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Category: Politics - Organic Lifestyle Magazine Category: Politics - Organic Lifestyle Magazine

President Trump Opens Marine Monument to Commercial Fishing

President Trump has opened the only national marine monument in the Atlantic to commercial fishing. The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument was established in 2016 by President Obama and includes nearly 5,000 acres of the coast of New England. The monument is noted for its biodiversity, and opening up the area to commercial fishing will have a devastating effect on that ecosystem.

Opening up the nation’s only marine national monument in the Atlantic will help no one but a handful of fishers while risking irreparable damage to the marine wildlife that have no other fully protected areas off our eastern seaboard…Ancient and slow-growing deep sea corals, endangered large whales and sea turtles, and an incredible array of fish, seabirds, sharks, dolphins, and other wildlife—these are the species and habitats that will pay the price.”

Bob Dreher, senior vice president of Conservation Programs at Defenders of Wildlife

The area is home to four seamounts, 3 underwater canyons, more than 54 species of deep-sea corals, and is a frequent feeding ground for whales, sharks, seabirds, dolphins, turtles, and other species. Many of the corals are more than 1,000 years old.

President Trump’s decision comes a day after he signed an executive order removing the need for environmental review before going forward with projects like pipelines and highways. The opening of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing, leaving more than 1,000 species open to the damage caused by the industry, is only the latest of the President’s systemic dismantling of environmental protections in the United States.

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U.S. Court Cancels EPA Approval of Nayer’s Dicamba-Based Herbicide

The Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broke the law when they approved Bayer’s XtendiMax dicamba-based herbicide system and revoked the approval of that product. They also canceled registrations for the additional dicamba-based herbicides, like BASF’s Engenia and Corteva Agriscience’s FeXapan. Sales of the herbicide have been stopped, and farmers planning to use the system this year will now be unable to.

Dicamba has been the subject of several lawsuits, including a $265 million verdict against Bayer earlier this year, due to the herbicide drifting onto nd damaging other plants when it’s applied. The decision by the federal court determined that the EPA underestimated the extent of dicamba’s drift when they approved Bayer’s (then Monsanto) XtendiMax.

We hold that the EPA substantially understated risks that it acknowledged and failed entirely to acknowledge other risks.”

Judge William Fletcher

Related: Foods Most Likely to Contain Glyphosate

The petition was brought to the Court of Appeals by the National Family Farm Coalition, Center for Food Safety, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Pesticide Action Network North America. The court’s verdict is a big win for environmental groups and farmers with pending cases against Bayer.

This is a massive victory that will protect people and wildlife from uses of a highly toxic pesticide that never should have been approved by the EPA. The fact that the Trump EPA approved these uses of dicamba despite its well-documented record of damaging millions of acres of farmland, tree groves and gardens highlights how tightly the pesticide industry controls EPA’s pesticide-approval process.”

Lori Ann Burd, Center for Biological Diversity

The decision also comes at a time that the current administration is strategically dismantling EPA policies designed to protect citizens and the environment from big business pollution.

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Cook County Board of Commissioners Votes ‘Yes’ To Share Addresses of COVID-19 Patients

The Cook County Board of Commissioners has voted yes to a resolution to share the addresses of positive COVID-19 patients with suburban first responders. The board claims they voted to pass this motion in an effort to protect first responders against the virus, but this raises serious concerns about the privacy of citizens.

Chicago Mayor, Lori Lightfoot

Today, to my great astonishment and disappointment, nine members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners voted to capitulate to ignorance and bigotry by voting to force the disclosure of the addresses of every patient who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot via Twitter

Mayor Lightfoot later went on to say that the sharing of addresses would never become law in Chicago. Cook County is not the first municipality to discuss the sharing of COVID-19 patients’ addresses. Recent events in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic go to show how little our personal freedoms matter to those in power, and just how little people care when they’re scared.




Great Lakes Suffer As EPA Continues to Relax Environmental Regulation and Corporate Non-Compliance Increases

In news that should surprise no one, the Trump Administration’s decision to walk back the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) enforcement of environmental regulations has resulted in a significant increase in Great Lakes pollution from corporations. The Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) recently released a report that examined clean water regulation enforcement and found that there was a decrease in compliance cases initiated, civil penalties for violations, and the staff needed to properly protect the Great Lakes. The EPA has also been subject to significant yearly budget cuts, though the agency isn’t even spending all the money congress has given it for enforcement.

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As enforcement has trended downward, compliance has worsened. In 2019, there were 62% more facilities in significant noncompliance with the Clean Water Act, when compared to the average number of facilities in significant noncompliance between FY (fiscal year) 2012 to FY 2017.

Environmental Law and Policy Center

The numbers from FY 2012 to FY 2019 are incredibly upsetting. The number of major facilities in serious non-compliance with environmental regulations has risen from 122 to 211. That increase is the direct inverse of compliance enforcement. As non-compliance has risen, compliance enforcement has floundered.

  • The number of compliance cases opened has gone from 340 to 208, while case closures have gone from 351 to 205.
  • The amount of penalties assessed has gone from a high of $1.4 million (2013) to a low of $303,000 (2018).
  • The compliance enforcement budget has shrunk from $257,000 to $240,000.
  • The staff assigned to the Great Lakes region has declined from 1,249 employees to 940.

Government officials continually claim companies will follow the environmental regulations on their own, but the numbers are clear. Corporations aren’t following the rules, and they have no incentive to do so as long as it’s cheaper to pay someone to look the other way than it is to do clean up after themselves.

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The Bureau of Land Management Continues to Lease Public Land to Oil and Gas Companies During Pandemic

While the majority of Americans find themselves shut-in during the pandemic, the Department of Interior (DOI) through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has offered more than 200,000 acres of public land to oil and gas companies in five different lease sales. These sales have continued with little to no opportunity for public oversight, other than the mandatory 10 day protest period. The duration of that protest period was shortened to 10 days from 30 days in January 2018. That year generated $1.1 billion in revenue for the BLM, nearly tripling the previous annual sales record ($408 million in 2008) and almost equaling the bureau’s budget. According to the BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs, that’s a good thing.

This was a historic year for oil and gas, and clearly illustrates what is possible when public lands are put to work using innovation, best science, and best practices…Our sound energy policy continues to ensure reliable, safe, abundant, and affordable energy for all Americans, without putting unnecessary burdens on industry. In fact, this policy generated nearly as much revenue as the BLM’s $1.1 billion budget for 2018.”

Brian Steed, BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs

But maybe it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

How To Get Away With It, Legally

Oil and gas leases are nothing new for the DOI as the BLM is required to offer these competitive leases quarterly. Of the 213,000 acres offered by the BLM, 89,000 were sold at the competitive sale. The remaining acres will continue to be offered by the BLM for 10-year non-competitive leases, a process that allows oil and gas companies to control large portions of public lands for incredibly cheap. Companies with non-competitive leases, which are issued on a first-come, first-serve basis, pay $1.50 an acre for the first five years of the lease. Yet 55% of these leases are terminated early, and only 3% of them are under production at the termination at the end of their 10-year term. Those defaulted leases are returned to the BLM so they can sell them again.

The noncompetitive leasing program resembles a hamster wheel in which the BLM reviews parcel nominations; holds an auction; issues unsold oil and gas leases noncompetitively; terminates the leases when the companies fail to pay rent—and then repeats the cycle, often recycling the same parcels over again.”

The Center for American Progress

Bread and Circuses

Constantly listing, selling, managing, repossessing, and relisting public lands for oil and gas leases takes time and resources. These are time and resources that could be spent doing things that are less beneficial for the fossil fuel industry, like environmental impact reports. A judge in Montana recently ruled to vacate 287 oil and gas leases because they were improperly issued. According to the judge, his decision…

…largely relates to the absence of analysis rather than to a flawed analysis. In other words, the Court does not fault B.L.M. for providing a faulty analysis of cumulative impacts or impacts to groundwater, it largely faults B.L.M. for failing to provide any analysis.”

Federal Judge Brian Morris

Oil and gas companies don’t care if these leases default. The amount spent on the leases is virtually equal to the Bureau of Land Management’s yearly budget. While the department is meant to represent public lands and public interests, fossil fuel money is what keeps it operating. The money spent on leases that don’t yield significant oil or gas deposits pays off in diverting resources and influence.

The BLM is spending taxpayer money on an ineffective and unnecessary program. Furthermore, Americans are losing out on a fair return for the use of their resources, and the BLM’s hands are tied from actively managing the public lands for conservation, recreation, or other beneficial purposes. The BLM is already stretched thin, lacking adequate staff and resources to fulfill its complex multiple use mission on public lands, of which oil and gas development is a fraction. Devoting significant time to this program that, for all intents and purposes, appears to mainly benefit companies looking to pad their books or engage in speculative practices, takes away much-needed resources that the BLM could better use for public benefit elsewhere.”

Center for American Progress

This not a new practice from either the government or the fossil fuel industry. The government makes its decisions based on the resources they have available. These resources are provided by the interests the government is elected to regulate. The pandemic has not changed their businesses at all, essential or not. In fact, the pandemic and subsequent shutdown have served to further remove roadblocks for the massive corporations that rule our nation.

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Reusable Grocery Bags Are Being Banned as Plastics Industry Takes Advantage of COVID-19

States and cities are rolling back plastic bag bans at the grocery store and enacting bans on reusable grocery bags as the plastics industries ramps up lobbying during the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco, the first municipality to ban plastic bags, has banned customers from bringing reusable grocery bags while the state of California has lifted their plastic bag ban for 60 days. Oregon has lifted its plastic bag for the same period, and cities like Bellingham, WA, and Albuquerque, NM have announced they will allow the bags during the pandemic. Massachusetts, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Maryland are among the states that have banned or strongly discouraged the use of reusable grocery bags due to coronavirus fears.

It is critical to protect the public health and safety and minimize the risk of Covid-19 exposure for workers engaged in essential activities, such as those handling reusable grocery bags.”

Gavin Newsom, Governor of California

Do plastic bags actually protect workers?

There is evidence to suggest that efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus by banning reusable bags don’t actually work any better than using plastic bags does. Scientists have found that coronavirus can linger on hard surfaces like stainless steel and plastic, where the novel coronavirus can survive for 2-3 days. Meanwhile, there is no evidence to date that coronavirus can survive on what we wear and most reusable bags lack the hard buttons and zippers that clothes have.

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At the grocery store, plastic bags don’t reduce exposure for customers or essential workers any more than reusable bags do. Plastic bags have been received, stocked, and distributed by a person who has likely not been tested for COVID-19 for a multitude of reasons. Cashiers wear gloves, but many haven’t received proper training on how to limit the spread of disease while wearing gloves.

So those workers are constantly touching food, people’s money, people’s hand, carts and touch screens–without cleaning their hands or changing their gloves. But we know that the gloves can carry a bioburden and increases the risk for transfer of germs.”

Shanina Knighton, nurse-scientist/researcher at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing

Your grocery store clerk is touching money, their workstation, the plastic bag carousel, every bag they gave you, and every single item you and everyone else in store give them. Simply using plastic bags doesn’t stop that.

Properly washed reusable bags eliminate points of exposure for everyone. The cashier doesn’t need to touch the bag carousel. The customer isn’t handed bags that have been touched by multiple people. The cashier doesn’t need to touch the plastic bag carousel that has been repeatedly handled and doesn’t even need to touch the reusable bag if the customer holds it open while grocery items are dropped in. Reusable bags are touched by one person and can be washed for reuse immediately upon returning home. So why would governors ban them? The answer lies in the plastics industry.

Influence Infrastructure

Plastics makers have capitalized on coronavirus fears, including heavy pushes from lobbyists to end all plastics bag bans. Groups like Bag the Ban and American Progressive Bag Alliance have been especially active in overturning bans and promoting single-use plastics as a way to maintain public safety. Tony Radoszewski, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, recently penned a letter to Alex Azar, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

We are asking that the Department of Health and Human Services investigate this issue and make a public statement on the health and safety benefits seen in single-use plastics. We ask that the department speak out against bans on these products as a public safety risk and help stop the rush to ban these products by environmentalists and elected officials that puts consumers and workers at risk.”

Tony Radoszewski, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association

Plastic bag sales in the U.S. were projected to reach 1.4 billion dollars this year. Thanks to the lift on bans during the pandemic, those numbers will likely be higher than expected. In addition to the rollback of previously instated bans, pending bans have also taken a hit. A proposed ban of plastic and paper bags and polystyrene food containers in New Jersey died in January. The plastics ban proposed in New York has been held since February by a lawsuit filed by Poly-Pak Industries Inc., Green Earth Food Corp., Green Earth Grocery Store, Francisco Marte, The Bodega, and the Small Business Association. Meanwhile, the plastics recycling industry is seeking a 1 billion dollar bailout due to the coronavirus. The U.S. system is notoriously bad at processing plastics with only 10% of plastics actually being recycled.

Plastics Are Not Here to Make Friends

The plastics industry is having a party, and the American people will be left with both the bill and the cleanup. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) has proposed the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.

By asking for a billion-dollar handout, Big Plastic is trying to maintain what already is the status quo: that is, taxpayers funding and taking responsibility for the waste of plastic producers…When we surface from this pandemic, plastic pollution will still be at crisis levels­ — and matters may be even worse, as industry tries to exploit this pandemic to leverage more marketing for single-use products.”

Senator Tom Udall

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Youtube Bans Coronavirus Information that Goes Against the World Health Organization

Youtube’s chief executive Susan Wojcicki said in an interview that Youtube would be banning all content regarding coronavirus that contradicts The World Health Organization. Wojcicki says the goal is to get rid of “Misinformation on the platform”, by removing anything they deem “medically unsubstantiated”.

“Anything that would go against World Health Organization recommendations would be a violation of our policy.”

Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki

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Unfortunately, what they deem medically unsubstantiated is entirely up to their discretion and not up for debate. It seems, as pointed out by Collective Evolution, that the information they deem medically unsubstantiated is information that negatively targets the establishment.

It seems that any type of information that threatens political/government, corporate and other elitist agendas is heavily targeted.

YouTube Is Banning Coronavirus Content That Contradicts The World Health Organization -Collective Evolution

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The censoring of information by supposed “fact-checkers” could easily be seen as a blatant violation of our right to free speech. Fact-checkers continually flag information as false, or “fake news” without giving counter-evidence that proves this information to be false.

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