We are familiar with ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) model legislation to promote charter schools and vouchers, as well as to eliminate teachers’ unions.

The New York Times reported today that ALEC and the Koch brothers are working on behalf of the electric industry to block and reverse support for the rooftop solar power movement. When the public was concerned about over-reliance on fossil fuels, many states offered incentives for homeowners to install rooftop solar panels. Some allow homeowners to sell excess power back to utilities. The power industry wants to get rid of these incentives. And they are succeeding. In the Trump era, there is no form of progress that can’t be rolled back.

Well, we knew this was coming. Scott Pruitt, in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency, has dismissed at least five members of a major scientific review board.

The Environmental Protection Agency has dismissed at least five members of a major scientific review board, the latest signal of what critics call a campaign by the Trump administration to shrink the agency’s regulatory reach by reducing the role of academic research.

President Trump has directed Mr. Pruitt to radically remake the E.P.A., pushing for deep cuts in its budget — including a 40 percent reduction for its main scientific branch — and instructing him to roll back major Obama-era regulations on climate change and clean water protection. In recent weeks, the agency has removed some scientific data on climate change from its websites, and Mr. Pruitt has publicly questioned the established science of human-caused climate change.

Nothing in the purview of the federal government is sacred in this administration.

Now Trump is reviewing the national parks and lands declared to be “national monuments.”

Trump’s Latest Plan to Undo Obama’s Legacy May Be Illegal

Mother Jones reports:

“Sixteen presidents have cemented their legacies by designating new public lands and national monuments, a power granted to them under the 1906 Antiquities Act. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, wants to go in the opposite direction: If he actually follows through on his threat to reverse any monuments created by Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, he’d be the first commander-in-chief to revoke a monument designated by a predecessor. He’d also be stretching the legal authority of his office beyond what Congress ever granted.

“An attack on one monument is an attack on all of them,” says one environmental advocate.
Trump’s latest executive order, which he’ll sign at the Interior on Wednesday, directs the department to review 24 monument designations dating back to January 1996. The oldest monument under review is the 1996 Grand Staircase-Escalante monument; the most recent is Bears Ears, a twin rock formation that was President Obama’s last designation. (Both are southern Utah monuments criticized by local and state officials who oppose federal land control and want to keep the areas open for mining, logging, and grazing.) Everything in between, including Obama’s record 554 million acres of land and ocean set aside, will be up for review until August 24, 120 days from when Trump signs the executive order. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will then recommend legislative or executive changes to monument designations. Trump’s next actions could include shrinking them or revoking their designation entirely.

“While Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante are expected to top Trump’s list, environmentalists don’t think the review will stop there. “An attack on one monument is an attack on all of them,” says Dan Hartinger, the Wilderness Society’s deputy director for Parks and Public Lands Defense.

“But as Zinke, a self-described Teddy Roosevelt conservationist, admitted on a White House press call on Tuesday night, it’s “untested whether the president can do that.”

“That’s because no president has even tried to revoke a national monument since 1938, when President Franklin Roosevelt wanted to reverse Calvin Coolidge’s designation of the Castle Pinckney National Monument in South Carolina. The attorney general at the time, however, decided that the Act “does not authorize [the President] to abolish [national monuments] after they have been established.” In the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act, Congress again affirmed that only it had the power to revoke or modify national monuments, says Mark Squillace, a University of Colorado Law professor and expert on the Antiquities Act.”

Apparently Trump wants oil drilling allowed at these sites.

Will Trump’s legacy be one of pillage?

He seems to be at war with everything achieved by his predecessors.

How will he be remembered?

April 22 is an annual event to celebrate the Earth and to take steps to improve the environment for all who share the same planet.

Tomorrow there will also be a March for Science in many locales, notably in Washington, D.C. and in New York City. In New York City, the March for Science will assemble at Central Park West and 64th Street in Manhattan. Open the link for details.

Earth Day began in 1970 and is now a worldwide event.

What will you do?

Trump has promised to slash the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency. He does not believe that the climate is changing in response to human activity like pollution. Neither do most of those that he has put in charge of EPA and other agencies that relate to science. Scientists fear that those in this administration might wipe out decades of data that have been collected about climate change, in addition to defunding the agencies responsible for protecting the environment. What will happen to the Endangered Species Act? We must all stay informed to protect what is left and to resist the reversal of decades of effort to save the earth and its creatures.

It is hard to remember the days when automobiles and trucks spewed pollution and when smokers were free to smoke wherever they wanted, even in the enclosed cabins of airplanes.

What a shame to reverse those years of progress towards protecting the planet and protecting humans too.

Nearly 500 communities across the world will participate in Earth Day activities and a March for Science.

Join one. Be informed. Be active.

This article reviews the many legal and political challenges that still face the Keystone Pipeline.

https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/eco-catholic/legal-challenges-await-keystone-xl-pipeline-after-trump-grants-permit

He said it would create thousands of jobs, but they are temporary construction jobs. Once the pipeline is completed, it will be run by 50 people, only 35 with permanent jobs.

Environmental groups say it will cause irreparable damage.

“Trump said, “It’s going to be an incredible pipeline, greatest technology known to man or woman. And frankly, we’re very proud of it.” Despite Trump’s repeated insistence that Keystone and new pipelines would be built with American steel, the White House confirmed earlier this month that Keystone will not, since it was considered already under construction.”

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson used a secondary email with an alias “Wayne Tracker.” He used it to communicate with Exxon board meters about sensitive matters like climate change. A year of emails has disappeared!

“Exxon Mobil Corp. may have lost as much as a year’s worth of emails that former Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson used to discuss climate change risks and other sensitive issues under the alias ‘Wayne Tracker,’ a lawyer for New York state told a judge.

“Tillerson, now U.S. secretary of state, used the pseudonym account for communicating with company board members, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is investigating whether the Irving, Texas-based company broke state law by misleading investors for years about the possible impact of the Earth’s warming on its business.

“John Oleske, a senior enforcement lawyer for New York, cited the missing emails at a hearing in Manhattan Wednesday to bolster his claim that Exxon is failing to comply with a subpoena in the case despite turning over more than 2 million pages of documents. In court, Oleske described Exxon’s admission of missing emails as a “bombshell.”

“Exxon concedes that it failed to preserve all documents from an alias email account used by Rex Tillerson,” Oleske said in a court filing before the hearing. “Exxon’s conduct outside this court reflects a pattern of stonewalling and disingenuousness.”

“Both parties agreed to discuss possible ways, if any, to recover emails that may have been lost and report back to the court by March 31.”

Someone on Twitter suggested that Rex should ask his friend Putin to find them.