Air

MD and DE: Here Comes the Smog

The decision was made by Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, but the EPA had put these petitions on a back burner for many months and several federal courts had ordered EPA to stop delaying and make a decision.  The EPA notice states that EPA did not have enough proof that the pollution from the upwind states was causing the downwind states to exceed the health standards for ground-level ozone, also known as smog, and that there were no other steps that the upwind states were required to take to curb their emissions.  

Why This Matters:  It is cross-border harmful pollution like this that is the rationale for federal environmental laws and federal enforcement.  Inside Climate News explained that this type of pollution is very damaging to the health of people exposed to it: “[s]mog, which is formed when two fossil fuel combustion pollutants—NOx and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—mix in the presence of sunlight, is linked to premature deaths, hospitalizations, asthma attacks and long-term lung damage. Although smog has been greatly reduced in the United States, more recent science shows that even low levels of smog can be hazardous to health.”  EPA has abdicated its responsibility to protect the public again.  

 Water

 Climate Change

 Congress

Yesterday an environmental non-profit released its first-ever report rating every member of the House of Representatives for their votes on legislation in support of President Trump’s pro-chemical industry agenda.   They found that 140 House members voted with the industry every time.  “Over and over, too many legislators voted to support President Trump’s agenda to eliminate toxic chemical safeguards,” said Scott Faber, speaking on behalf of EWG Action Fund, which is the political advocacy (the 501(c)(4)) organization associated with EWG.

The EWG Action Fund created the ratings by looking at the Members’ voting records on 17 bills and amendments during the 115^th and 114^th Congresses.  They considered a mix of legislation including proposals to make it harder for federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency to inform the public about the risks of toxic chemicals, to eliminate health and safety protections for chemicals, to allow pesticides to be discharged into water, and to block local governments from prohibiting pesticide use at playgrounds and parks.  On the other hand, they also found that 149 members consistently voted for chemical safety protections.

Why This Matters:  Every member of the House of Representatives is up for re-election in November.  It is important for voters to understand how their representatives in Congress vote on important environmental legislation that would reduce or prevent pollution from toxic chemicals.  

To See How Your Representative Scored:  Be an educated voter!  You can see the entire scorecard by clicking here.  

 People

Senator Schatz has represented Hawai’i in the Senate since 2012, after serving for 2 years as the state’s Lieutenant Governor. He helped to lead the state’s clean energy efforts, including the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative, which put Hawai‘i on track to exceed its renewable energy goals and to be number one in the nation on clean energy.  Before beginning his government service, Senator Schatz was the CEO of Helping Hands Hawai‘i, one of the state’s largest non-profit social services organizations.

ODP:  Hawai’i has had more than its share of natural disasters this year.  What have the impacts felt like on the ground?  How are residents of the state coping with the repeated hits?

SBS:  Hawai’i has been dealing with natural disasters since April when we had disastrous flooding on Kauai and Oahu. Then came the Kilauea eruptions, followed by Hurricane Lane and Olivia. Because of the size of our state – only Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island are smaller – these disasters have hit the same few areas. Every time people feel like they’ve gotten back on their feet, they take another hit. So it’s been tough.

The good news is that we’ve come together to help communities in need. At all levels of government, and in communities across the state, we’ve seen a total team effort. With the volcano eruptions, for example, hundreds of people had to move into shelters as homes were destroyed and infrastructure was damaged. And unlike a normal disaster, we have no idea when the eruptions will end. But people stepped up to take care of each other. We saw people drive a hundred miles to show up and help.  We saw ranchers helping out other ranchers – who in normal times would be their competitors – by housing cattle that were displaced. People on other islands filled shipping containers with donations. When you add that to the support we’ve had from the federal government, that spirit of giving and community goes a long way in helping people cope. That said, it has still not been easy. 

ODP:  We certainly hope that Hawai’i has seen the worst of these disasters. Are there lessons learned from these events that might help other communities to be prepared?

SBS:  Hurricane Lane dumped a record amount of water on our state. And the number one takeaway from that needs to be the same takeaway from the 500-year flood Houston saw last year or the storm of a lifetime that just hit North Carolina, or the record-setting wildfires in California this summer. Climate change is here, and it has transformed once-in-a-lifetime disasters into regular occurrences. And unless we take serious action to mitigate the effects while also stopping the problem from getting any worse, we are risking many lives and livelihoods.

ODP:  How has Hawai’i learned from past disasters?

SBS:  In 1946, a tsunami hit the town of Hilo and killed 159 people. It was particularly devastating because of the number of people living in a bayfront residential community, but they rebuilt the community anyway. Fourteen years later, when a second tsunami hit and again destroyed the community and killed dozens of people, the response was different. Instead of rebuilding in the same place, the government converted the most risk-prone land to a public park and moved residential housing to lower-risk areas. Fast forward to today: when that area was hit hard by Hurricane Lane, families and residents were spared the worst of the damage, because residential housing isn’t allowed on the waterfront. 

ODP:  What about natural infrastructure?  Is that something Hawai’i is thinking about?

SBS:  Definitely. The Native Hawaiians have a long history of managing the land and the water here, and we’re seeing a revival of those traditions and interest in how to replicate them. For example, we have a National Estuarine Research Reserve on the island of Oahu called He‘eia. In the past, the Native Hawai’ians maintained the wetlands in the region by growing taro. But then the Europeans showed up, the taro was no longer grown, and the harmony between the land and shore ecosystems ended. Now there’s a return to the old ways that is being led by Native Hawaiian families in the region. Local non-profits have gotten involved, the University of Hawai’ is studying how native land management practices work, and it’s been going so well that NOAA recognized it as a reserve last year. It set the record for quickest reserve designation.

ODP:  How do these perspectives shape your policy priorities as a member of the U.S. Senate?

SBS:  We no longer have the luxury of thinking about disasters as once-in-a-lifetime events. The climate has changed, extreme weather is more common, and billion-dollar disasters occur multiple times every year. So whether you care about saving lives, or fiscal responsibility, or preserving local ways of life, or all of the above, we have to address climate change. The public understands that, and I’m working so that when Congress catches up, we have legislation for carbon pricing and disaster response reform and other policy ideas ready to go. 

Thank you, Senator Schatz, for sharing your thoughts on Hawai’i and the disasters it has faced this year, and particularly for those wise words about the urgency of addressing climate change.  And now we know the proper way to spell Hawai’i!

 Animals   

One Cool Things: Flying Goats! 

Mountain goats were originally introduced to the Olympic Mountains by a sportsmen’s group in the 1920s and since their time there they’ve become an unwelcome species for damaging the fragile alpine environment and occasionally menacing hikers. Officials slated the goats for removal and with the use of tranquilizers and helicopters have worked to capture and resettle the goats in more suitable environments. Take a look at the video above to see what it takes to make goats fly!