{"id":2136,"date":"2011-09-27T01:17:06","date_gmt":"2011-09-27T05:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/?p=2136"},"modified":"2011-09-28T00:35:25","modified_gmt":"2011-09-28T04:35:25","slug":"obama-vs-foes-of-the-environment-its-a-draw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/?p=2136","title":{"rendered":"Obama vs Obama on the Environment: It’s a Draw!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"change\"<\/a> The Obama administration has made some notable moves on improving the environment, but it has also made some serious concessions to industrial and political opponents who claim that environmental regulations are costing jobs. So the best that can be said about the Obama\u2019s pros and cons on the environment is: it\u2019s a draw!<\/p>\n

Some of Obama\u2019s Cons<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most notable recent back-walk from support for the Clean Air Act came on September 2nd<\/sup>, when Obama said he had asked Lisa Jackson, his head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to withdraw the draft of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards that she had just fully committed to finalizing on July 26th<\/sup>. Obama, Al Gore said, has \u201cbowed to pressure from polluters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a> Jackson had supported a similar pass on our Clean Water Act, when she testified before congress that she was \u201cnot aware of any proven case where the \u2018fracking\u2019 process itself has affected water.\u201d She made this statement in the face of numerous situations where the failure of fracked wells has created environmental havoc, as the towns of Dimock in Pennsylvania and Pavillion in Wyoming, where you can no longer drink the water, can attest.<\/p>\n

Technically, of course, she is correct. As the gas companies who are drilling the wells have been allowed to retain the composition of the fluid they pump down the wells as \u201cproprietary\u201d information, a clear connection to the drillers is difficult to make. The gas companies claim that the benzene, toluene, xylene and formaldehyde in the local drinking water are \u201cnatural\u201d products that were always there and that, shucks, it just isn\u2019t their fault.<\/p>\n

Some of Obama\u2019s Pros<\/strong><\/p>\n

Possibly Obama\u2019s biggest and most long-lasting environmental achievement, which will unfold over the next several years, is his Executive Order 13514, which seems to be proceeding well under the media\u2019s radar. The Order “requires Federal agencies to set a 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target within 90 days; increase energy efficiency; reduce fleet petroleum consumption; conserve water; reduce waste; support sustainable communities; and leverage Federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies.” The order also requires all government agencies to \u201cIdentify and analyze climate vulnerabilities that would interfere with accomplishing the Agency’s mission by March 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the Federal government constitutes some 20 per cent of our economy, that is a great many products that will become more energy efficient and require their producers to become more environmentally responsible.<\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a> The requirement for reducing petroleum consumption is actually one of Obama\u2019s wider achievements, one that will have environmental benefits for a long way down the road. On July 29th<\/sup>, the President announced fuel efficiency requirements that will raise the average miles per gallon for the family car to 62, and that for trucks to 44 mpg by 2025. Hopefully, of course, by that time, most vehicles running on American roads will be driven by electricity or fuel cells, but those still operating with internal combustion engines will be a running a lot cleaner.<\/p>\n

A recent opinion poll conducted by the American Lung Association in Michigan and Ohio found that people in those states, which are seeing some of the worst of this recession in terms of employment nevertheless support the government setting limits on air pollution and reject the notion that \u201cstronger safety standards will impede economic recovery.<\/p>\n

From their mouths to Obama\u2019s ear, is all we can hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Obama administration has made some notable moves on improving the environment, but it has also made some serious concessions to industrial and political opponents who claim that environmental regulations are costing jobs. So the best that can be said about the Obama\u2019s pros and cons on the environment is: it\u2019s a draw! Some of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1058,1403,1399,87,1402,1401,186,1254,937,1398,1400,1361],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2136"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2153,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2136\/revisions\/2153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}