Politics ahead

"MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s" (mastermario)
08/12/2019 at 12:43 • Filed to: politics

Buffer image

Why does this administration (and the GOP in general) seemingly want to destroy ANY protections for the environment?

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The EPA is headed by a coal lobbyist

They are fighting CARB and the automakers about their fuel economy standards

The BLM is headed by someone who wants to sell basically every acre of federally owned land

The USDA is moving its headquarters across the country and is going to essentially force out many of the experts currently on staff

They are pushing to do the same with the BLM

There are too many examples to list...it just boggles my mind that anyone supports any of the environmental policies enacted by the GOP

It’s happening on a local scale too. Some of the people in Wisconsin are learning first hand just how important environmental protections and enforcement are. This is a county that voted 61% for Trump.

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

The problem with pure free market people is there is no incentive NOT to pollute for businesses. The laws haven’t even changed much as far as I am aware, the DNR just didn’t have the resources to enforce due to continuous cuts from the Walker/GOP administration.

DISCUSSION (33)

fintail > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:11

Deconstructivists.

Oh well, the first world was nice while it lasted.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:17

Why? Well, because they can...and greed.

And some dystopian view of the world needing to be every man, woman, child, and animal for themselves...except the poor, helpless corporations, of course. Government should be killed from within and dismantled, but in the process we need to make everything as favorable as possible for those corporations.

facw > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:18

I mean it’s clear that they are favoring short term profits (mainly benefiting rich donors) over everything else. This is penny-wise and pound foolish. They talk about the costs of complying with these regulations, but if you look at the health costs associated with pollution, they are ridiculously staggering.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
08/12/2019 at 13:20

The environmental stuff is the worse too, because it DOES affect them as well, at least at some point it will. It’s short term thinking and greed.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:20

Because they’re exceptionally short-sighted and greedy?

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > facw
08/12/2019 at 13:22

This is penny-wise and pound foolish.

Exactly, long term costs are going to be many multiples of the cost of complying. This is the point liberals should be making every time the environment is discussed and keep pounding that point, it’s something I feel like the general public really doesn’t understand.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:24

because almost none of them will live long enough to really deal with the consequences

but they will live long enough to enjoy all that money they are making

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > farscythe - makin da cawfee!
08/12/2019 at 13:25

And apparently none of them care about their children or grandchildren either

HammerheadFistpunch > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:27

The natural world is an enemy to the free market [profit]

Kinja'd!!!

sidenote: We had a representative that we basically ran out of town on a rail partly because of his anti-nature policies and sentiments. It were ugly . I was there...

Good riddance to this turd too, he pursued every possible angle of attack against Clinton as chair of the house oversight and government reform committee but got REEEAAAL quite with the GOP came to power again. He’s since published a book claiming its all an evil democratic cabal that’s to blame. He’s now, unsurprisingly, a Fox news contributor

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:28

pretty much... sides those will likely be rich enough to ride out anything short of the end of days too

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:33

Absolutely . That is this entire administration especially - from “clean” coal to a variety of other things - it’s all about trying to keep the economy strong on paper temporarily, while selling ourselves short in the long run.

And in the meantime, they and those complacent with them believe that they’re making themselves rich enough in the process - so even if they’re setting the world on fire long term they’ll have enough money to protect themselves and their kids. Same applies to education, to healthcare, to everything.

Svend > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:33

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again about trumpie.

Slitheen.

Kinja'd!!!

For Sweden > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:33

Personally, I will not rest until every square inch of Nevada is owned by the Federal Government.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > facw
08/12/2019 at 13:33

if you look at the health costs associated with pollution, they are ridiculously staggering

Perhaps that’s a feature, not a bug - yet another avenue for a beautiful private health industry to profit from!

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:35

Either that, or they think they’ll be rich enough to shelter themselves from whatever harm their ancestors left them. Hence why they’re so hellbent on limiting inheritance taxes too.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:45

It doesn’t matter to them because when the rapture happens they will all go to heaven.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > HammerheadFistpunch
08/12/2019 at 13:50

Funny how this supposedly powerful democratic cabal/deep state doesn’t seem to do anything to stop them.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
08/12/2019 at 13:52

That’s less than half of Trump’s supporters though...the other half just seem willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Svend
08/12/2019 at 13:54

Man that’s a really poorly made disguise that Trump has on

450X_FTW > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:54

I struggle to understand how a department who’s name is “environmental protection agency” is OK with backing off restrictions that would, um I don’t know, PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT???? Their job is literally in their title and they stills crew it up.

Also a coal lobbyist in charge of the EPA is like Betsy Devos, who has never taught a classroom, be in charge of the Dept of Education , or as my sister who’s a teacher put it, “like having a black lives matter protester in charge of a police union”

Textured Soy Protein > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 13:54

Protecting the environment requires regulations.

R egulations generally require business to do more work and/or spend more money than they would otherwise need to do their stuff without complying with regulations.

The GOP platform is that because regulations require businesses to do more work and/or spend more money, regulations are bad and should go away.

You might think, well hey, some of those things regulations are protecting stuff that needs to be protected from businesses who will otherwise run roughshod over them in the name of profits.

To the GOP, business profits are more important than protecting the rights of things/people that aren’t business profits. No regulations for you (from the GOP)!

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Textured Soy Protein
08/12/2019 at 14:02

To the GOP, business profits are more important than protecting the rights of things/people that aren’t business profits.

Truly a government “ for the people, by the people”

samssun > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 14:06

The USDA is moving from Capitol City to a place where agriculture is actually done...I don’t see how that would be a bad thing, unless you think farmers and ranchers should be regulated from afar.

The Federal government owns about 1/3 of the land in the country, with States making up another 10%, so it would take quite a bit of time to sell off any measurable amount. I’m ok with government not owning half the place.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > samssun
08/12/2019 at 14:14

I’m not opposed to moving the USDA headquarters, but the way they are going about it seems to be more about making it as difficult as possible on current employees to force people out.

I’d love for the government to own more land. I think the idea that most of the country is publicly owned with some well regulated resource extraction is good. I loved when I was living out west and there were miles and miles of open federal land to explore whereas here in the midwest you’re lucky to find even state land more than a few square miles.

Nick Has an Exocet > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 14:16

The way I see it, this administration doesn’t HAVE an environmental policy.

I t’s really hard to read reporting these days. Almost no one posts actual facts. That AP article about endangered species is atrocious . It’s basically “Republicans say the bill does this and Democrats say the bill does that” then it becomes clear that the writer didn’t read it and doesn’t care to actually report what the changes actually are. The Endangered Species Act has been a bit of a problem for a while now. Conservationists have complained that some species actually go extinct in the paperwork process. The changes were NOT pushed by the Trump administration as stated in the press, they were pushed for by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The full text of revisions is available in the Federal Register and is not hard to find. It was available for public comment just like everything else. In fact, they have published the revised text, their reasoning, a summary of public comments, and how they’ve changed the text based on that public comment period. It ha s been entirely sane .

https://www.fws.gov/endangered/improving_ESA/regulation-revisions.html

I’m glad someone is fighting CARB. They’re one of the most crooked and irresponsible government organizations in existence. You can’t change an air filter here in California without the manufacturer having to have paid their way in bribes to get it onto the market. They would LOVE to make that kind of thing nationwide so they could rake in even more money. Fuel economy standards, I could go either way on. Necessary? Probably. Better than trying to tax away the problem? Definitely (CA leading the way with 61 cents/gallon state gas tax). The bigger issue is electric infrastructure.

The USDA move reporting is mostly FUDD and the reporting is made worse by the agriculture industry being a bunch of infighting buffoons who squabble over fence-lines, water rights, and all kinds of bullcrap using idiotic arguments. The article about water and policy shows data that the number of citations from inspections hit a low in 2011 (Obama administration ), not Trump. Agriculture people are always one mistake away from financial disaster and will ALWAYS take a short term solution until we find a way to make farming a less risky business. Of course this where the argument gets fierce over whether that should be more regulation or less and suddenly it’s partisa n again.

This sky-is-falling-chicken-little thing is getting annoying. It’s lazy. The president is not single handedly responsible for ruining everything. In fact, he’s responsible for almost nothing but happening to be president while things are going on. However, he is guilty of appointing a nightmare of a person to head the BLM. That one is entirely true.

gettingoldercarguy > 450X_FTW
08/12/2019 at 14:28

Protecting the business environment

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Nick Has an Exocet
08/12/2019 at 14:35

You mean the USFWS headed by a Trump appointee?

Everything I’ve read about the ESA revision is to make it more difficult to get species approved for protection if it interferes with profits.

While I agree that CARB goes overboard with some aspects, the fuel economy standard is not one of them and that’s the only one the Trump administration is fighting as far as I’m aware.

The article about water and policy shows data that the number of citations from inspections hit a low in 2011(Obama administration), not Trump

I was referring to local state wide politics here, this was under the Walker administration (GOP) and the state GOP under him did everything they could to limit and reduce the DNR’s power and influence.

Nick Has an Exocet > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 14:47

You mean the USFWS headed by a Trump appointee?

Everything I’ve read about the ESA revision is to make it more difficult to get species approved for protection if it interferes with profits.

Everything you’ve read is politics. Go read the actual regs if you’re angry over it. The comment period generated a ton of reasonable changes. I’ve been involved in policy changes like this (aero space industry) and it’s damn near impossible to get anything by if they follow the proper path for comment period. All the academics & environmentalists got their 2 cents in and they were clearly taken into account.

While I agree that CARB goes overboard with some aspects, the fuel economy standard is not one of them and that’s the only one the Trump administration is fighting as far as I’m aware.

Fuel economy standards are EPA, not CARB. CARB is air quality - related but different. The fight has been over whether California should be allowed to continue to have an exemption from the EPA to set its own standards.

Gotcha. Definitely sounds like a local issue.

450X_FTW > gettingoldercarguy
08/12/2019 at 16:17

Yep exactly

samssun > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 17:47

I think government approaching ownership of half the program is excessive, especially when you have states that have zoned off where people can live to the point they’re priced out of housing

shop-teacher > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 20:26

I don't know man. It's frustrating as hell.

Textured Soy Protein > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/12/2019 at 21:18

Don’t get in the way of sainted job creators, we must bend to their every whim or else society will collapse into itself in a simultaneous supernova and black hole mixed into a spacial anomaly.

BigBlock440 > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/28/2019 at 20:42

I guess we could keep exporting our pollution to China and other Asian countries.