Tag: Environment

American Bridge Statement On Scott Pruitt’s Nomination for EPA Administrator

American Bridge President Jessica Mackler issued the following statement on Donald Trump’s nomination of climate science-denier Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA:

“In one of Donald Trump’s most dangerous nominations yet, he’s tapped a climate science-denier in the pocket of Big Oil to serve as administrator of the EPA, which on Scott Pruitt’s watch will on Day One become Every Polluters’ Agency.

“It’s ironic — and terrifying — that Scott Pruitt is set to lead to an agency that he hates; because as the threat of global warming looms and sea levels rise, Pruitt’s nomination and assured efforts to roll back President Obama’s work to protect our environment are a threat to America’s national and economic security.”

Read more after the jump.

Big Oil Ally Kelly Ayotte Acts The Environmentalist

Facing a tough reelection challenge from Governor Maggie Hassan, perennial Big Oil ally and beneficiary Kelly Ayotte is making herself out to be an environmentalist by touting her support for the Obama administration’s proposal to cap power plants’ carbon pollution levels.

 

That sounds nice, but Kelly Ayotte’s history tells a rather different story. Ayotte’s actively voted against closing tax loopholes for oil companies, and she’s voted for delaying the implementation of EPA emissions rules. Kelly Ayotte’s refused to support extending tax credits for wind energy — and she’s even voted to slash funding for alternative energy research and development.

 

Such is not the record of someone who believes, “It’s so important that we protect New Hampshire’s beautiful environment,” as she claimed in statement Sunday.

 

Not one week ago, Kelly Ayotte was a beneficiary of a New York City fundraiser hosted by environmental protection and clean energy-opponent David Koch. And this summer alone, Charles and David Koch’s Americans for Prosperity  Read more after the jump.

ICYMI: Jeb Backed Yucca Mountain

As he campaigns in Nevada, a reminder of Jeb Bush’s record of supporting Yucca Mountain, the latest in a long line of positions that would hurt the same people he wants to vote for him:

During this same period, Bush signed letters opposing interim waste sites, including joining a bipartisan group of 17 governors in 2006 in a letter to Congress that argued it was “a giant step backward for ratepayers in our states and others who have contributed more than $14 billion into the Nuclear Waste Fund.”

What’s more, those emails Bush recently released show he was fully briefed on Yucca Mountain during this time, so he shouldn;t have a reason to study it now…Bush can’t avoid his past on the repository, which was finally approved by a guy with the same last name in the White House.I don’t believe in the sins of the brother being visited on the brother, but Jeb appears to have had the same position as W.

Jeb was once part of nuclear industry group pushing Yucca Mountain

Joni Ernst and the Kochs want to dismantle the Clean Water Act

Joni Ernst is preparing for a big debate, but before she takes the stage, let’s take a look at who she would really represent in the Senate.

According to audio released from the Kochs’ secretive donor summit, Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst gushed that the Koch brothers’ donor network is to thank for her political “trajectory.” Ernst went on to attribute the Kochs’ backing to her support for “rolling back… rules and regulations.” It’s an apt observation from Koch Crony Joni, who has gone so far as to oppose the Clean Water Act, a critical environmental protection that Koch Industries and its subsidiaries have run afoul of no less than 18 times in the Hawkeye State alone.

Earlier this year, while campaigning for the Republican party nomination for Iowa’s open Senate seat, Ernst said that she considers the Clean Water Act to be “damaging” to business and that she supports replacing it with “voluntary measures.” The extreme remark even rankled members of her own party, with Republican operatives citing her opposition to the longstanding, successful environmental protection as proof positive that she had tacked too hard to the far right. Despite the push back it received from some establishment Republicans, Ernst’s rant against the Clean Water Act is a perfect example of the type of anti-regulation rhetoric that, as she herself speculated, likely piqued the Kochs’ attention.

Read more after the jump.

Oh Look, Rick Scott Is An Environmentalist Now! (VIDEO)

Rick Scott is traversing the state this week, attempting to convince Floridians that his sudden interest in environmental protection is something more than election-year pandering. It won’t work.

As rising sea levels associated with climate change pose greater and greater threat to the Florida coastline, Rick Scott has only doubled and tripled down on his “I’m not a scientist” buffoonery. But you don’t have to be a scientist to listen to scientific consensus. And you certainly don’t need a science-believing governor to suffer from increased flooding in your hometown.

Read more after the jump.

Rick Scott’s 2014 Budget: A Textbook Case Of Election Year Pandering

As Governor Rick Scott delivers his 2014-2015 budget address, Floridians would do well to see Scott’s budget for what it is: A textbook case of election year pandering. While Scott’s budget plans included hundreds of millions of dollars in vague tax breaks for special interests and dramatic cuts to various revenue sources, the Tea Party governor has also discovered an election year infatuation with spending on Everglades reconstruction, child welfare, and teacher pay raises. Scott’s predilection for election year pandering is nothing new, but the extent of it in his latest budget proposal is staggering.

Scott Has A History Of Election Year Pandering (VIDEO). According to a news segment highlighting clips of Governor Rick Scott, Scott has a history of election-year pandering. In the clip, a FOX reporter states of Scott: “He’s the Tea Party Republican who slashed school funding then raised it as he prepared for re-election, after he tied teacher pay to performance, before giving out raises regardless of performance.”

Read more after the jump.

BRIDGE BRIEFING: Romney And The Environment

Previously said Carbon Was Not A harmful Pollutant And Questioned The EXISTENCE Of Global Warming

July, 2011, Romney Said Carbon Is Not A Harmful Pollutant To Human Bodies. According to Mitt Romney says he doesn’t think carbon pollution threatens human health and would not green-light EPA climate regulations if he were in the White House. The GOP presidential candidate signaled the reversal to one of the Obama administration’s top environmental policies during a town hall meeting Thursday in Derry, N.H. This came about six weeks after he acknowledged during a campaign stop that global warming is real, a statement that won him praise from Al Gore. ‘I think we may have made a mistake,’ Romney said Thursday in response to a voter’s question about EPA regulating air pollution from coal plants under the Clean Air Act. ‘We have made a mistake is what I believe, in saying that the EPA should regulate carbon emissions. I don’t think that was the intent of the original legislation, and I don’t think carbon is a pollutant in the sense of harming our bodies.’” [Politico, 7/18/11]

Read more after the jump.

BRIDGE BRIEFING: Romney And Energy

Romney Opposed Wind Energy Tax Credit Benefitting Iowan Farmers

Romney Opposed Renewing Wind Energy Tax Credits Set To Expire Despite Program’s Popularity In Iowa. According to Talking Points Memo, “The Romney campaign on Monday signaled the Republican nominee is against renewing a tax break for wind energy, a potentially dangerous position since the program is popular in the swing state of Iowa, reports the Des Moines Register. The position distinguishes Romney from President Obama who wishes to extend the tax credit and says it has saved jobs in Iowa. It also puts Romney at odds with some Iowa Republicans who support the tax break. ‘He will allow the wind credit to expire, end the stimulus boondoggles, and create a level playing field on which all sources of energy can compete on their merits,’ Shawn McCoy, a spokesman for Romney’s Iowa campaign, told the Register Monday. ‘Wind energy will thrive wherever it is economically competitive, and wherever private sector competitors with far more experience than the president believe the investment will produce results.’” [Talking Points Memo, 7/31/12]

Gov. Branstad Said Wind Energy Tax Credits Proceeded Obama And The Stimulus And Made A Difference. According to Radio Iowa, “The Romney campaign is running a TV ad in Iowa which suggests part of the 2009 economic stimulus package sent taxpayer dollars to ‘windmills from China.’ ‘I understand why they are very critical of the whole thing that was done by the Obama Administration with regard to the stimulus and some of the money that was wasted on Solyndra and some of these green energy projects didn’t make sense,’ Branstad said. ‘The tax credit, however, is a much different thing and it way proceeded Obama and it was actually something that Senator Grassley authored and has made a real difference over time.’” [Radio Iowa, 8/2/12]

Read more after the jump.

Journal Inquirer: McMahon Has Stake In Oil Pipeline Plan She Supports

On March 31, 2012, the Journal Inquirer reported:

Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Linda McMahon — a champion of the Keystone oil pipeline project — owns shares worth as much as $437,000 in nine of Canada’s largest oil-sands producers and six other Canadian companies that could profit from the business of moving crude from Alberta to U.S. refineries.

Read more after the jump.