't only a threat to the planet, but a threat to our health and well-being. It's a threat to people everywhere and the precious natural resources we depend on."
clear themes stuck out: Biden's Climate Cabinet is focused on addressing environmental injustices and coordinating throughout the administration. climate is not just a priority of the EPA's but in every agency.
I asked LinkedIn's @jessiwrites if she had any idea how her headshot wound up being used by Texans for Natural Gas. When both of us contacted the group, we heard nothing, they only swapped her photo for a new stock image.
Trump faces a hard deadline in May to finalize environmental rollbacks to avoid easy reversal if Dems win the 2020 election through the Congressional Review Act. That's why you're seeing so many announced now, when few are paying attention: motherjones.com/environment/20…
In the last few weeks alone the EPA and Interior have moved ahead with their:
Auto pollution rule
"Censored science" rule
Delisting of sage grouse
Fossil fuel lease sales
Halting enforcement
Mercury pollution reversal also expected soon
In the fine print even the EPA has admitted it will cut jobs and lead to asthma and more deaths from air pollution every year. motherjones.com/environment/20…
1. Start with the uncertainty. It’s okay to admit what you don’t know.
2. Science is messy. Studies are being published based on small samples and pre-peer review, and expect some confusion and contradictions as a matter of course.
Trump is NOT changing his messaging around climate. It's a waste of time trying to read tea leaves. There has never been a greater meaning to his comments than inaction and delay.
THREE years ago the NYT editorial board breathlessly claimed Trump had shifted on climate post election. So Nov 2016 I wrote a line-by-line analysis why they were spun grist.org/politics/trump…