TAKE ACTION STOP TRUMP’S RACE TO MINE BEARS EARS & GRAND STAIRCASE-ESCALANTE, OUR NATIONAL MONUMENTS 18NOV18

PLEASE participate in this action by EarthJustice click the link and send a message to the BLM to deny the drumpf / trump-pence administration's plans to destroy the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments by reducing the size of the monuments and by opening them up to coal and uranium mining. Add your comments to the letter provided if you can, here is what I added after the first paragraph....

These lands, part the heritage and history of our nation, can not be sacrificed to satisfy the corporate greed of the fossil fuel industries and utilities and the nuclear fuel industries and utilities. They must not be destroyed by mining and drilling to prolong our dependence on dirty and unsafe energy sources when our nation is still reeling from back to back massive hurricanes and huge, deadly, destructive wildfires in California and throughout the Western U.S., the effects of climate change. We do not need more coal and uranium mines, we need more investment in wind, solar, tidal and other renewable energy resources.  Stop Proclamation 9682 and protect the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments for eternity for the good of our nation.

TAKE ACTION

STOP TRUMP’S RACE TO MINE OUR MONUMENTS

Trading Fossils For Fossil Fuels

Last December, President Trump flew to Utah and issued an order to strip protections from millions of acres in Bears Ears and Grand Staircase–Escalante national monuments.

Now, the administration is scrambling to take advantage of Trump’s unlawful order, developing new plans to open these lands up to coal and uranium mining before Americans can have their day in court to protect the monuments.

These lands belong to the public, not to coal and uranium companies that want to plunder their resources, leaving devastation in their wake. Earthjustice is fighting back in court, but we need you to speak up. The Department of the Interior is taking public comments now — tell the Trump administration that these lands aren’t up for grabs.

Bears Ears and Grand Staircase are unique wonderlands. Bears Ears contains ancient cliff dwellings, kivas, and priceless petroglyphs, while Grand Staircase is home to a treasure trove of fossils — more than a dozen new dinosaur species have been discovered there since the monument was established.

Trump’s hasty plans will allow coal, oil, and gas companies to mine and drill nearly 700,000 acres of lands that rightfully should be part of Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument. Under this “preferred plan,” extractive industries will destroy almost all of the lands unlawfully cut from Grand Staircase — all for the private profit of a few corporations. These lands are far more valuable to the local economy and the local job market if they remain protected.

Trump’s plan will also exclude the Bears Ears Tribes — the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni, and Ute Indian Tribe — from truly having a voice in the management of public lands that hold their priceless heritage.

Help us stop this needless destruction. Weigh in now during the public comment period for Trump’s new plans for these monuments. These lands don’t belong to coal and uranium companies — they belong to all of us.

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WATCH: Trading Fossils For Fossil Fuels

Scott Pruitt, longtime adversary of EPA, confirmed to lead the agency 17FEB17

WITH the betrayal of fotze heidi heitkamp D(?) ND and fotze joe manchin D(?) WV the senate confirmed scott pruitt to head and destroy the EPA. As Michael Brune of the Sierra Club stated “For environmental groups, it means we’re in for the fight of our lives for the next four years.” America, what have we done????? From the +Washington Post .....
Scott Pruitt, longtime adversary of EPA, confirmed to lead the agency
By Brady Dennis February 17 at 1:50 PM 

Scott Pruitt, who as Oklahoma’s attorney general spent years suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its efforts to regulate various forms of pollution, was confirmed Friday as the agency’s next administrator.

Pruitt cleared the Senate by a vote of 52-46, winning support from two Democrats, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Only one Republican, Susan Collins of Maine, voted against him, saying he had “fundamentally different” views than she about the EPA’s role.

The vote came after Democrats held the Senate floor for hours overnight and through the morning to criticize Pruitt as a pawn of the fossil-fuel industry and to push for a last-minute delay of his confirmation. Part of their argument was an Oklahoma judge’s ruling late Thursday that Pruitt’s office must turn over thousands of emails related to his communication with oil, gas and coal companies. The judge set a Tuesday deadline for the release of the emails, which a nonprofit group had been seeking for more than two years.

Republicans pressed forward with the afternoon vote, saying Pruitt had been thoroughly vetted in recent months and calling on Democrats to end what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called “a historic level of obstruction” in holding up Trump administration nominees.

[On eve of confirmation vote, judge orders EPA nominee to release thousands of emails]

Pruitt’s confirmation marked a serious defeat for environmental advocacy groups, which wrote letters, waged a furious social media campaign, lobbied members of Congress, paid for television ads and sponsored a series of public protests to keep the Oklahoman from taking the reins of EPA.

“Scott Pruitt as administrator of the EPA likely means a full-scale assault on the protections that Americans have enjoyed for clean air, clean water and a healthy climate,” Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in an interview. “For environmental groups, it means we’re in for the fight of our lives for the next four years.”

Pruitt has sued the EPA more than a dozen times during the Obama administration, challenging the agency’s authority to regulate toxic mercury pollution, smog, carbon emissions from power plants and the quality of wetlands and other waters. In Oklahoma, he dismantled a specialized environmental protection unit that had existed under his Democratic predecessor and established a “federalism unit” to combat what he called “unwarranted regulation and systematic overreach” by Washington.

And as the one-time leader of the Republican Attorneys General Association and the privately funded Rule of Law Defense Fund, he spearheaded a group of attorneys general that fought the Obama administration on such issues as the Affordable Care Act, Wall Street reforms and efforts to extend overtime pay to more workers.

That combative approach has won him praise from some fellow Republicans and the oil and gas firms that have helped fund his efforts, as well as from Trump, who has criticized the EPA for what he calls burdensome and unnecessary regulations.

“Whoever was nominated by President Trump, the environmental community was going to demonize,” said Jeff Holmstead, who headed EPA’s air and radiation office under President George W. Bush and is now a lawyer representing energy firms. But he said he thinks Pruitt will prove to his critics and to EPA employees that he does believe in the agency’s core mission, even as he has argued that the EPA overstepped its legal authority under Obama.

[Acting EPA head: Hiring freeze challenges ‘our ability to get the agency’s work done’]

“Over the past eight years in particular, [the EPA] has completely micromanaged the states. I think you’ll see a real effort to reset that balance,” Holmstead said. “I think he really does believe in the rule of the law. He believes the role of executive branch is to carry out the intent of Congress. I think he’s committed to doing that.”

Still, the prospect of Pruitt leading the EPA horrifies environmental advocates, who accuse him of repeatedly questioning the overwhelming scientific consensus around climate change and often defending the interests of fossil-fuel firms over the health of ordinary citizens.

His nomination also has clearly rattled some agency employees, who fear he will be eager to carry out the promise that Trump made on the campaign trail to “get rid of [EPA] in almost every form. We’re going to have little tidbits left, but we’re going to take a tremendous amount out.”

More than 700 former EPA officials recently wrote to Congress opposing Pruitt’s confirmation, saying he “has gone to disturbing lengths to advance the views and interests of business.”

Even some current employees openly protested his nomination, notably during a recent rally in downtown Chicago near the agency’s Region 5 offices.

Holmstead insisted such protests don’t represent all EPA employees. “I really think that for the vast majority of people at EPA, this idea that there is fear and trembling is a vast exaggeration.”

Minutes after Friday’s confirmation, the EPA tweeted for the first time since Trump’s inauguration.

“We’d like to congratulate Mr. Pruitt on his confirmation!” the tweet read. “We look forward to welcoming him to the EPA.”

 Follow

U.S. EPA 

✔@EPA

We’d like to congratulate Mr. Pruitt on his confirmation! We look forward to welcoming him to EPA.

1:27 PM - 17 Feb 2017

 
•  104104 Retweets
 
•  127127 likes

Susan Hogan and Sean Sullivan contributed to this report. 

Read more:

Scientists just detected a major change in Earth’s oceans linked to warming climate

Antarctic sea ice used to be the darling of climate doubters. Not anymore.

Scientists are frantically copying U.S. climate data, fearing it might vanish under Trump

Endangered Species Act may be heading for the threatened list

The EPA’s social-media accounts have been silent since the inauguration

Brady Dennis is a national reporter for The Washington Post, focusing on the environment and public health issues.

  Follow @brady_dennis

A pedophile has no business running a day care center. A climate denier has no place running the EPA & TAKE ACTION: Last chance to reject Scott Pruitt & Nearly 800 Former EPA Staffers Sign Letter Opposing Scott Pruitt 16FEB17

scott pruitt as head of the EPA /  +U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the same a putting a fox in a hen house or putting a pedophile in charge of a day care center. He has actually sued the EPA over environmental regulations and is a climate change denier, a perfect choice to head the agency in the opinion of the drumpf/trump-pence administration. If you value clean water, clean air, then you need to take the advise of  +Greenpeace USA and +Earthjustice  and contact your senators now and demand they vote against scott pruitt as head of the EPA. If you don't want to call using the toll free number below  (I did call, was connected to Sen Kaine's office), e mail your senators here.
NOTE, I did e mail Senators Kaine and Warner, and posted on their facebook pages. Sen Warner already has his opposition to pruitt's nomination posted, he will vote no. Sen Kaine has not made his position public. From Greenpeace, EarthJustice and +Huffington Post .....

Two of Trump's nominations down in one week! Is Scott Pruitt next? Call 1-877-969-2590 and tell your Senator not to put Scott Pruitt in charge of the EPA!

The resistance is working! First public outcry caused Michael Flynn to resign as National Security Director, now fast-food executive Andrew Puzder has withdrawn from consideration as Labor Secretary.

Will climate-denier Scott Pruitt be next? Call your senator TODAY at 877-969-2590 and tell them to vote against Pruitt’s nomination as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

If you’ve never called your senator before, don’t worry. It’s easy! There’s a script and a toll-free number ready for you. It will only take a couple of minutes, but it will make a big difference.

Step 1: Dial 877-969-2590.

Step 2: Before you are connected with your senate office, you will hear a message from me with some brief talking points.

Step 3: After the message ends, you will be transferred to one of your senators' offices. You may be put on hold, but don’t hang up! Your message couldn’t be more important.

In case you want to practice ahead of time, here are the talking points written out:

1. My name is _______ and I’m calling to ask the senator to vote NO on Scott Pruitt’s nomination to head up the EPA. 
2. Scott Pruitt is a known climate-change denier who pushes fracking and other dirty energy sources over clean energy. By nominating Scott Pruitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Donald Trump is putting America’s communities, health, and environment at risk. 

Call 877-969-2590 today to tell your senator to vote NO on Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA. 

As Oklahoma Attorney General, Pruitt blocked basic protections for clean drinking water and helped the industry hide the connections between fracking and earthquakes.¹ Pruitt has made a career suing the EPA to undo critical environmental protections for our air and water. He’s also received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry since 2002, leaving little doubt about whose interests he’ll protect as EPA head — and it’s not people or the environment.² 
If climate change denial is going to be the default position of the Trump White House, then relentless resistance will be the default position of the American people. It is now up to each one of us to fight for each other, and to resist the ways in which Donald Trump and his crony cabinet threaten our communities, climate, and country.

Thousands have already spoken out in resistance — writing messages, showing up at rallies, and going to town halls. Now let’s pick up the phones and make sure we can’t be ignored! Call 877-969-2590 right now. 

In united resistance,

Jill Pape
Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace USA

P.S. The resistance is growing louder by the minute — and it’s working! Add your voice by calling 877-969-2590 to stop the appointment of climate-denier Scott Pruitt.

¹ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/us/scott-pruitt-trump-epa-pick.html² http://www.followthemoney.org/show-me?c-t-eid=6583668&d-cci=36,33&d-ccb=95,98,97#[{1|gro=y

TAKE ACTION: Last chance to reject Scott Pruitt

Last month, nearly one million letters—over 55,000 from Earthjustice activists—urging their senators to vote NO on Scott Pruitt’s nomination as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were personally delivered to the Senate. On February 2, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee voted to send Pruitt’s nomination to the full Senate for a vote, despite the fact that he stonewalled more than 1,000 critical questions about his views on the environment and potential conflicts of interest. This is unacceptable, and now we need you to speak up again. The full Senate will vote this week on whether or not to confirm Pruitt as the head of the EPA. We need you to flood your senator’s office with calls telling them to vote NO on Scott Pruitt.

More than 870,000 messages from the public—including 55,819 letters from Earthjustice activists—are presented as Sen. Carper speaks during a “sunshine” roundtable on Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. Witnesses testified, shining a light on what impacts Pruitt may have if confirmed as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

We have never encountered a presidential nominee like Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. His record on vital community protections and environmental standards indicates an open hostility towards the essential purpose and functions of the EPA—the very agency he seeks to lead. Our Congressional leaders must not act as if they have a mandate to destroy critical environmental and public health protections, because nothing could be further from the truth. The Senate must not overlook the fact that the majority of voters value clean air and clean water, and trust the EPA to protect us from Big Oil and polluters. Instead, our senators should protect the health of our communities by rejecting Scott Pruitt’s nomination. Raise your voice with thousands of Earthjustice activists now—call your senator and urge them to vote NO on Scott Pruitt. Sincerely,

Nearly 800 Former EPA Staffers Sign Letter Opposing Scott Pruitt

“Scott Pruitt represents what we environmental lawyers call an ‘imminent and substantial endangerment’ to our health and environment.”

 02/16/2017 12:19 pm ET | Updated 2 hours ago

Hundreds of former Environmental Protection Agency officials have signed a letter in protest of Scott Pruitt’s nearing confirmation as EPA Administrator. 

The letter, put together by the nonprofit group Environmental Integrity Project, was signed by 773 former EPA staffers, including scientists, engineers and attorneys. The EIP sent the letter to the Senate, where members could confirm Pruitt as early as Friday, the organization said in a statement. 

“Pruitt, a close ally of the oil and gas industry, has made a career of suing EPA and attacking the idea of federal action to reduce pollution – while simultaneously failing to enforce environmental laws in his own state and shutting down the Environmental Protection Unit in the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office,” the EIP said in the statement.

As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA more than a dozen times. He is a climate change denier whose own LinkedIn page refers to himself as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda.”

In a January confirmation hearing, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) asked Pruitt if “there is any safe level of lead that can be taken into the human body.”

“Senator, that is something I have not reviewed nor know about,” Pruitt replied. (The answer is no).

Ellen Spitalnik was a former EPA attorney who served both Republican and Democratic administrations from 1980 to 2002. She signed the letter in opposition to President Donald Trump’s pick.

“My life’s work is protecting public health and the environment, so I must speak out against this unqualified extremist,” Spitalnik said in a statement. “Pruitt represents what we environmental lawyers call an ‘imminent and substantial endangerment’ to our health and environment. He threatens the very integrity of EPA and must not be allowed to continue shutting down environmental enforcement, disregarding science and putting private interests above public good.”

In a 2014 New York Times investigation, the publication said that Pruitt blasted the EPA in a letter he wrote to the organization as attorney general. It turned out the letter had first been written by oil and gas industry lobbyists that opposed regulations. Pruitt had copied the letter nearly word for word on his own stationary.

Staff at the EPA told Reuters this week that once Pruitt has been confirmed, Trump has prepared a handful of executive orders meant to reshape the agency.

“It is clear that [Pruitt] will launch an unprecedented attack on basic environmental protections that will result in more pollution and illnesses for the American people,” said one of the letter’s signers, Judith Enck, in the statement. Enck was an EPA Regional Administrator for New York and New Jersey from 2010 until last month.

“He will do permanent damage to the work of the EPA.”

MY E MAIL TO SENATORS KAINE AND WARNER VIA THE LVC WEBSITE....

If Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from dirty energy companies and then acted on their behalf when suing the Environmental Protection Agency, how can we trust him to now lead it? It is like putting a pedophile in charge of a day care center.

If confirmed, Pruitt could block the Clean Water Rule for good and the Clean Power Plan in its tracks. The damage to our environment after 4 years of the EPA being mismanaged and deregulated by scott pruitt will take decades to reverse and repair, and some damage may be permanent.

An overwhelming majority of Americans agree that we need strong action on climate change and we need it now. We urge you to oppose Scott Pruitt and demand an EPA Administrator who is guided by science, respects our environmental laws, and will place protecting public health first.

You must vote NO on the scott pruitt nomination to head the EPA.

Save our shores — FOREVER: Tell President Obama to use his authority to permanently protect the Arctic and Atlantic oceans before Drumpf/Trump takes over 18NOV16

WE are not going to be able to stop all the environmental degradation drumpf/trump-pence and the republican congress will inflict on our nation and the world. BUT we can take action to save the most vulnerable areas, and this petition calls on Pres Obama to permanently protect the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans from offshore drilling. Please sign and share. From +League of Conservation Voters .....

Arctic and Atlantic offshore drilling is OFF the table … but not forever. We need permanent protection before Trump takes office. Act now » Petition to President Obama: "Thank you for protecting the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans from offshore drilling for the next five years! Keeping dirty fuels in the ground is essential to fighting climate change and accelerating our transition to clean energy, but with Trump about to take over we must go further. We must permanently protect these oceans." Add your name: SIGN NOW Huge news, Craig! President Obama just finalized the offshore drilling plan for the next five years, and Atlantic AND Arctic drilling are both off the table! LCV Members like you fought tooth and nail over the last year to protect these oceans, and President Obama listened. But the fight is not over. These protections only exist for the next five-years, and they are almost certainly going to be challenged by President-elect Trump. He could not only put drilling in the Atlantic and the Arctic back in the mix, but expand drilling beyond. We need PERMANENT protection for the Arctic and Atlantic, and we need it now, before Trump takes office. Save our shores — FOREVER: Tell President Obama to use his authority to permanently protect the Arctic and Atlantic oceans before Trump takes over » Between Trump’s administration — which could include names like Sarah “Drill, Baby, Drill” Palin and Big Oil billionaire Howard Hamm — and a Congress controlled by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan, it looks increasingly likely that Big Polluters will have free rein over our environment … unless we stop them. President Obama has the authority to establish permanent protections for the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. He can safeguard our climate and our coastal communities and bring America one step closer to a clean energy future. But he must act now. President Obama has taken historic action to address climate change. And he’s protected more lands and waters than any president in history. Now he has an opportunity to further cement his environmental legacy by taking the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans off the table for offshore drilling forever. For the last year, LCV members have joined our state partners, coastal residents, businesses, and elected officials in saying no to new offshore drilling. We can accomplish permanent protections for the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, but only with you on our side. Please, don’t put this off — tell President Obama to permanently protect the Arctic and the Atlantic from Big Oil while we still can. Craig — with Donald Trump and his anti-environment cronies headed to Washington, permanently protecting our oceans from offshore drilling has to be a huge priority. Thank you for speaking out, Kristin Brown Director of Digital Strategy League of Conservation Voters

Tell Terry McAuliffe: Turn Dirty Money Into Good Deeds 6DEZ13

terry mcauliffe D gov elect VA is a corporate Democrat, not of or for the people, he is for whoever can provide the greatest financial benefit for him and his cronies. The very same dirty energy companies that supported cuccinelli are donating tens of thousands of dollars to mcauliffe's inauguration committee to guarantee there is room for them at the corporate welfare trough. Please sign this petition to gov elect mcauliffe telling him to use this money for solar panels on the roof of the governor's mansion in Richmond and to commit to moving Virginia to clean and renewable energy.



Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe's inauguration committee has received donations from some of the most polluting companies in the commonwealth of Virginia, including $25,000 from Alpha Natural Resources and $50,000 from Dominion Resources.
By using the donations from these companies to put solar panels on the roof of the Virginia governor's mansion, McAuliffe can show a direct and tangible commitment to a clean-energy future while lowering the carbon footprint and operating costs of Virginia's government buildings.
That's why I started my own campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. My petition, which is to Governor-elect Terry McAuliffe, says the following:

Governor-elect McAuliffe should use funds donated to his inauguration fund by polluting firms and put them to use in creating a brighter clean-energy future for all Virginians by putting solar panels on the Virginia governor's mansion.

Sign the petition: Tell Governor-elect McAuliffe to spend dirty energy money on solar panels for the Governor's mansion.
Alpha Natural Resources and Dominion Resources donated heavily to the campaign of climate science-denier Ken Cuccinelli, seeking to foster a climate hostile to 21st-century clean-energy solutions.
Having campaigned alongside climate scientist Michael Mann and committed himself to a clean-energy future, McAuliffe should not appear to be selling access to Virginia's biggest polluters.
Governor-elect McAuliffe has expressed skepticism about solar power's potential in Virginia in the past, saying it is "much more difficult for solar here, obviously, because we don’t have the sun." But my home in northern Virginia, which gets 80% of its electricity from rooftop solar panels, shows otherwise.
Will you join me and add your name to my petition to Governor-elect McAuliffe urging him to spend contributions from dirty-energy firms to put solar panels on the Virginia governor's mansion?
Thank you for your support.
Adam Siegel