leicsmac

I remember that people on the US election thread were inferring that what Trump got up to last time "wasn't that bad" ecologically and "the world didn't end". Well, someone elsewhere was kind enough to put together a rather exhaustive list of what his administration got up to last time. I invite those involved to discuss and/or defend, if they wish. From 2017 to 2021, the Trump administration reversed over 100 environmental regulations, affecting climate policy, air, water, wildlife, and chemical safety. Additionally, more than a dozen other rollbacks were in progress but not finalized by the end of the term, prompting questions about the potential impact of another four years. You might wonder what another four years could look like. Here's a summary of Trumps last four years in office: - Weakened fuel economy and greenhouse gas standards. - Revoked California's stricter emissions standards. - Withdrawn legal basis for limiting mercury from coal plants. - Exited the Paris climate agreement. - Altered Clean Air Act cost-benefit analysis methods. - Canceled methane emissions reporting for oil and gas companies. - Revised rules on methane emissions from drilling on public lands. - Eliminated methane standards for oil and gas facilities. - Withdrew rule limiting toxic emissions from industrial polluters. - Eased pollution safeguards for new power plants. - Changed refinery pollution monitoring rules. - Reversed emissions reduction during power plant malfunctions. - Weakened air pollution rules for national parks and wilderness areas. - Loosened state air pollution plan oversight. - Established minimum threshold for regulating greenhouse gases. - Relaxed pollution regulations for waste coal plants. - Repealed hydrofluorocarbon leak and venting rules. - Ended use of social cost of carbon in rulemaking. - Allowed increased ozone pollution from upwind states. - Stopped including greenhouse gas emissions in environmental reviews. - Revoked federal greenhouse gas reduction goal. - Repealed tailpipe emissions tracking on federal highways. - Lifted ban on higher ethanol gasoline blends in summer. - Extended deadlines for methane emissions plans for landfills. - Withdrew rule reducing pollutants at sewage plants. - Dropped tighter pollution standards for offshore oil and gas. - Amended emissions standards for ceramics manufacturers. - Relaxed leak monitoring at oil and gas facilities. - Cut two national monuments in Utah. - Ended freeze on new coal leases on public lands. - Permitted oil and gas development in Arctic Refuge. - Opened land for drilling in National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska. - Lifted ban on logging in Tongass National Forest. - Approved Dakota Access pipeline near Sioux reservation. - Rescinded water pollution rules for fracking. - Withdrawn rig decommissioning cost proof requirement. - Moved cross-border project permits to presidential office. - Altered FERC's greenhouse gas considerations in pipelines. - Revised ocean and coastal water policy. - Loosened offshore drilling safety regulations post-Deepwater Horizon. - Weakened National Environmental Policy Act. - Revoked flood standards for federal projects. - Eased federal infrastructure project environmental reviews. - Ended financing for overseas coal plants. - Revoked directive to minimize natural resource impacts. - Revoked climate resilience order for Bering Sea. - Reversed public land-use planning update. - Withdrawn climate change consideration in national park management. - Limited environmental study length and page count. - Dropped Obama-era climate change and conservation policies. - Eliminated planning system to minimize oil and gas harm on sensitive lands. - Withdrawn policies for improving resources affected by federal projects. - Revised Forest Service project review process. - Ended natural gas project environmental impact reviews. - Rolled back migratory bird protections. - Reduced habitat for northern spotted owl. - Altered Endangered Species Act application. - Weakened habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act. - Ended automatic protections for threatened species. - Reduced environmental protections for California salmon and smelt. - Removed gray wolf from endangered list. - Overturned bans on lead ammo and fishing tackle on federal lands. - Reversed ban on predator hunting in Alaskan refuges. - Reversed rule against baiting grizzly bears for hunting. - Amended fishing regulations. - Removed commercial fishing restrictions in marine preserve. - Proposed changes to endangered marine mammal injury limits. - Loosened fishing restrictions for Atlantic Bluefin Tuna. - Overturned migratory bird handicrafts ban. - Reduced Clean Water Act protections for tributaries and wetlands. - Revoked stream debris dumping rule for coal companies. - Weakened toxic discharge limits for power plants. - Extended lead pipe removal time in water systems. - Eased Clean Water Act for federal project permits over state objections. - Allowed unlined coal ash ponds to continue operating. - Withdrawn groundwater protections for uranium mines. - Rejected chlorpyrifos pesticide ban. - Declined financial responsibility rules for spills and accidents. - Opted against requiring mining industry pollution cleanup proof. - Narrowed toxic chemical safety assessment scope. - Reversed braking system upgrades for hazardous material trains. - Allowed liquefied natural gas rail transport. - Rolled back hazardous chemical site safety rules. - Narrowed pesticide application buffer zones. - Removed copper filter cake from hazardous waste list. - Limited use of scientific studies in public health regulations. - Reduced corporate settlement funding for environmental projects. - Repealed light bulb energy-efficiency regulation. - Weakened dishwasher efficiency standards. - Loosened efficiency standards for showerheads and appliances. - Altered energy efficiency standard-setting process. - Blocked efficiency standards for furnaces and water heaters. - Simplified appliance efficiency test exemption process. - Limited environmentally focused investments in 401(k) plans. - Changed policy on using sand from protected ecosystems. - Halted contributions to the Green Climate Fund. - Reversed national park plastic bottle sale restrictions.

Tbf I also suggested that climate activists take over a nuclear launch control centre, get the codes and hold the world to ransom to save it, so I get it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1dpnxnvv2go It is now "virtually certain" that 2024 - a year punctuated by intense heatwaves and deadly storms - will be the world's warmest on record, according to projections by the European climate service. Global average temperatures across the year are on track to end up more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, which would make 2024 the first calendar year to breach this symbolic mark. Ahead of schedule too. How about that.

https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/112812-technology-science-and-the-environment/?do=findComment&comment=6878783 Though I'm not sure how serious you were there.

Welllllll... turns out you can make it up, and it's the first twenty pages/minutes of a disaster movie/novel. But in all seriousness, @Daggers brand of "action directe" becomes harder and harder to refute as an option given the corruption and the ticking clock.

Pakistan are so enigmatic. They can lose to Scotland one week and then utterly blitz the Aussies (as they are today) the next.

But in other news, some good old fashioned corruption from the other side of the world: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjr41499pdlo South Korea’s president has apologised for a string of controversies surrounding his wife that included allegedly accepting a luxury Dior handbag and stock manipulation.

On topic re: above...

David Lammy:

Well, the election is done so perhaps it might make way for a general discussion thread on the matter anyway?

On the above:

Such a thing must depend on the situation, the outcomes, and the costs, I think. In this case, I don't see how the positive outweighs the negative.

Exactly. So it might be nice to have a little more help on that score. I think the timelines and plans are pretty clear as they are, but evidently not clear enough for enough people. I know that makes the issue abstract and that's a problem, but a bigger problem would be appearing to lie about it by giving details later found to be false. Not sure what the best way to proceed is tbh, but the clock is ticking and the future cost keeps going up.

Yeah, this is broadly accurate. The only thing I'll add is that the idealism in such cases regarding long term global plans isn't just a matter of moral whatever, over time it's actually critical to survival. How much more pragmatic can that be made?

It would be nice to have a little more help for single first time buyers tbh.

Only time I've seen planetary scientists come to a fistfight.

No, I'm saying that the policies applied on those matters clearly have next to no input from the STEM community given they fly in the face of pretty much so the advice it has given on them. Apologies if that wasn't clear, and the point being that the analytical processes and expertise of STEM experts, as valuable as it is, isn't being applied here much anyway.

No doubt. But one would hope not an largely increased amount of money.

Climate change, biodiversity projects, pollution. Pretty much anything environmental. Stem cell research, too. And given he intends to appoint an antivaxxer as the head of medical oversight, I wouldn't be sure there either. Edit: I'm wondering where the good science policy is to be honest, other than space exploration.

If it comes to that then everyone is screwed and it won't matter how hard or successfully we fight anyway, seeing as if we win all we'll be king of is the ashes.

Put the strawman away before someone lights a match, my friend. But to answer the question, for the moment such things have to be maintained, but they certainly wouldn't be near the top of the funding tree right now.

I would say at this point that the incoming administration has a record of actually listening to STEM sources regarding policy that is sketchy at best and laughable at worst anyway. The nations of the world spent $2.44 trillion last year on developing and maintaining ways to kill and maim each other. There's rather a lot of money to go round, clearly.

https://spacenews.com/chinas-new-rocket-for-crew-and-moon-to-launch-in-2026/ Artemis on the Moon in 2026, the Chinese before 2030. A new space race dawning? I hope not, that's so very Cold War/ history of The Expanse.

Come on Peaky, obvious bait is obvious.