$81 million a year
Trump has gotten rid of that pesky rule that said coal companies couldn’t dump all their waste products into streams. Another victory for filthy water! The People, in all their glorious peoplehood, love filthy water; they thrive on it. It’s only coastal elites who look down on it from their spotless mansions in the sky.
President Donald Trump signed legislation repealing a regulation meant to protect streams from the effects of coal mining.
The congressional resolution killing the so-called Stream Protection Rule, which was issued in the waning days of the Obama administration, follows similar action by Trump overturning an anti-corruption rule that would have required oil companies to disclose payments to foreign governments.
We must protect corporations’ rights to make secret payments to foreign governments. It’s the American way. MAGA!
“In eliminating this rule I am continuing to keep my promise to the American people to get rid of wasteful regulations,” Trump said at a White House signing ceremony.
Companies such as coal producers Foresight Energy LP and Murray Energy Corp.stand to gain from repeal of the mining rule, which would have required those companies to monitor water quality and restore streams once their mining is complete.
So wasteful. It’s much more economical to dump the coal waste into the streams and let the locals die quietly up there in the hills.
The Interior Department, which spent seven years crafting the rule, had said the regulation, which updates 33-year-old regulations, will protect 6,000 miles of streams and 52,000 acres of forests, primarily in Appalachia. It is meant to stop the practice of dumping mining waste in streams and valleys during mountaintop mining. They estimated compliance with the regulation would cost $81 million a year, or 0.1 percent or less of aggregate annual industry revenues, it said.
“Leaders in Congress and the administration chose to put coal-mining profits over the health and safety of Appalachian communities,” said Deborah Murray, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Limiting the toxic waste coal companies can dump in our rivers and streams is not a burdensome government regulation; it is common sense and, quite frankly, the job of our federal government.”
What is the point of rivers and streams if it’s not waste disposal?
And once they get poisoned by their water, they can die quickly, because the Repubs are determined to get rid of “Obamacare”, so many of these people (routinely very poor) will not have any health coverage. I suppose it’s possible the coal miners themselves will, through their employer, but a lot of other people will be drinking that water, too.
It isn’t enough to get rid of Trump. We must get rid of the entire mindset that allows this sort of nonsense to flourish in the pursuit of profit. We need to do something so that people do not continue to vote for those that consider their lives totally irrelevant.
How many Electoral College votes did those streams and rivers get? None. Sad!
Just thought I’d beat him mentioning it. You know he will.
Can wasteful workplace health and safety regulations be far behind?
It’s difficult enough to get mining companies to comply with any environmental regulations. Giving them carte blanche is environmental vandalism on a huge scale.
And Scott Pruitt has been confirmed. I saw someone asking why the Republicans keep doing Trump’s bidding. The problem is, the Republicans want exactly this kind of EPA administrator; it isn’t just them following Trump’s orders.
That’s right, Trump is a puppet. And so are they. The Greek tragedy is, they cannot see it. Only we can, the gasping audience, and the chorus humming ominously behind.
Behold the result of populistic dumbing the plepth. Leaders of lead: heavy of brains, tumsy of clounge.
Thanks for the tea!
Wasteful waste regulations.
Thank god, now big corporations can throw waste around however they want.
Lady M, I think it would only be fitting if they threw some of it into Trump Tower.
Speaking of toxicity, Trump shouldn’t be so hasty to get rid of the EPA: he’s a one man, ambulatory Superfund site. Love Canal without the love.
After the Revolution of 1776, the British reformed their politics and gradually, in fits and starts, came up with the Westminster system. It is hard to see a Prime Minister Trump lasting as long as this incredible US President Trump has.
But then again, anything is possible I suppose.