08 October 17 AM

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Water fountains at a high school in Flint, Michigan (photo: Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Economists: Trump Administration's Decision to Repeal Water Rule Based on Flawed Analysis

By Denisse Moreno, International Business Times

08 October 17

conomists are disputing President Donald Trump administration’s justification of rescinding a 2015 law that protects U.S. waters, saying it is based on flawed analysis.  

The Water of the United States (WOTUS) rule was imposed by President Barack Obama to further protect bodies of water. The law broadened the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers over U.S. waters -- more than what the agencies had under the Clean Water Act.

Trump and EPA Chief Scott Pruitt have been adamant about repealing the rule. In June, the administration submitted a proposal to rescind WOTUS, limiting the extent of the Clean Air Act. However, three economists said this week the Trump administration’s analysis inappropriately overlooked wetlands values. The economists’ findings come days before the Supreme Court holds a hearing that will decide on certain issues related to the rule.

Kevin Boyle of Virginia Tech, Matthew Kotchen of Yale University and Kerry Smith of Arizona State University published their assessment Thursday in the journal Science.

Between the 2017 analysis and a similar analysis made in 2015 under the Obama administration, the biggest difference is the treatment of wetland benefits as unquantified, Boyle told International Business Times. The economists said the differences between the two analyses led to about a 90 percent drop in quantified benefits from the 2015 to the 2017 analysis.

Boyle said the 2017 analysis shows an incomplete picture of the total WOTUS benefits. The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers had previously valued wetlands benefits at up to $500 million per year in 2015.

“The biggest surprise was the lack of credible evidence for treating the most substantial components of benefits as unquantified,” Boyle told IBT.

The relevant data seemed to have been ignored or “full and careful consideration of cost-benefit analysis best practices were not followed in assessing wetlands values and public attitudes about water-quality protection," Boyle said through a press release from Virginia Tech.

Besides excluding quantified benefits, economists also found the 2017 analysis deemed wetlands valuation studies were too old for inclusion, while pollution studies published in the same time frame were not considered too outdated to be included. The 2017 analysis also failed to include available data on public opinion regarding water-quality protections. That data supports the credibility of the wetlands benefits in the Obama-era analysis.

In a statement to IBT, an EPA spokesperson defended the 2017 analysis.

“The cost-benefit analysis for the Trump Administration’s WOTUS repeal was done in a way that respects the role that states play in protecting their waters,” the spokesperson said. “The previous Administration used a lot of worst-case assumptions in their cost-benefit analysis; we used data based on the current reality.”

The Trump administration’s analysis can lead to repercussions for the environment and public opinion, according to Boyle.

“It can undermine the opportunity to do a credible review of WOTUS," Boyle told IBT. "It undermines the credibility of past and future benefit-cost analyses. It can reduce the morale of government analysts who likely do not have the supporting resources to do a high caliber benefit-cost analysis.”

To dodge flawed reports, Boyle told IBT that future analyses should be done in an “enhanced collaboration between universities and government agencies to provide data and improved estimation procedures to provide credible support for public decision making.” Sufficient resources, like time, money and staff, should be provided to government agencies to conduct analysis required for major public decisions, he said.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/46183-economists-trump-administrations-decision-to-repeal-water-rule-based-on-flawed-analysis

Here's How to Support Puerto Rico as It Recovers From Devastating Hurricane Maria 
Remezcla 
Excerpt: "With the island expected to go without power for months, Puerto Rico now needs our help. The US territory is in the midst of a financial crisis and already struggling in many ways." 
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Jimmy Carter | What I've Learned From North Korea's Leaders

06 October 17 AM

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Jimmy Carter | What I've Learned From North Korea's Leaders 

Jimmy Carter, The Washington Post
Carter writes: "It is imperative that Pyongyang and Washington find some way to ease the escalating tension and reach a lasting, peaceful agreement."
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Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, is founder of the nonprofit Carter Center.

s the world knows, we face the strong possibility of another Korean war, with potentially devastating consequences to the Korean Peninsula, Japan, our outlying territories in the Pacific and perhaps the mainland of the United States. This is the most serious existing threat to world peace, and it is imperative that Pyongyang and Washington find some way to ease the escalating tension and reach a lasting, peaceful agreement.

Over more than 20 years, I have spent many hours in discussions with top North Korean officials and private citizens during visits to Pyongyang and to the countryside. I found Kim Il Sung (their “Great Leader”), Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and other leaders to be both completely rational and dedicated to the preservation of their regime.

What the officials have always demanded is direct talks with the United States, leading to a permanent peace treaty to replace the still-prevailing 1953 cease-fire that has failed to end the Korean conflict. They want an end to sanctions, a guarantee that there will be no military attack on a peaceful North Korea, and eventual normal relations between their country and the international community.

I have visited with people who were starving. Still today, millions suffer from famine and food insecurity and seem to be completely loyal to their top leader. They are probably the most isolated people on Earth and almost unanimously believe that their greatest threat is from a preemptory military attack by the United States.

The top priority of North Korea’s leaders is to preserve their regime and keep it as free as possible from outside control. They are largely immune from influence or pressure from outside. During the time of the current leader, Kim Jong Un, this immunity has also applied to China, whose leaders want to avoid a regime collapse in North Korea or having to contemplate a nuclear-armed Japan or South Korea.

Until now, severe economic sanctions have not prevented North Korea from developing a formidable and dedicated military force, including long-range nuclear missiles, utilizing a surprising level of scientific and technological capability. There is no remaining chance that it will agree to a total denuclearization, as it has seen what happened in a denuclearized Libya and assessed the doubtful status of U.S. adherence to the Iran nuclear agreement.

There have been a number of suggestions for resolving this crisis, including military strikes on North Korea’s nuclear facilities, more severe economic punishment, the forging of a protective nuclear agreement between China and North Korea similar to those between the United States and South Korea and Japan, a real enforcement of the Non- Proliferation Treaty by all nuclear weapons states not to expand their arsenals, and ending annual U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

All of these options are intended to dissuade or deter the leadership of a nation with long-range nuclear weapons — and that believes its existence is threatened — from taking steps to defend itself. None of them offer an immediate way to end the present crisis, because the Pyongyang government believes its survival is at stake. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s statement last week that “we have lines of communications to Pyongyang. We’re not in a dark situation” is a good first step to defusing tensions.

The next step should be for the United States to offer to send a high-level delegation to Pyongyang for peace talks or to support an international conference including North and South Korea, the United States and China, at a mutually acceptable site.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/46155-what-ive-learned-from-north-koreas-leaders

Mueller's Team Met With Russia Dossier Author
Evan Perez, Shimon Prokupecz and Pamela Brown, CNN
Excerpt: "Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators met this past summer with the former British spy whose dossier on alleged Russian efforts to aid the Trump campaign spawned months of investigations that have hobbled the Trump administration, according to two people familiar with the matter."
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Thoughts and Prayers and NRA Funding
David Leonhardt, Ian Prasad Philbrick and Stuart A. Thompson, The New York Times
Excerpt: "Most Americans support stronger gun laws - laws that would reduce deaths. But Republicans in Congress stand in the way. They fear alienating their primary voters and the National Rifle Association."
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FEMA Removes Statistics About Drinking Water Access and Electricity in Puerto Rico From Website
Jenna Johnson, The Washington Post
Johnson writes: "As of Wednesday, half of Puerto Ricans had access to drinking water and 5 percent of the island had electricity, according to statistics published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on its Web page documenting the federal response to Hurricane Maria. By Thursday morning, both of those key metrics were no longer on the Web page."
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California Is Now the First Sanctuary State for Undocumented Immigrants
Katherine Krueger, Splinter
Krueger writes: "California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law today a measure making the state America's first 'sanctuary state,' enshrining statewide protections to shield undocumented people which had previously only existed at the local level."
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Trump Expected to Decertify Iran Nuclear Deal, Official Says
Reuters
Excerpt: "President Donald Trump is expected to announce soon that he will decertify the landmark international deal to curb Iran's nuclear program, a senior administration official said on Thursday, in a step that potentially could cause the 2015 accord to unravel."
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EPA Chief's Calendar: A Stream of Industry Meetings and Trips Home
Eric Lipton and Lisa Friedman, The New York Times
Excerpt: "For lunch on April 26, Scott Pruitt, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, dined with top executives from Southern Company, one of the nation's largest coal-burning electric utilities, at Equinox, a white-tablecloth favorite of Washington power brokers."
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Here's How to Support Puerto Rico as It Recovers From Devastating Hurricane Maria
Remezcla
Excerpt: "With the island expected to go without power for months, Puerto Rico now needs our help. The US territory is in the midst of a financial crisis and already struggling in many ways."
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RSN: Dan Rather | Robert Mueller Has Just Started Turning Over Rocks and the Critters Are Already Crawling Out

24 July 17 AM

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Dan Rather | Robert Mueller Has Just Started Turning Over Rocks and the Critters Are Already Crawling Out 
 
Dan Rather, Dan Rather's Facebook Page 
Rather writes: "It's the first thing you learn as a new police detective, a beginning prosecutor, or a cub reporter. And it's a lesson you dare not forget. Money is often the fuse that ties the smoke to the fire." 
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ollow the money!"

It's the first thing you learn as a new police detective, a beginning prosecutor, or a cub reporter. And it's a lesson you dare not forget. Money is often the fuse that ties the smoke to the fire.

Stellar reporting from Bloomberg that the Special Counsel Robert Mueller is looking at a wide expanse of President Trump and his family's business dealings is a big development and one that has, and should have, Mr. Trump feeling the heat.

The more you dig into the digits, the more you are likely to find inconsistencies or much worse, especially in a freewheeling and never scrutinized family real estate empire like Mr. Trump's.

Remember how defiantly the President has refused to release his tax returns. Remember the "red line" on just this scope of inquiry that he laid out in his interview yesterday with the New York Times. Remember all the shady associations with Russian money and his descent into - and remarkable resurrection from - bankruptcy. Remember that it was just reported that former campaign manager Paul Manafort was in debt 17 million dollars to Russian interests before he took a job with the Trump campaign. (I gave you a few extra spaces after the period to let that fact sink in).

Trump has categorically denied any collusion with Russia, or even knowledge of any of the high level conversations between his family and staff and representatives of the nation that attacked our democracy. Mr. Trump's credibility right now is not exactly rock solid, but even granting this is the case, what happens when the spotlight turns to hard evidence in dollars and cents?

When you turn over a rock, you can't put back all the critters that start crawling out.

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/44843-robert-mueller-has-just-started-turning-over-rocks-and-the-critters-are-already-crawling-out

Jared Kushner Reveals Undisclosed Meeting With Russian Ambassador 
Rebecca Ballhaus, The Wall Street Journal 
Ballhaus writes: "Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a senior White House adviser, on Monday released details of his contacts with Russian officials and businesspeople in the two years since Mr. Trump launched his presidential campaign, including a previously undisclosed, brief meeting with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. in April 2016." 
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Scott Pruitt Spent Most of His First Months at EPA at Home in Oklahoma 
Lisa Friedman, The New York Times 
Friedman writes: "Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, traveled to his home state, Oklahoma, 10 times over three months this year, largely at taxpayer expense, according to a report released Monday." 
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The Moneyman Behind the Alt-Right 
Aram Roston and Joel Anderson, Buzzfeed 
Excerpt: "The rise of the alt-right was in large part funded by one person: a secretive and aging multimillionaire named William H. Regnery II, the most influential racist you’ve never heard of." 
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Why Did Everyone Stop Asking Sebastian Gorka About Nazis? 
Addy Baird, ThinkProgress 
Baird writes: "No one was sure what exactly Gorka’s role in the White House was. At any rate, a lot of people wanted him to stop doing it, because Gorka had been linked to a Nazi-allied group in Hungary, and he was advising the president of the United States." 
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How Trump Signed a Global Death Warrant for Women 
Sarah Boseley, Guardian UK 
Boseley writes: "Six months ago, one powerful white man in the White House, watched by seven more, signed a piece of paper that will prevent millions of women around the world from deciding what they can and can’t do with their own bodies." 
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Fukushima: Robot Images Show Massive Deposits Thought to Be Melted Nuclear Fuel 
Associated Press 
Excerpt: "Images captured by an underwater robot on Saturday showed massive deposits believed to be melted nuclear fuel covering the floor of a damaged reactor at Japan’s destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant." 
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RSN: Pesticide That Trump's EPA Refused to Ban Blamed for Sickening Farm Workers

If Dow Chemicals' Chlorpyrifos is sickening farm workers when sprayed on crops that you're eating, do you think it's safe? 

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Pesticide That Trump's EPA Refused to Ban Blamed for Sickening Farm Workers 
Oliver Milman, Guardian UK 
Milman writes: "A pesticide that was set to be banned before the Trump administration reversed course has been blamed for causing sickness to nearly 50 farm workers who were exposed to the chemical in California." 
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Farm workers in California. Large doses of the chlorpyrifos chemical can cause convulsions and even death. (photo: Mike Blake/Reuters)

Pesticide That Trump's EPA Refused to Ban Blamed for Sickening Farm Workers

By Oliver Milman, Guardian UK

21 May 17

Nearly 50 farm workers experienced nausea and vomiting apparently caused by a pesticide whose scheduled ban was overturned by the Trump administration

 pesticide that was set to be banned before the Trump administration reversed course has been blamed for causing sickness to nearly 50 farm workers who were exposed to the chemical in California.

Spraying of Vulcan, a brand name chemical, on an orchard southwest of Bakersfield led to the pesticide drifting to a neighboring property operated by Dan Andrews Farms. A total of 47 farm workers were harvesting cabbage at the time and subsequently complained of a bad odor, nausea and vomiting. One was taken to hospital with four other workers visiting doctors in the following days.

Glenn Fankhauser, agricultural commissioner of Kern County, said samples of cabbage and clothing have been taken to the state lab for testing. The tests are still underway to confirm the cause but the primary ingredient of Vulcan is chlorpyrifos, a toxic pesticide that was on course to be banned by the Obama administration before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decided against implementing a ban in March.

Dan Andrews, who runs the eponymous farm, said he doesn’t use chlorpyrifos despite it apparently infecting his workers.

“Unfortunately the wind moved it onto us, I’m not quite sure how it happened, thank God everyone’s OK,” he told Guardian US. “There were quite a few people feeling sick, some of them vomited, so we shut down the harvest.

“We are waiting for the investigation to conclude but I think they should ban (chlorpyrifos) to remove what’s causing the nausea. If it has had a history of incidents then it should be revisited and removed. Usually you worry about your own ranch, you don’t want to worry about other ranches. We are going to have to do due diligence before our shifts now.”

Chlorpyrifos is widely used in US agriculture, sprayed on crops such as corn, wheat and citrus. However, growing evidence of its impact upon human health led the EPA to agree with the chemical industry more than a decade ago that the product should not be used indoors to get rid of household bugs.

The pesticide has been linked to developmental problems in children such as lower birth weight, reduced IQ and attention disorders. Large doses of the chemical can cause convulsions and sometimes even death. People are exposed through spray drift, residues on food and water contamination.

Chlorpyrifos, which is produced by Dow Chemicals, can still be used for agricultural purposes but after a legal challenge by environmental groups, EPA scientists stated that the pesticide was not safe for any use and proposed widening the ban.

A subsequent ban of chlorpyrifos was rejected, however, under the new Trump administration. Scott Pruitt, administrator of the EPA, said he denied the ban to provide “regulatory certainty to the thousands of American farms that rely on chlorpyrifos”. The EPA said there were “serious scientific concerns and substantive process gaps” in the plan to banish chlorpyrifos. The next review of the chemical isn’t scheduled until 2022.

Farmworker Justice, a group that advocates on behalf of agricultural employees, said the EPA has become too close to large chemical companies such as Dow.

“We were extremely disappointed with the EPA’s decision but the administration received a lot of pressure from industry and donors,” said Virginia Ruiz, director of occupational and environmental health at Farmworker Justice. “I don’t have much confidence that the current administration will end the use of chlorpyrifos.”

Ruiz added: “These are the incidents we are afraid of because workers and their kids are particularly vulnerable to the effects of this pesticide. It’s not just the acute incidents but also low level exposures that are harmful to children. It’s a double standard to expect farm workers to be exposed to something that’s banned from homes.”

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/43680-pesticide-that-trumps-epa-refused-to-ban-blamed-for-sickening-farm-workers

RSN: Dan Rather | Donald Trump Obsession With Andrew Jackson Is a Carnival Act Unlike Anything I've Seen at the White House

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Dan Rather | Donald Trump Obsession With Andrew Jackson Is a Carnival Act Unlike Anything I've Seen at the White House 
 
Dan Rather, Dan Rather's Facebook Page 
Rather writes: "I wanted to let this story go. I really did. I don't want to be distracted from all the important things taking place." 
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Senate Asks Trump Associates for Records of Communication With Russians 
Matthew Rosenberg and Maggie Haberman, The New York Times 
Excerpt: "The Senate Intelligence Committee has asked a number of high-profile Trump campaign associates to hand over emails and other records of dealings with Russians as part of its investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election and is prepared to subpoena those who refuse to cooperate, officials said." 
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Macron Favorite as France Votes for New President, Early Turnout Low 
Ingrid Melander and Sybille de La Hamaide, Reuters 
Excerpt: "French voters choose on Sunday whether a pro-European Union centrist or a eurosceptic, anti-immigration far-rightist will lead them for the next five years, with early figures indicating turnout could be low, but above most recent forecasts." 
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White House Fires Its Chief Usher - the First Woman in That Job 
Ashley Parker and Krissah Thompson, The Washington Post 
Excerpt: "The White House has fired its chief usher, Angella Reid, the first woman and second African American to hold the position." 
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EPA's Scott Pruitt to Recuse Himself From Court Cases 
Ian Simpson, Reuters 
Simpson writes: "U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt has recused himself from several court cases that he pursued against the agency when he was Oklahoma attorney general, according to a recusal statement." 
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Argentine Women Occupy Downtown Buenos Aires to Protest Femicide 
teleSUR 
Excerpt: "Amid ongoing gender violence and femicides in Argentina and across Latin America, protesters have pitched tents in front of the country's National Council of Women on Thursday, demanding that the government take more action to prevent the rising problem which has been systematically ignored." 
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Why Won't the EPA Ban This Extremely Toxic Pesticide? 
Nicole Greenfield, EcoWatch 
Greenfield writes: "The pesticide industry and Dow Chemical have a new reason to cheer. The rest of us appear to be stuck with chlorpyrifos on our food, at least for the time being." 
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