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Trump on Earth

Tracking the latest environment-related shenanigans from Trump & his allies.
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Now displaying: Page 2
Feb 6, 2020

Did the Trump administration manipulate wildfire science to promote the logging industry? An investigation in the Guardian newspaper says yes.

Jan 23, 2020

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is often called the Magna Carta of environmental law. President Nixon signed it into law 50 years ago this month. And President Trump honored the anniversary by announcing plans to drastically scale back the law. 

On this episode, we dig into what many are calling Trump’s biggest environmental rollback yet with Sharon Buccino from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). 

Dec 12, 2019

Word leaked a few weeks ago that the EPA is poised to finalize a rule to limit the types of scientific studies that can be used to create new regulations. The proposal -- named “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” -- would require public health researchers to release their raw scientific data in order for their work to be considered when the EPA sets regulations. These regulations dictate things like how much pollution companies can release into the air and water.

When the rule was first proposed, the agency received nearly 600,000 comments, the vast majority of them in opposition.  One of those came from Dr. Mary Rice, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  She also studies the effects of air pollution on lung health. On November 14th, Dr. Rice was one of 5 scientists to testify before the House Science Committee on the proposed rule.

Nov 28, 2019

The Paris Climate Agreement was put in place to prevent catastrophic and runaway global warming. And since taking office, President Trump has been threatening to pull the U.S. out of it. Earlier this month, he made it official. 

On this episode we hear from the man who helped put the U.S. in the agreement in the first place. Todd Stern was President Obama’s chief climate negotiator and now he's a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution

Nov 14, 2019

President Trump came into office promising to save coal and coal jobs. Instead, the industry has continued to slide. The question now is--how far will it go?

The coal industry once employed hundreds of thousands of workers. Now, it's just about 50,000. And eight coal companies have declared bankruptcies in the last year. The latest is Murray Energy, the biggest privately held coal mining company in the country. 

We check in on the state of the coal in the Trump era with Taylor Kuykendall who covers the industry for S&P Global Market Intelligence. 

Nov 8, 2019

Wildfires have once again spread across California...and millions of residents have been living without power for weeks. The deliberate blackouts by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, or PG&E, are an attempt to prevent power lines from starting new fires, a real possibility in dry and windy conditions. 

Hundreds of the fires that started last year in California are believed to have been sparked by equipment from power companies — including the state’s deadliest fire.  The Camp Fire was caused by a faulty electric transmission line. 85 people died and the town of Paradise was leveled. 

Some have called for nationalizing PG&E to keep it accountable for the safety and maintenance of its equipment and the reliability of its service. 

Across the country there's a patchwork of grids providing power to Americans, and *they* still mostly rely on fossil fuels to keep a steady flow of electricity. A couple of years ago, President Trump signed an executive order to speed up environmental reviews and approvals of infrastructure projects that are a high priority for the country, like making improvements to the grid. 

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has created policies to prop up financially struggling coal and nuclear power plants to ensure the electricity grid is resilient and reliable. But the main character in a new book by Wall Street Journal energy reporter Russell Gold looks beyond fossil fuels to power the grid. The book focuses on one man's mission to get more renewable wind energy online, and into American homes and businesses through transmission lines, and a more thoughtful connection of the nation’s grids. The book is called Superpower.

Oct 17, 2019

President Trump says a key phone call at the center of the Ukraine scandal was Energy Secretary Rick Perry’s idea. But Perry asserts that in his conversations with Trump, “not once, as God as my witness, not once was a Biden name ever mentioned." 

On this episode we connect the dots between Perry and Ukraine with Jeff Brady, energy reporter for NPR. Get your whiteboards out. There are a lot of names. 

Oct 9, 2019

Last month, the USDA quietly issued a new rule changing meat inspection standards for pork. Not only would the new rule mean slaughter houses could run their processing lines as fast as they want, it would also change who does the inspecting, giving the pork producers themselves a bigger role in the process.

We talk with Tom Philpott, food and agriculture reporter for Mother Jones magazine, about what the changes could mean for the safety of food and workers.

Sep 26, 2019

How do you change the minds of climate deniers and people -- say the President -- who doubt the scientific process in general? We ask a philosopher of science for some answers.

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and a Lecturer in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. He has written books about defending science and fighting back against “alternative facts.”

Now, McIntyre is out on the road talking to flat earth theorists and people who don’t accept current climate science. 

Sep 11, 2019

Last time round, climate change got a measly five minutes and 27 seconds of airtime in the debates. During this primary season, it got seven hours in one night alone. CNN’s recent town hall provided each of the 10 candidates an opportunity to lay out their plan to deal with climate change. It was substantive. And it was long. On this episode we talk takeaways with Leah Stokes, a professor of environmental politics at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She read all the candidates' climate plans, watched all 7 hours, and has a lot to say about it all. 

Aug 30, 2019

A top climate scientist resigned from the Agriculture Department this month. Lewis Ziska says the USDA buried his research. He's one in a line of researchers who've left the federal government because they claim the administration is censoring climate science.

 

Aug 14, 2019

Today, nuclear plants provide 20% of US power generation. But according to a report last year by the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists, of the 99 nuclear reactors nationwide, owners have shut down six in recent years. Seven more are slated for retirement. In the age of climate change, the Union’s director of energy research and analysis, Steve Clemmer, doesn’t want the demise of this carbon-free power source. In this episode, we talk with him about his report, The Nuclear Dilemma.

Jul 31, 2019

The Trump administration has rolled back more than 80 environmental regulations but some states are fighting back. No state has been more active in the resistance against Trump's environmental deregulations than California.

Case in point: last week, news broke that four of the world’s biggest automakers brokered a secret deal with the state to make more fuel-efficient cars in coming years, directly undermining the Trump administration. 

On this episode we talk with Jared Blumenfeld, chief of the California EPA about how and why the state stands up to Trump. 

Jul 19, 2019

Surrounding by several members of his cabinet, President Trump recently gave a speech at the White House touting his own environmental record. Even though he’s tried to rolled back environmental regulations at a record pace, Trump painted a picture of a country where economic growth has occurred as the environment has gotten cleaner.

On this episode, we fact check the speech with Rebecca Leber of the Mother Jones.

 

Jun 27, 2019

The Trump administration recently rolled out the affordable clean energy (ACE) rule. Critics say it basically does nothing to prevent climate change at a time when global warming is turning into an existential crisis. Our guest is Jody Freeman, a professor at Harvard Law School and founder of the school's environmental and energy law program. She served in the Obama White House as counselor for energy and climate change. 

 

May 23, 2019

There wasn't a single question about global warming in the 2016 presidential debates. Will 2020 be different?

There are 23 Democrats vying for their party's nomination. Who has a plan to fight climate change (and who doesn't)? And what will President Trump's eventual Democratic challenger say on the subject?

Today take a look at where the candidates stand on climate change with Emily Holden, environment reporter for the Guardian.

May 5, 2019

Recent reports stress the urgency of reducing carbon emissions to check the worst effects of climate change. On this episode we listen in as some very knowledgable experts wade into the possibilities, obstacles and potential solutions.

The panelists: Paulina Jaramillo, associate professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University and co-director of the Green Design Institute; Ivonne Peña, an energy analyst who has worked for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the U.S. and the Colombia's Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission; and Greg Reed, a professor of electric power engineering at the University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering, and director of Pitt's Center for Energy and the Energy GRID Institute. 

Apr 17, 2019

Forty years ago, the U.S. government began to take climate change seriously and for a short time period, politicians from both parties endorsed taking actions to avert what was by then understood to be an existential problem for humanity. So what happened? And what can we learn from the decade we almost stopped climate change but didn’t? Our guest is Nathanial Rich, a writer at large for the New York Times magazine. He wrote about this history in the new book, Losing Earth. 

Apr 4, 2019

President Trump's push to have oil and gas drilling on public lands has hit some snags lately. A federal court recently halted leasing on 300,000 acres of public land in Wyoming after the court ruled the administration hadn't adequately considered climate change on its decision to lease the land. And late last week, a federal judge ruled Trump's efforts to lift an Obama era ban on drilling in the Arctic and North Atlantic oceans was unlawful. But despite all this, companies are still racing to drill on America's public land with the administration's blessing. So what does this look like on the ground? On this episode we find out.

Our guest is Rachel Leven, a reporter for the Center for Public Integrity. She’s been spending time in one of the hottest drilling spots in North America and wrote an expose about what happens when drilling overwhelms the agency tasked with protecting America’s lands.  

Mar 20, 2019

Now that a proposal is on the table, some see it as a chance to create jobs and equalize the economy. But critics say it should laser focus on climate action. 

Feb 20, 2019

What happens when environmental laws and rules aren't enforced? When the environmental cops just aren't on the beat?

Under Trump, EPA inspections have fallen to a 10-year low.
On this episode, we hear from Juliet Eilperin who has covered this story for The Washington Post.

Why does the EPA need inspections, penalties and prosecutions? And how is the view of the EPA's role changing under the Trump administration? 

Feb 8, 2019

This week we're bringing you a interview with NPR's Howard Berkes about the proliferation of black lung disease among coal miners in Appalachia. It comes from our sister podcast called Energy Explained, produced by the public radio collaboration StateImpact Pennsylvania  The interview covers not just this administration's current policies on coal mine safety but those of previous administrations. And it really is an important piece of reporting that Berkes and his team did. 

Jan 24, 2019

If there were a billboard top 100 for policy ideas, the Green New Deal would be at the top of the charts for several weeks running. It’s not a policy, or a bill--more like aspirations that combine swift action on climate change with broad social and economic reforms. Alexander Kaufman has been covering the Green New Deal for the HuffPost, and he joins us to talk about what it tells us about where our politics -- and possibly the climate itself-- are heading.

 

 

Jan 10, 2019

The federal government is the nation's largest landowner, managing 500 million acres under the Department of the Interior. And while some expect that America's public lands are managed for the benefit and enjoyment of the people, others say the Trump administration has allowed interests like energy development to lead land policy.

Trump's first interior secretary, Ryan Zinke, literally rode into Washington on a horse a couple of years ago promising to be a land steward in the style of President Theodore Roosevelt. More recently, he signed his resignation letter in a now infamous, barely legible, chunky red pen. On this episode, we take stock of Zinke's legacy and what it means for the country's public lands. Our guest is Collin O'Mara, president of the National Wildlife Federation. He wrote a recent opinion piece about Zinke in the Washington Post.  

Jan 7, 2019

Three years ago, most of the world’s nations signed onto the Paris Climate Agreement, which committed countries to do their best to avert a climate catastrophe. Well, things are different now. President Donald Trump has vowed to take the U.S. out of the deal, but the vast majority of countries are still in it, and they met recently in Poland at the United Nation’s annual climate conference to discuss it. NPR’s Rebecca Hersher was there, and on this episode we learn more about the big takeaways. 

 

 

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