2 months to go

Animals and plants in danger of becoming extinct could lose the protection of government experts who make sure that dams, highways and other projects don’t pose a threat, under regulations the Bush administration is set to put in place before President-elect Obama can reverse them.

In Bush To Relax Endangered Species Regulations Before Obama Can Reverse Them, via the Huffington Post, the changes that Bush intends to make are outlined.

For example, in another move that indicates how this administration feels about science: The rules eliminate the input of federal wildlife scientists in some endangered species cases, allowing the federal agency in charge of building, authorizing or funding a project to determine for itself if it is likely to harm endangered wildlife and plants.

The good news is that if this were put in place, Congress could overturn it via the Congressional Review Act. This has only been used once in the last twelve years, but Democrats have already vowed to enact this to stop harm done by Bush.

We are going to see a lot of things pushed through in the next few months. Stay tuned….

sneaky, aren’t they?

So there are two types of positions in the White House… appointed and career positions. If you are an appointed employee, you leave with the exiting administration. If you are in a career position, you get to stay.

so…..

Between March 1 and Nov. 3, according to numbers released by the OPM, the Bush administration allowed 20 political appointees to become career civil servants. Six appointees to the Senior Executive Service, the government’s most prestigious and highly paid employees, have received approval to take career jobs at the same level. Fourteen other political, or “Schedule C,” appointees have also been approved to take career jobs.

It is a technique called “burrowing in”, and while many ex-presidents have had this happen during their administration, it seems that the Bush Administration has a special flare with theirs:

In its report, the GAO concluded that administration officials apparently did not follow appropriate procedures in 18 of these conversions and that some workers were not qualified.

The Washington Post has many articles about this phenomena, which are worth the read if you care about politics and our government. This is especially important if you are one of those that has high expectations of our President-Elect and start vilifying him for not getting things accomplished. By embedding a group of employees that honor the Bush Doctrine, it may be difficult to get things done at the speed the citizenry demands.

You can find the articles:
The Burrowing of the Bushies
Administration Moves to Protect Key Appointees
Senators Urge Bush To Halt Job Shifts

i’m sorry, but he can’t go

President-elect Obama announced that he will not be sending himself, or others, to the UN climate change summit in Poland, later this month.

Now, before you start criticizing him, look at why that decision was made. There is one simple reason… he has 63 days before he is President. He is a respected man because he is a respectful man. He understands and honors the fact that he is not the president and cannot nor should not represent himself as such, until he takes office.

I do not think that you should be in fear that this sets a precedent for his future policies on climate change. He knows it is a top priority and he will not back down from that stance. So, yes, he cannot go to something we all know is important and the United States should be represented there.

Lay the blame where it really needs to be… the Bush Administration. This is the group of people that should be going. And this is the group of people we know will not be going.

Bisphenol-A.. it just keeps getting worse

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal sure is becoming the lead periodical for Bispenol-A research, as found in their latest watchdog report: BPA leaches from ‘safe’ products

The newspaper published scientific findings today revealing that “microwave safe” is not that.

Lab tests of 10 items’ containers found that all of the advertised “microwave safe” containers allegedly released toxic doses of the chemical known as BPA, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Saturday.

The newspaper said according to the tests it commissioned, the detected levels of the chemical were allegedly identical to levels previously blamed by scientists for causing neurological and developmental damage in lab animals.

I have written extensively about BPA, which is a chemical commonly found in plastic and canned goods. BPA is a chemical that acts on the endocrine system, which is instrumental in regulating metabolism, growth, development and puberty, tissue function, and also plays a part in determining mood. As a result, it does not act like another toxin might, in that more exposure leads to more harm. Instead, BPA mimics estrogen, which in abundance can cause cancers, birth defects (seen mostly in male genitals), and learning disabilities. Studies have also shown that while BPA can cause cancer, it can also prevent chemotherapy from being efficacious. It is a double edged sword.

The FDA allowed for the approval of this chemical in products, under pressure from the Bush Administration and its love of the chemical corporations; i.e. Dow, DuPont, etc. It has also been revealed that the FDA even allowed for those chemical companies to write the safety and efficacy reports, after extremely limited testing occurred. An independent panel of scientists has concluded that the FDA acted unethically and all approvals should be reversed and BPA taken off the market immediately.

The sad fact of all of this is that the products with the highest level of BPA are the same products targeted to infants and children. We have no idea what kind of impact this is going to have on our youth.

The point to all of this is that you really should move away from plastic, as much as possible. This means water bottles, storage containers, pre-packaged foods, and the like.

Here are some helpful links to updating your kitchen:

My favorite glass containers come from The Container Store
I highly recommend getting either a SIGG bottle or a Klean Kanteen for your water.
I also have been told that Brita is the only filtration system that is specially coated to prevent leaching into the water.

won’t you be glad when I stop posting news like this?

It starts off really, really well:

Looking to bolster the fight against childhood lead poisoning, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month approved a tough new rule aimed at clearing the nation’s air of the toxic metal. A key part of the initiative is a new network of monitors that will track lead emissions from factories.

But then… it takes a turn:

But the Bush administration quietly weakened that provision at the last minute by exempting dozens of polluters from scrutiny, federal documents show.

I have to be honest, I don’t even know how to write about this anymore. Scientists determined that even low levels of toxic metals in children lead to learning disabilities, aggression and even criminal behavior. So, they sought to lower acceptable levels in air. I am unclear, because I don’t know where the air is tested, but I imagine outside of factories that use lead in their processes.

The reason this is important is because the lead leaves the air, by falling to the ground and embedding itself in the soil. It stays there for years, while children play and dig and kick up all that contaminated soil and breath it in.

The new levels were about to be put into place and mandated before the Bush Administration stepped in and supported corporations instead of the people.

There is much more information in the article. I recommend reading it. The one thing it states is that it will take many, many months for the “new” EPA, under Obama, to be able to overturn this decision. You can find the article HERE.

HERE’S a link to lead poisoning on Wikipedia

Congratulations Sierra Club

Good news from the Sierra Club: Ruling, Coal Plants MUST limit CO2

In a move that signals the start of the our clean energy future, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) ruled today EPA had no valid reason for refusing to limit from new coal-fired power plants the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming. The decision means that all new and proposed coal plants nationwide must go back and address their carbon dioxide emissions.

“The EAB rejected every Bush Administration excuse for failing to regulate the largest source of greenhouse gases in the United States. This decision gives the Obama Administration a clean slate to begin building our clean energy economy for the 21st century,” continued Spalding

I don’t think there is much more I can add to this…. it is a HUGE win for the environmental movement and HUGE loss to the Bush Administration’s EPA stranglehold on the progress of change.

EPA v. the World, round 2…. maybe TKO…

Earlier, I mentioned three articles and then promptly forgot to post the third and final article.

The EPA’s Stalin Era, via Salon

I just really do not understand how a group of scientist, that comprise the EPA, allow for the bastardization of scientific policy that is designed to protect our citizenry.

…. illuminates an entirely new manner in which the Bush administration has diluted science and put public health at risk. This year, largely in obeisance to the Pentagon, the nation’s biggest polluter, the White House diminished a little-known but critical process at the Environmental Protection Agency for assessing toxic chemicals that impacts thousands of Americans.

The article investigates possible toxic poisoning of residents outside of an air base and the lack of assistance from the EPA in getting the situation under control. Many site the Bush Administration as controlling what is considered “allowable” science. (edit. note: WTF? Shouldn’t all science be allowed… hypothesis, results, conclusion)

Public health officials say this attempt to derail the scientific evaluation of toxins is one of the most damning legacies of the Bush administration. In late September, the Government Accountability Office issued a scathing critique of the EPA’s new toxic-assessment procedures. It concluded that the secretive procedures compromise scientific credibility and sacrifice the public’s trust in government. Despite such hefty criticism, public officials fear that because the new procedures have been instituted at the EPA so far below the public radar, their harmful impact will survive long after Bush leaves office. It will take a bold and expedient move by Barack Obama or the next Congress to curtail the influence of the Pentagon and other government agencies on the EPA.

The article goes on and I think it is an important read. For example, did you know that the government puts a value on human life, and in the Bush Administration it has dropped $1Million dollars? You can find the article in the link above. I do think the author is correct by saying it will only be fixed by a bold move on the part of President Obama. I will watch with baited breath to see who he puts in charge of this organization.

another one bite the dust

While you all were getting your fill of High Fructose Corn Syrup disguised as a tasty treat, George W. Bush was poisoning your water supply.

Thousands of factory farms will be exempt from needing permits that limit water pollution thanks to a new Bush Administration rule signed today. In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency did not adopt improved controls for bacteria and other pathogens that can pose risks to human health and wildlife.

The new rule:

– Creates a loophole allowing facility operators to avoid permits by claiming they won’t have a discharge.
– Adopts a scheme that allows facilities to avoid certain environmental enforcement. For instance, if an operator certifies that the facility won’t have a discharge, environmental authorities will ignore enforcement action, even if the facility discharges to the nation’s waters.
– Rejects improvements in technology that would reduce harmful bacteria and other pathogens contained in animal waste, missing an opportunity to prevent water pollution and threats to public health.

Look… the Bush Administration is not stupid. They understand that by signing these policies into law it is going to take a lot of effort by the next administration to overturn them, assuming they will care. He just allowed for your water to be polluted for years and years.

Human rights violation? anyone?

you can read the whole press release from the NRDC, HERE.

60 some odd days… right? RIGHT?!?!

The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.

Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.

Once such rules take effect, they typically can be undone only through a laborious new regulatory proceeding, including lengthy periods of public comment, drafting and mandated reanalysis.

You can read the whole article HERE. (It may require a free registration.)

make them stop… someone… pleeeaaassee

Under pressure from the White House, the EPA loosened it’s restrictions on airborne lead standards.

HERE is the article.

EPA documents show that until the afternoon of Oct. 15 , a court-imposed deadline for issuing the revised standard, the EPA proposed to require a monitor for any facility that emitted half a ton of lead or more a year.

The e-mails indicate that the White House objected, and in the early evening of Oct. 15 the EPA set the level at 1 ton a year instead.

And just in case you don’t know why this matters:
Scientific studies have found that lead is dangerous at much lower levels in the human body than previously thought. The studies show that children’s nervous systems are especially vulnerable, and that lead exposure can result in IQ loss and damage to many internal systems.

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