Tag Archives: EPA

George Soros we’ve heard about but wait, the EPA is now funding Pro-Hamas Protests?

EPA-office-sign

Important Takeaways:

  • Rather more jarring is that the Biden administration, and therefore taxpayer money, is also funding the protests, through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
  • “U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Vice Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference and Ranking Member of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee… discussed oversight findings from the EPW Committee that revealed a $50 million grant was awarded from the EPA through the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to ‘Climate Justice Alliance,’ a group that engages in pro-Hamas, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic activities.” — US Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, May 21, 2024.
  • “[We] went to the website of Climate Justice Alliance. This is what we found on the website that our taxpayer dollars are going to organizations such as this. This, at the bottom, is a picture of the bulldozer that went through the fence when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.” — Senator Shelley Moore Capito, May 21, 2024.
  • The People’s Forum’s executive director Manolo De Los Santos called for the complete destruction of the United States at the conference to great applause: “We have to bring down this empire with one million cuts, and those one million cuts have to come from every sector of struggle in this room.”
  • Terrorists and their billionaire, as well as less-affluent supporters, are actively conspiring to destroy the US with the backing of foreign powers — and very little, if anything, is being done to stop it.

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EPA issues alert warning water utilities to ‘bolster cybersecurity’

Lincoln-Project-Hackers-830x415

Important Takeaways:

  • Cyberattacks on U.S. Water Facilities Are Increasing. Why?
  • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a critical enforcement alert on Monday, warning water utilities nationwide to bolster cybersecurity measures immediately due to an increase in the frequency and severity of cyberattacks. According to the EPA, 70 percent of inspected water utilities violated standards designed to prevent security breaches, highlighting the urgent need for improved defenses. The alert comes as smaller communities become prime targets for attacks by groups linked to hostile actors in Russia, Iran, and China.
  • In recent assessments, federal officials found water systems failing to implement basic security protocols, such as changing default passwords and revoking access from former employees. With many utilities relying heavily on computer software for operations, the EPA emphasized the importance of safeguarding both information technology and process controls to ensure uninterrupted water supply and safety.
  • “In many cases, systems are not doing what they are supposed to be doing, which is to have completed a risk assessment of their vulnerabilities that includes cybersecurity and to make sure that plan is available and informing the way they do business,” said EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe. She added: “China, Russia, and Iran are actively seeking the capability to disable U.S. critical infrastructure, including water and wastewater systems.”
  • Recent incidents include the Iranian-affiliated Cyber Av3ngers hacking a small Pennsylvania town’s water utility and a Russian-linked group targeting Texas utilities. In the past, most cyber attacks on utilities have been spearheaded by private actors looking to ransom back access to the owners in the hopes of receiving a cash payment. However, hostile state-aligned actors have also stepped up attacks in recent years. U.S. officials have acknowledged that ‘Volt Typhoon,’ a Chinese-affiliated cyber group, has carried out multiple attacks on U.S. infrastructure.

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North American Electric Reliability Corp warns policymakers are ignoring warning signs of higher winter blackouts

Bidenomics

Important Takeaways:

  • Power grid watchdog warns of higher winter blackout risks, cites Biden energy policies as top threat
  • The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned this week that more than half the U.S. is at an elevated risk of blackouts this winter due to a combination of increased demand, regional power generation shortfalls and potential fuel delivery challenges in the event of prolonged cold weather events.
  • …the key factors contributing to the risk are increasing demand for electricity to power things like electric vehicles, decreasing generation due to the premature closures of coal and gas-fired power plants, and permitting delays that prevent new infrastructure from being built and connected to the grid.
  • The NRECA hit out directly at the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed power plant rule aimed at reducing plant emissions by 90% by 2035, saying the Biden administration’s plan uses “unproven technologies and unrealistic compliance timelines” and “threatens electric reliability and affordability for every American.”
  • “The industry can’t be any clearer about the escalating dangers posed by a mismanaged energy transition,” the organization said in reaction to the NERC findings. “Just as the grid is in desperate need of policy support, policymakers are ignoring the warning signs of eroding reliability and continuing to push reckless and irresponsible policies forward.”

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EPA’s energy plan will leave you without power US grid operators warn

Biden vs, Fossil Fuels

Important Takeaways:

  • US grid operators warn Biden’s power plant crackdown could trigger ‘significant power shortages’
  • The nation’s largest power grid operators, which collectively provide power to 154 million Americans, joined a chorus of voices expressing concern about the Biden administration’s crackdown on gas-fired plants.
  • In joint comments filed Tuesday with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), four major grid operators — PJM Interconnection, Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Electric Reliability Council of Texas and Southwest Power Pool — stated that under the proposal announced earlier this year, grid reliability will “dwindle to concerning levels.” The four nonpartisan entities operate across 2 million square miles in all or parts of 30 states.
  • “As the penetration of renewable resources continues to increase, the grid will need to rely even more on generation capable of providing critical reliability attributes,” they wrote in their comment letter. “With continued and potentially accelerated retirements of dispatch able generation, supply of these reliability attributes will dwindle to concerning levels.”
  • The grid operators further warned that if carbon capture technology isn’t developed as quickly as EPA anticipates it will be, the U.S. would be left without sufficient power supply. Carbon capture technology is being used at just one large-scale facility in the world, the Boundary Dam Power Station in Canada.
  • “This proposal also strips states of important discretion while using technologies that don’t work in the real world — so it sets up the plants for failing to meet the standards dictated in the rule, leaving the plants with no other option but to cease operations,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said in a statement.
  • “This is designed to scare more coal-fired power plants into retirement — the goal of the Biden administration’s so-called green new deal,” he said. “That tactic is unacceptable, and this rule appears to utterly fly in the face of the rule of law.”

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After reports of Ohio residents experiencing health problems the EPA steps in

Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

Important Takeaways:

  • EPA Steps in as Ohio Residents Report Health Problems from Catastrophic, Toxic Train Derailment
  • More than two weeks after a train carrying hazardous materials – including the toxic chemical vinyl chloride – derailed in the small village of East Palestine, Ohio, the Environmental Protection Agency is stepping in and ordering the railroad to take responsibility.
  • “Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess that they created and the trauma they inflicted on this community,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
  • The wreckage burned for days and residents were ordered to evacuate their homes. Now, they’re reporting health problems including, skin, eye, and throat irritation.

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Supreme Court rules to EPA needs Congress approval to set standards, Gives Biden thumbs up to end ‘Remain in Mexico policy’

Important Takeaways:

  • Supreme Court Issues Final Rulings, Curbs EPA Overreach, Gives Biden the OK to End ‘Remain in Mexico’
  • The most high-profile case today was about U.S. immigration policy. The Court said President Biden has the right to end the “Remain in Mexico” policy which was a Trump administration rule that allowed asylum seekers to be deported while they waited for their cases to be heard.
    • The policy was quite effective at stemming the flood of migrants at the border. Four months after it was put in place, detentions at the border declined more than 60 percent.
  • Court Tells EPA to Back Off
    • The high court also issued a ruling about government overreach, clarifying the separation of powers
    • The justices ruled 6-3 that the Environmental Protection Agency, which is currently controlled by the Biden administration, doesn’t have the power to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants unless Congress gives it the clear authority to do so.
    •  “Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day’”
    • But he further explained, “A decision of such magnitude and consequence rests with Congress itself, or an agency acting pursuant to a clear delegation from that representative body.”
  • And finally at the Supreme Court today, there is a changing of the guard.
    • Justice Stephen Breyer officially steps down at noon, after serving 27 years. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the court’s first African-American woman, will then be sworn in.

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West Virginia v. EPA could also be huge

Exodus 18:21 “Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

Important Takeaways:

  • One more blockbuster Supreme Court decision could still be coming even after Friday’s abortion ruling
  • West Virginia vs. the EPA asks whether important policies that impact the lives of all Americans should be made by unelected D.C. bureaucrats or by Congress. This SCOTUS could well decide that ruling by executive agency fiat is no longer acceptable.
  • The case involves the Clean Power Plan, which was adopted under President Barack Obama to fight climate change; the program was estimated to cost as much as $33 billion per year and would have completely reordered our nation’s power grid. The state of West Virginia, joined by two coal companies and others, sued the EPA, arguing the plan was an abuse of power.
  • By deciding in favor of West Virginia, the court could begin to rein in the vast powers of the alphabet agencies in D.C. that run our lives and return it to legislators whom we elect to create…legislation.

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Exclusive-Farm Belt lawmakers push for biofuel investment and tax credits in new bills

By Jarrett Renshaw

(Reuters) – Billions of dollars in federal investments and tax credits to boost demand for U.S. biofuels will be part of two bills that Democratic lawmakers will introduce to the U.S. Congress, two sources familiar with the plans said.

Congress members from rural states will introduce bills in coming weeks seeking federal funds to add more high-biofuel blend pumps at retail stations and tax credits for automakers that put more “flex-fuel” vehicles on the road.

President Joe Biden was expected to give an update on Monday on whether the White House will accept a pared-down infrastructure bill negotiated by bipartisan group of lawmakers. If that happens, the sources said, the biofuels bills could be rolled into a massive spending bill with economic priorities Biden omitted from the infrastructure talks. Democrats and the White House hope the spending bill will pass along party lines this fall in a process called reconciliation.

The biofuels industry, including Archer Daniels Midland and Renewable Energy Group among others, is under pressure as the administration mulls cutting biofuel mandates to help U.S. oil refiners deal with rising regulatory costs.

Farm Belt Democrats including Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Representatives Cheri Bustos of Illinois and Cindy Axne of Iowa are leading the charge to support biofuels, sources said. These lawmakers often chide their party for paying too little attention to rural communities.

The lawmakers plan to seek $2 billion in funding to pay for new fuel pumps and other infrastructure for providing higher biofuel blends like ethanol and biodiesel. They are seeking a 5-cent-per-gallon tax credit for gas stations offering so-called E15, which is gasoline that contains 15% ethanol.

They also are seeking a $200 per car tax credit for automakers that make “flex fuel” vehicles that can run on virtually any blend of gasoline or ethanol.

Slim majorities in the House and Senate will embolden Democratic lawmakers to fight for pet projects and regional demands, in exchange for supporting the major spending plan. Congressional aides and White House officials have warned that those regional and special interests could swell the spending bill and complicate efforts to move ahead on a party-line vote.

BIDEN’S COMPETING PRIORITIES

While farm states want the White House to help the biofuels industry, labor groups and another group of Democratic senators have a competing demand for helping lower costs for refiners. The U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard requires refiners to blend biofuels like ethanol into fuel or buy tradable credits from competitors who do.

The U.S Environmental Protection Agency is weighing a nationwide general waiver exempting U.S. refiners from some obligations. This would lower the amount of renewable fuel refiners must blend in the future and create a price cap on compliance credits.

Another priority for Biden has been boosting electric vehicles. He included $174 billion to pay for charging stations in his ‘American Jobs Plan’ introduced in March.

Electric vehicles are key to Biden’s drive to get the United States to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. Environmental groups may see biofuel investments as counter to those goals.

“Investments into our electric vehicle system are necessary and good, but liquid fuel is not going to disappear overnight,” Bustos told Reuters. She acknowledged her support for the biofuels market but did not share any bill details.

“The way we look at is biofuels have the potential to drive down our carbon emissions now, not 10 years from now, not by 2050, but right now,” Bustos said.

(Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Heather Timmons and David Gregorio)

EPA finalizes lead contamination rule

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday finalized the first update of regulations of lead in drinking water in 30 years, a move it said strengthens federal rules but that environmental critics say is a missed opportunity to carry out the kind of regulatory overhaul needed to ensure safety.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the final rule at a virtual news conference alongside the mayor of Flint, Michigan, Sheldon Neeley, saying it strengthened “every aspect” of the existing regulation and would protect children and communities from lead exposure.

“For the first time in nearly 30 years, this action incorporates best practices and strengthens every aspect of the rule, including closing loopholes, accelerating the real world pace of lead service line replacement, and ensuring that lead pipes will be replaced in their entirety,” Wheeler said in a statement.

The update of the lead and copper rule was a response to the 2014 Flint water crisis, when the predominantly Black city of 100,000 switched its drinking water supply from Detroit’s system to the Flint River to save money, unleashing water contamination that led to elevated lead levels in children’s blood.

The rule would require utilities to notify customers of high lead concentrations within 24 hours of detection – down from 30 days – and require testing for lead in elementary schools and childcare facilities for the first time. It would also require water systems to identify and notify the public about the locations of lead service lines.

But environmental groups criticized the final rule for failing to speed up the replacement of lead pipes, a requirement they say is crucial to protect communities’ drinking water.

The final rule says that in communities where high lead levels are found, utilities must replace 3% of lead water lines compared with the previous requirement of 7%.

“If you have the chance to make the first major revisions in 30 years, you need to really solve this problem. The EPA should speed up replacements of lead pipes, not slow them down,” said Suzanne Novak, an attorney for Earthjustice.

(Reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Researchers find elevated radiation near U.S. fracking sites

(Reuters) – Radiation levels downwind of U.S. hydraulic fracturing drilling sites tend to be significantly higher than background levels, posing a potential health risk to nearby residents, according to a study by Harvard researchers released on Tuesday.

The study, published in the journal Nature, adds to controversy over the drilling method known as fracking, which has helped the United States become the world’s biggest oil and gas producer over the past decade but which environmentalists say threatens water and air.

President Donald Trump supports fracking because of its economic benefits, and his Democratic rival Joe Biden has promised to continue to allow it if elected even though he aims to impose an ambitious plan to fight climate change.

Areas within 20 kilometers (12 miles) downwind of 100 fracking wells tend to have radiation levels that are about 7% above normal background levels, according to the study, which examined thousands of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s radiation monitor readings nationwide from 2011 to 2017.

The study showed readings can go much higher in areas closer to drill sites, or in areas with higher concentrations of drill sites.

“The increases are not extremely dangerous, but could raise certain health risks to people living nearby,” said the study’s lead author, Petros Koutrakis.

Radioactive particles can be inhaled and increase the risk of lung cancer.

Koutrakis said the source of the radiation is likely naturally-occurring radioactive material brought up to the surface in drilling waste fluids during fracking, a process that pumps water underground to break up shale formations.

The study found the biggest increases in radiation levels near drill sites in states like Pennsylvania and Ohio that have higher concentrations of naturally occurring radioactive material beneath the surface, and lower readings in places like Texas and New Mexico that have less.

It also found less pronounced increases in particle radiation levels near conventional drilling operations.

Koutrakis said further study was needed to determine whether the radiation was being released during the drilling process, or from wastewater storage nearby.

“Our hope is that once we understand the source more clearly, there will be engineering methods to control this,” he said.

(Reporting by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Marguerita Choy)