In the memo, Gates tries to make the case that there’s too much focus on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and not enough on public health and poverty. It’s a narrative that lets polluters off the hook and plays into Trump’s efforts to rollback environmental protections and spread disinformation about climate change.
Coal-fired power plants pumped out as much as 20 percent more particle pollution during the last federal government shutdown in 2018 and 2019 as the US Environmental Protection Agency froze inspections.
The current shutdown has lasted nearly a month now, inching closer to the 2018-2019 record for the longest in history.
The US is falling behind China, according to former space agency officials.
[Scientific American]
Trump is opening it up to drilling. Whether oil and gas companies will want to bite, however, is still up in the air.
”The market has said no: Banks and insurers won’t back it, lease sales flopped, and taxpayers are left holding the bag,” said Bobby McEnaney, director of land conservation at the Natural Resources Defense Council.
