The White House
Office of the
Press Secretary
President Donald J. Trump spoke by telephone today with
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, and Prime Minister Theresa May of the United
Kingdom. The President personally explained his decision to withdraw the United
States from the Paris Climate Accord. He thanked all four leaders for holding
frank, substantive discussions on this issue during his first months in office.
He also reassured the leaders that America remains committed to the
Transatlantic alliance and to robust efforts to protect the environment. He noted America’s strong record in
reducing emissions(1) and leading the development of clean energy
technology(2), and he reiterated that the United States under the Trump
Administration, will be the cleanest and most environmentally friendly country
on Earth(3). The leaders all agreed to
continue dialogue and strengthen cooperation on environmental and other issues
going forward.
Boldface
and Notations (1), (2), and (3) added.
(1)World
Resources Institute Apr. 5, 2016
The Roads to Decoupling: 21 Countries Are Reducing Carbon
Emissions While Growing GDP
Change
in CO2 emissions 2000-2014
Denmark
-30%, Ukraine -29%, Hungary -24%, Portugal -23%, Romania -22%, Slovakia -22%,
United Kingdom -20%, France -19%, Finland -18%, Ireland -16%, Czech Republic
-14%, Spain -14%, Belgium -12%, Germany -12%, Switzerland -10%, Netherlands
-8%, Sweden -8%, USA -6%, Bulgaria -5%, Austria -3, Uzbekistan -2%. Ok, maybe we're not really leading the way in
reducing emissions but at least we're in the top 19.
(2)cleantechnica.com Feb. 4, 2016.
How 11 Countries Are Leading The Shift To Renewable
Energy
Sweden, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Scotland, Germany,
Uruguay, Denmark, China, Morocco, USA, Kenya.
Hey, at least we're ahead of Kenya.
(3)No doubt a key to achieving this admirable goal is
to begin by debilitating the EPA. Here's
what POTUS has suggested for FY2018.
REDUCTION:
CATEGORICAL GRANTS Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) provides categorical grants to help fund State
environmental program offices and activities.
Many States have been delegated authority to implement and enforce
Federal environmental laws including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and
Safe Drinking Water Act. The Budget
proposes to reduce many of these grants and eliminate others to better focus
and prioritize environmental activities on core functions required by Federal
environmental laws.
Funding Summary (In
millions of dollars) -482
ELIMINATION: ENERGY
STAR AND VOLUNTARY CLIMATE PROGRAMS Environmental Protection Agency
The Budget
eliminates funding for Energy Star and several other voluntary partnership
programs related to energy and climate change.
These programs are not essential to the Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) core mission and can be implemented by the private sector.
Funding Summary (In
millions of dollars) -66
REDUCTION:
ENFORCEMENT Environmental Protection Agency
The Budget proposes
to reduce the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) environmental enforcement
activities. The reduction to EPA's
Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance programs will allow the agency
to re-focus enforcement priorities on programs that are not delegated to States
and avoid duplication of effort in States with delegated enforcement authority.
Funding Summary (In
millions of dollars) -129
ELIMINATION:
GEOGRAPHIC PROGRAMS Environmental Protection Agency
Geographic Programs
fund a variety of ecosystem protection activities within specific watersheds,
including the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, Puget Sound, and others. These activities are primarily local efforts
and the responsibility for coordinating and funding these efforts generally
belongs with States and local partnerships.
Funding Summary (In
millions of dollars) -427
REDUCTION: RESEARCH
AND DEVELOPMENT Environmental Protection Agency
The Budget
reconfigures and restructures the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA)
activities in research and development to focus on research objectives that
support statutory requirements. Extramural Science to Achieve Results (STAR)
grants will not receive funding.
Funding Summary (In
millions of dollars) -234
REDUCTION: SUPERFUND
Environmental Protection Agency
The Budget proposes
to reduce funding for the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Hazardous
Substance Superfund Account, focusing on reining in Superfund administrative
costs and promoting efficiencies. The
Budget proposes that EPA would optimize the use of existing settlement funds
for sites where those funds exist and will look for ways to remove some of the
barriers that have delayed the program's ability to return sites to the
community.
Funding Summary (In
millions of dollars) -330
No
doubt this $1,668,000,00 will make a significant difference in the budget
deficit and promote the creation of many, many jobs. I find the reductions in enforcement and the
Superfund to be particularly poignant.
Note the multiple references to the EPA's mission and core
functions. Here's the mission statement
of the EPA, "The Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) Mission Statement: EPA's mission is to protect human health and to safeguard the
natural environment air, water, and land upon which life depends." I would think enforcing environmental
regulations and being able to remediate sites where those regulations are
violated would be pertinent to the performance of core functions. Obviously we no longer need be concerned
about risks to our health or
environment. Things like Longhorn
Army Ammunition Plant where the groundwater was contaminated with methylene chloride
and trichloroethene.
Perchlorate, lead, and mercury were also
found on the site and in nearby streams are a thing of the past. Oops, my bad, that one is an ongoing concern.
The White House
Office of the
Press Secretary
According to
researchers from MIT, if every nation that signed the Paris Climate Accord met
all of their commitments until the end of the century, the impact on the
climate would be negligible.
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology officials said U.S. President Donald Trump badly
misunderstood their research when he cited it on Thursday to justify
withdrawing the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.
"How much of a
difference will the Paris Agreement make?" showing that if countries
abided by their pledges in the deal, global warming would slow by between 0.6
degree and 1.1 degrees Celsius by 2100.
"If we don't do
anything, we might shoot over 5 degrees or more and that would be
catastrophic," said John Reilly, the co-director of the program, adding
that MIT's scientists had had no contact with the White House and were not
offered a chance to explain their work.
The White House
Office of the
Press Secretary
Therefore, in order to fulfill my solemn duty to protect
America and its citizens, the United States will withdraw from the Paris
Climate Accord -- (applause) -- thank you, thank you -- but begin negotiations to reenter
either the Paris Accord or a really entirely new transaction on terms that are
fair to the United States, its businesses, its workers, its people, its
taxpayers. So we’re getting out. But we will start to negotiate, and we will see if we can make a deal that’s fair.
And if we can, that’s great. And if we can’t, that’s fine.
President Emmanuel
Macron told U.S. President Donald Trump that the Paris climate deal could not
be renegotiated and that while France would continue to work with Washington,
it would no longer discuss climate issues with the United States, a French source
said.
"The president
spoke with President Trump in a five-minute phone call. The exchange was
direct," a source close to Macron said.
"The president
said that they could continue to talk, but indicated that nothing was
renegotiable with regard to the Paris accords. The United States and France
will continue to work together, but not on the subject of climate," the
source added.
From <http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-climatechange-france-idUSKBN18S6H3>
Well, so
much for that idea.
Whaduyathink?
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