Tree Hugger Thread

[O Really]

You've switched your reg to CA? Not that I really care, just keeping track of when to tease or cheer you.

We're not official yet, and will likely stay with FL registration until after the election at least. One vote matters more in FL than in CA. And CA isn't as friendly for travellers as FL. But we have decided this is our "forever" winter home and will be here from around the end of November to around April or so permanently. Still going to Canada for summer, though.

[Vrede too]

We're not official yet, and will likely stay with FL registration until after the election at least. One vote matters more in FL than in CA....

I was going to say that it would be your fault if 45SHOLE won FL by a single vote. Who's your Rep there again? Just in case it comes up.

[neoplacebo]

Just finished reading "Exposure" by Robert Bilott about how Billot worked more than twenty years to hold DuPont accountable for water pollution in Washington, WV and how the company fought him and even managed to get EPA and WV state environmental agencies to look the other way for decades. It's all about PFOA and PFOS chemicals used in the making of Teflon. These compounds are what are called biopersistent and also bioaccumulative; that they aren't easily or at all broken down and expelled from the bodies of humans or animals; that they build up similar to how radiation does. They've found the stuff in animal and water samples even in parts of the Arctic. DuPont had been discharging this stuff into the Ohio River and the WV local landfills for fifty years. Bilott eventually prevailed and DuPont was fined over 670 some million dollars just for the local area water and human health damage it has caused. Bilott is an attorney working for a legal firm in Cincinnati that was founded by former president Taft and they were until this case a firm that typically defended corporate clients against this sort of thing. A pretty inspirational read.

[O Really]

We're not official yet, and will likely stay with FL registration until after the election at least. One vote matters more in FL than in CA....

I was going to say that it would be your fault if 45SHOLE won FL by a single vote. Who's your Rep there again? Just in case it comes up.

Ted Deutch, FL-22

[Vrede too]

On mercury pollution, Trump's EPA goes beyond industry requests
It's a striking realization when Trump's EPA takes a position that is more pro-pollution than the position of polluters themselves.

... The Washington Post had a striking report on this yesterday.

For more than three years, the Trump administration has prided itself on working with industry to unshackle companies from burdensome environmental regulations. But as the Environmental Protection Agency prepares to finalize the latest in a long line of rollbacks, the nation's power sector has sent a different message: Thanks, but no thanks.

The article noted that Exelon, one of the nation's largest utilities, told the EPA that its effort to change a rule that has cut emissions of mercury and other toxins is "an action that is entirely unnecessary, unreasonable, and universally opposed by the power generation sector."

It's a striking realization when Trump's Environmental Protection Agency takes a position that is more pro-pollution than the position of polluters themselves.

We saw a similar dynamic nearly a year ago, when some of the world's largest auto manufacturers, whom Trump has tried to help by gutting emission standards, collectively told the administration it was going too far to make polluting easier. The president's agenda, the companies explained in June 2019, was bad for business and created "untenable" manufacturing instability....

The agency plans to declare that it is not "appropriate and necessary" for the government to limit harmful pollutants from power plants, even though every utility in America has complied with standards put in place in 2011 under President Barack Obama. While it will technically keep existing restrictions on mercury in place, it means the government would not be able to count collateral benefits -- such as reducing soot and smog -- when it sets limits on toxic air pollutants. It's a rollback that industry officials argue could open the door to new legal fights, prompt some plants to turn off their pollution controls and ultimately sicken more Americans -- all so that the administration can rewire how the government weighs the costs of regulation.

At issue is something called Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which applies to dangerous neurotoxins believed to cause developmental problems in children. The Obama-era safeguards were effective in cutting emissions by 85%.

This is the progress Trump is prepared to walk away from.

When the Republican president brags about scrapping "regulations," as he did again yesterday, it's worth remembering that these are the kinds of policies he's referring to.

[Vrede too]

Stop Trump from dismantling the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

[O Really]

Stop Trump from dismantling the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

End it after the second word, and I'll sign.

[Vrede too]

Tell your elected officials: No offshore drilling or seismic blasting

[Limier than most]

The plan to ship oil to China via a BC port has made the Canadian government anxious to show that it can handle an oil spill off the BC coast. To that end, it's suddenly, finally, draining the 600 tonnes of bunker oil from a sunken ship off the BC coast. The ship sank in 1946 and was discovered in 2003, and it's believed that the bulkheads could collapse at any time.

CBC: B.C. shipwreck's oil cleanup makes waves

Which brings us to what's off the coast of your neighborhood, the American eastern seaboard.

Check out this cheerful interactive map: Chemical Weapon Munitions Dumped at Sea

And a related story.

For example right off the North Carolina coast there's a dump site with 88,032 4.2in. mortars containing 286T of mustard gas. Mustard gas can be fatal. When exposed to seawater, it forms a concentrated, encrusted gel that lasts for at least five years, rolling around on the ocean floor, killing or contaminating sea life.

And in an unknown location, 142T of lewisite (a WWI chemical weapon), 20T of Phosgene, 16T of Sulfur Monochloride, and 225T of an unknown agent.

Off South Carolina there's a dump site with 1,507T of lewisite and 63T of HN (nitrogen mustard).

Also in one small area just off South Carolina there's sites with:

- An unspecified quantity of 4in mustard filled projectiles and M70 115lb bombs

- An unspecified quantity of German produced mustard and tabun bombs, along with quantities of U.S. produced mustard, lewisite, and CG bombs, as well as containers and projectiles

- Portions of 2 barge loads of GA bombs and mines

- 7T of mustard bombs, projectiles, mines, and bulk containers, along with ~1,200T of lewisite in bombs, bulk, projectiles, and mines

- 13T of mustard-filled projectiles originating

- 3 barge loads of phosgene contained in bombs, mines, and in bulk

- four railroad cars filled with mustard gas bombs and mines

- 23 barges full of German-produced nerve gas bombs and U.S. made lewisite bombs. A single barge carried up to 350T of munitions.

- 1,507 1T containers of lewisite and 63 1T containers of nitrogen mustard

Off Georgia there's a site with 39T of mustard gas, 3,207T of Lewisite, 14T of Phosgene, and 2 1,000lb bombs filled with 420lbs each of Tabun.

Off Florida there's one site alone that has 71T of sarin, 10.5lb of VX, 677T of mustard gas, and 6,490T of Lewisite.

There's a lot more sites to the north. At one dump site alone off Maryland - exact location unknown, and the dumping took place over years so it'll be spread out - there were dumps of:

- 2 1T containers of lewisite, 1 lewisite-filled cylinder, and radiological wastes amounting to 320T

- 378 4in mustard projectiles, 341 6in mustard projectiles, a 1T container of lewisite, 20 drums of cyanide, 421,757lb of radiological waste, and 5,252 white phosphorus munitions.

- 1,700 3in mustard projectiles, 456 1T containers CNB (chloroacetophenone and benzene), 74 1T containers of mustard, 10 M78 CK (blood agent) bombs and 800 55gal drums of radiological waste

And that's just some of the sites. All corroding for 50+ years in salt water, all going to release their contents over the coming years.

.... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery

I used to chug past the Dick Monty every morning on the way to work...

[Vrede too]

Drones help police pollution in Alabama. Lawmakers want to make that a crime.

[billy.pilgrim]

Drones help police pollution in Alabama. Lawmakers want to make that a crime.

"The folks pushing this bill would have you believe it’s for security, from terrorists and the like.

Only this bill isn’t about protecting us from some ne’er-do-well who might dump poison in a regional water supply.

This bill’s purpose is to protect the ne’er-do-wells who already are."



Looks a lit like the western laws that make it illegal to photograph animal abuse.

[Vrede too]

"The folks pushing this bill would have you believe it’s for security, from terrorists and the like.

Only this bill isn’t about protecting us from some ne’er-do-well who might dump poison in a regional water supply.

This bill’s purpose is to protect the ne’er-do-wells who already are."


Looks a lit like the western laws that make it illegal to photograph animal abuse.

I was just thinking the exact same thing. However, Ag-gag laws are not just a western thing. North Carolina and Arkansas both have them, too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ag-gag#United_States
North Carolina's is so broad that it also criminalizes documenting granny abuse in nursing homes.

[Vrede too]

Act Now to Help Save (Pacific Northwest) Southern Resident Orcas!

[Vrede too]

The Canadian boreal forest is under threat. At this moment, Procter & Gamble (P&G) is cutting down centuries old trees from the boreal forest to make butt wipes. But it doesn’t have to be this way – if only P&G incorporated recycled fiber into its flagship Charmin brand toilet paper, millions of trees would be saved.

... send an email to P&G’s CEO David Taylor with our easy-to-use tool.

[Vrede too]

Tell Congress to Tackle the Single-use Plastic Crisis

[Vrede too]

Speak Up for Appalachian Crayfish

[Vrede too]

Don't Let Trump Use the COVID-19 Crisis to Roll Back Public Health Protections

Your message will be sent to:
President Trump
EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler

Subject line:
I urge you to maintain EPA limits on industrial pollution and keep clean car standards on the books

[Vrede too]

Stop dredging in San Francisco Bay!

... We need you to submit a public comment ASAP to protect San Francisco Bay from becoming the supertanker highway of the Pacific and prevent increased refining in the Bay....

[Vrede too]

Supreme Court Leaves the Clean Water Act Intact
Victory: Court decision leaves in place vital protections for the nation’s oceans, rivers, lakes

Today the Supreme Court issued its opinion in County of Maui v. Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund siding with clean water advocates that point source discharges to navigable waters through groundwater are regulated under the Clean Water Act....

The opinion was written by Justice Breyer with a vote of 6-3; with Chief Justice Roberts joining the opinion, along with Ginsburg, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Kavanaugh.

[Vrede too]

Trump dismantles environmental protections under cover of coronavirus
Administration is weakening protections ahead of the election, making changes that could take years for a Democratic president to undo

The Trump administration is diligently weakening US environment protections even amid a global pandemic, continuing its rollback as the November election approaches.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, US federal agencies have eased fuel-efficiency standards for new cars; frozen rules for soot air pollution; proposed to drop review requirements for liquefied natural gas terminals; continued to lease public property to oil and gas companies; sought to speed up permitting for offshore fish farms; and advanced a proposal on mercury pollution from power plants that could make it easier for the government to conclude regulations are too costly to justify their benefits.

The government has also relaxed reporting rules for polluters during the pandemic....