— Rachel Maddow | May 1st, 2017
Gina McCarthy, former EPA administrator, reacts to the EPA under Donald Trump removing the climate change section from its web site, and talks about the value of environmental protections to "normal human beings."
Transcripts aren’t yet available. Here is a partial of some key points former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy made in her assessment of the immediate and future impact caused by this agenda away from transparency and accountability by the Trump regime, specifically EPA current administrator, Scott Pruitt — republican
Rachel Maddow:
“..a lot of people sort of saw this coming and tried to preserve what they could, in terms of public facing data on climate and other EPA data.. worried that the Trump administration might do this. What’s your reaction to them dropping this data off the public facing website ?
former EPA Admin. Gina McCarthy:
“I have to say that it’s pretty disturbing, because it really isn’t just about ‘updating some policy perspective’.
“This is a wholesale wiping out of historical record of what this agency has been doing with public dollars, for decades, not just the past eight years. This is unprecedented in terms of the scope of information that’s been taken down. Information that’s public information. People have a right to be able to access it. And no president has ever done this before…
“… you know it is simply denying that the agency has been working on Climate for decades; the science we’ve developed and the actions we’ve taken, and why we took them.
“You can disagree with many of those actions, but what you can’t do is simply deny history, and make that information unavailable to the public who paid for it and deserve to have ready access to it.”
“So it’s disturbing, not just in its content and the breadth of what they did, but also in its timing. You know it clearly was designed to become part of the narrative around our ability to be able to speak as Americans and march in the streets about what this administration is doing to actually..to dismantle the very fabric of environmental protections that we have relied upon to keep our kids safe.
“That’s what Saturday was about. Standing up, talking not just about climate, but about clean air and clean water and healthy land. That’s what they tried to undermine by taking the information off the table for people to be able to access, that day.
“..but the one thing they have to realize is that we’re not going to forget about it.
“We know what the science says. We know what we need to do to protect ourselves and our kids, and clean air and clean water in this country is a core value.. and just because it’s not reflected in EPA’s website doesn’t mean that core value is going to change. We just have to get more diligent about making sure that we are speaking out, and we’re doing everything we can to protect out kids.”
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Rachel:
“We’ve been following what to me feels like kind of a strange..slightly incoherent process..at least it’s hard to follow from the outside. in which it looks like this administration, the new EPA in this administration; rather than holding independent public comment periods on like individual regulations or individual things they want to change,.. they appear to be starting, as of tomorrow, a public process to consider scrapping, or modifying all regulations, all environmental regulations, all at once, with a very limited public comment period that most people can’t get in on..
“..do you have any insight into what they’re doing or what their aims are ?”
Gina McCarthy:
“Well I certainly know what they’re intending to do is to take broad public comment in a lottery process with just a few people to see whether or not there are specific regulations that people would like to reconsider. But those are very different processes that are required under law to actually change rules…
“..So while this is an attempt [SHAM public process] for them to say that they’re opening up to public comment, we all know that industries have already been to the White House to make their wishes known.
“..But the good thing is, that the law requires really broad public process. Real hearings, ..real comment processes to be opened up before any rule can be changed. And it requires that rule be proposed. It requires a public comment process. And it requires a finalization that is done in a transparent way. So while they may be opening up ideas for — ‘what do you want to be changed?’ — I’m hoping that what they’re going to hear from many people is what we don’t want changed → and that is the fundamental protections that we’ve relied on...
“...Now why they think [Trump/Pruitt] that this is a healthy process, I don’t know. But it would be really nice is if they really sat down and thoughtfully looked at what rules could be updated; what rules are essential; and what are not just the cost of those rules, but the benefits they provide to all of us. That seems to be a word they don’t often use when they talk about regulation. They just say - ‘lets’ get rid of the rules because they’re expensive’..- and let’s forget about who they benefit — which is you and I…
“...normal human beings”
Rachel Maddow:
“Gina McCarthy, former EPA administrator in the Obama administration,.. really appreciate your time tonight ma’am, thank you”
Gina McCarthy:
“thanks Rachel”
(end of transcript)
Yes; thank you Gina McCarthy and Rachel Maddow for this investigation into the current anti-science regime occupying the White House; and the remaining rules that govern the breadth and speed at which their wrecking crew is allowed to operate — at least for now
Here is more information on the importance of public notice-and-comment process that current EPA admin. Scott Pruitt is in the process of corrupting and subverting. Government transparency and access to information is key. It is democracy. When people have ready access to information they are more knowledgeable and active in governance. Notice & Comment periods are the people voice. This is what Scott Pruitt is attempting to shut-down → democracy
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From 2014; This:
— by Heather Smith | June 27th, 2014
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For a measure of the depth & breadth to this Trump maladministration’s corruption on a parallel issue, is this report posted by Mark Sumner:
Wednesday May 03, 2017
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— Silencing dissent is the current anti-transparency/anti-democracy/cover-up maladministration’s goal | They will fail. The lot of them — Resist :)
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Normal human beings can make their voice heard by clicking here: Natural Resource Defense Council
Your message will be sent to:
- [Illegitimate/Illegal/UnConstitutional] Pr*sident Donald J. Trump
- [EPA Maladministrator] E. Scott 'Scott' Pruitt