From E&E Legal:
“We are delighted with President-elect Trump’s selection of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Mr. Pruitt has led the charge in recent years to confront head on the enormous federal regulatory overreach proposed by the EPA as epitomized by the Clean Power Plan and Waters of the U.S. rule. As a litigator, he also understands how environmental fringe groups like the Sierra Club and the NRDC – who are bankrolled by renewable energy tycoons like Tom Steyer and George Soros – use the state and federal court systems to essentially create new laws through such schemes as ‘sue & settle.’
It is also reassuring that President-Elect Trump has chosen someone from the state ranks, particularly a state so important to energy production, since it’s the states and their citizens who are suffering the most by this Administration’s out-of-control EPA.
We encourage Mr. Pruitt to gear up for battle since draining the EPA swamp will be met with the utmost resistance from an entrenched and well-funded green industrial complex. Finally, we strongly encourage him to add a deputy administrator to his team who has significant EPA experience, who shares the President’s vision, and can protect that vision from a hostile agency staff.”
Craig Richardson
E&E Legal President
UPDATE: as I was writing this, I got this press release:
CLCV Statement on Pruitt’s Nomination for EPA Administrator
Oakland, CA – In response to news reports that Trump will nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt as EPA Administrator, California League of Conservation Voters CEO Sarah Rose issued the following statement:
“The naming of a climate denier like Scott Pruitt to head the EPA is nothing less than an effort to undermine the agency’s core mission to safeguard our environment. On the campaign trail President-elect Trump vowed to break America’s commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, to open our public lands to drilling, and to dismantle the EPA. By nominating Scott Pruitt he’s making it clear he intends to follow through on those promises.
“Pruitt has sued the EPA, has fought environmental protections enacted by President Obama, and has denied the science of climate change itself. He represents the very threats the EPA should protect against, not be headed by. The California League of Conservation Voters calls on our Senators to reject this wrong-headed nomination which puts our families and communities at risk.
“California has a unique role to play. We are the sixth largest economy in the world. The decisions we make here, the policies we create, and how we respond to Trump’s attacks on our environmental protections will determine the pace of progress these next four years. We must organize to defend our hard-fought victories because every Californian deserves clean air to breathe and clean water to drink.”
###
It’s like Pearl Harbor Day for them, like somebody made a sneak attack.. Some reactions on Twitter:
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The battle will be in the US Senate for conformation. He will need our support!
Oops “confirmation” – spell check didn’t work for this one…
JPP, nope. You may have have missed it, but in 2013 Harry Reid got his then Senate Dem majority to invoke by rule change the ‘nuclear option’ (simple majority rather than 60 cloture invocation) except for Supreme appointments. He lived by the sword, now he and his will die by that same sword. No regrets. Dems deserve what is surely coming. They invited it.
“Dems deserve what is surely coming.”
Yep!
Senator Harry Reid’s dishonesty and machinations will now be the enabler for the Trump Admin to dismantle the climate hustle.
They will not be able to stop a single one of Trumps cabinet appts nor any new federal judge, except the Supreme Court nominees.
In my opinion we should give the Dems a bigger dose of their own medicine and eliminate the filibuster for all legislation.
The main argument against ending the filibuster is that when the Dems retake control then we’ll pay a price then. But the Dems would have to control both chambers of congress and the presidency at the same time to really “pay us back.” But that’s not going to happen for a long long time. Especially in the House which is structurally in the GOP column perhaps for decades. So there’s no worries: repeal the filibuster now!
You are assuming Trump’s picks won’t face opposition from some Republicans. I’ve found they talk one way when they know there is no chance they will have to back up their words, but sometimes are not to be found when it’s time to actually walk the walk.
Interesting times indeed.
I agree with Eric. And besides for the reasons you mention Eric, the Democrats will take the next step if and when they have a majority.
Why should the Rs not be the side to double down for once?
Alan,
2 Republican senators (from Illinois and NH) will not be returning in 2017 for the 115th Congress.
Both trash talked Trump during their campaigns in hopes they could appeal to a few more Lefties for votes. That tactic merely meant more Republican Trump supporters left the box unchecked. The GOP senators who reluctantly (or enthusiastically) supported candidate Trump re-won their seats.
The rest of the GOP Senate delegation now understands they have no friends on the Left, only Democrat foxes disguised as sheep offering a poisoned olive branch.
Anthony,
Get ready to move to Washington.
🙂 !!!!!
so sweet
Does this mean all of the political prisoners of climate change reach are free to go about their lives now?
California, last year,
passed the,
Assisted Suicide Law.
You can’t knock the green head lefties for good timing.
….and self medication too
How many heads will explode or is there a proxy for that?
Heads exploding:
On the campaign trail President-elect Trump vowed to …
…he’s making it clear he intends to follow through on those promises.
Refreshing
Was out and about today and heard a pop pop pop noise! Thought there was something wrong with my vehicle, stopped, left the radio on and Mr Limbow ‘splained it to me! Pruitt to give EPA an enema, hopefully complete with criminal prosecutions.
Jim Inhofe has been a voice in the darkness for a long time. Almost no other congress critter (or any other North American politician) has had the guts to stand up to the alarmists. IMHO, he deserves a big reward. How about it Mr. President?
+10
+++++
wilderness
Right you are. A voice in the wilderness. link
I agree, he deserves more credit than he gets…
I wouldn’t underestimate the power of the Green Blob. Be prepared for them to fight like a cornered, wounded animal.
It’s the green MOB – get it right!
Thats easy. The German Jäger (hunter) is by law required to carry a sidearm ‘kill shot’. My Jaeger Prüfung preference was always a 0.44 mag revolver (you would know it as Dirty Harry’s Make my day handgun). Always worked great. Never missed. By analogy to other less lethal but more telling written weapons (my three published ebooks), bring them on. Lesser ballistic calibers also suffice.
It’s well past time for a total house cleaning @ur momisugly EPA. Their fascist regulatory over-reach is about to end; CAGW, AGW and climate change as defined by the leftist warmists is nonexistent. ROLL BACK the idiocy!!
Talking about exploding heads … There is a movie, Kingsman: The Secret Service in which prominent liberal elites have implants in their heads which protect them but which can also be made to explode. The villain is a megalomaniac who wants to wipe out the human race to save the environment.
My inner twelve year old really enjoyed watching the mayhem. link
Wouldn’t have happened without Anthony Watts. Let’s hope that my hometown guy fixes the EPA!
1. Pull out of Paris
2. Bury the Clean Plan
3. Unleash fossil wealth … maybe mining .. maybe nex gen nuke
The progressive virus is being beat back by secure borders and renewed growth.
It was the dissenting minority that never gave up … the protectors of freedom. How appropo that it took nearly 300M views on WUWT.
What kills me is America has 2 companies building nuclear power plants that run at a high rate of efficiency and have an incredible safety record. Yet we can’t build nuclear power plants because they are so hideously in-efficient and dangerous.
Unwinding sone of the stupid will take longer than other. It the new administration seizes on obvious low hanging fruit they’ll build momentum .. increase middle class wealth .. build momentum towards meaningful innovation
Have Congress amend the CAA (with Trump signing it of course) to restrict and rollback the EPA authority to make “Endangerment Findings.” That will make future administrations have a very difficult path to restarting the Hustle.
CO2 is not a pollutant. The biosphere depends on it. It causes no adverse health effects in the atmosphere, There is no distinction between a natural CO2 molecule and one from mankind’s burning of coal, oil, or nat gas.
In simpler terms:
CO2 is NOT a
Problem
Then what’s all the reference to C12 and C14 I’ve read about? Enlighten me.
The CO2 deferral to the EPA was an okie doke. Was an end run around normal congressional legislating. I like your idea. It’s forward thinking. The Marxist control freaks will come at it again as soon as they get another opportunity.
Politics is downstream of culture. The real trick is to make progressivism unpopular. Make it synonymous with failure poverty unhappiness. Deprogram the illusion. Replace it with creativity wealth procreation increased standards of living … FREEDOM
Markl,
There is also C13. But no matter which istope forms the CO2 molecule, chemically and spectroscopically, their properties are identical. You cannot tell any apart without a sophisticated mass spec analyzer.
Understand, but the ‘claim’ is that C14….derived from burning fossil fuel…is predominant in the atmosphere and growing over C12 and therefore the driver of that GHG. The ‘claim’ is there wouldn’t be as much C in the air if we didn’t use fossil fuels. C12 is naturally produced. I don’t believe that so I’m asking for clarification. It’s a talking point I need to understand the truth behind. Did I make sense?
markl: Either you are not the same “markl” who has been commenting here for years, or, amazingly, you missed the many discussions of the C12 v. C14 non-issue.
This thread is NOT the place to get that discussion going again. You appear to be a troll using markl’s name to toss out a “look at this” diversion (vis a vis the thread topic). In case you are genuinely seeking answers (or for any others who might be), here is a sample of one of the MANY Bart/Bartemis refutations of Ferdinand Engelbeen’s “mass balance” argument which relies on the C12/C14 conjecture:
Bart: “Ferdinand Engelbeen says, August 13, 2011 at 2:24 am: … even if 100% of all human CO2 is absorbed within minutes by the nearby trees or oceans, that is at the cost of the sink capacity of natural CO2, which should have been absorbed instead.
— This is gibberish. The sink capacity is quite elastic. It does not penalize the natural CO2 sequestration in order to sequester the human CO2, it expands to accommodate it. This is how natural systems work pretty much universally. You are hypothesizing a system response which A) would never have attained an equilibrium in the first place; and B) is unlike any natural system ever observed in time and space.
The increase in the atmosphere then is not from an extra natural input, but from the reduced sink capacity by the human imput.
— This is mere assertion. The world does not operate by Fernandian fiat. Sorry. I am tired of arguing this. You are not even attempting to gain understanding, Ferdinand, just repeating the same mantra over and over again. You have been shown to be wrong both mathematically by me, and verbally by Stephen here and Pekka on the other thread at JC’s {Judith Curry’s}. I’m not going to respond any further. Any additional arguments you have to make should be understood to have the following response from Bart: ‘No, Ferdinand… you just do not understand feedback systems.’”
(https://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/05/the-emily-litella-moment-for-climate-science-and-co2/#comment-718675 )”
Please, do some research on your own.
You can easily use the above-quoted thread’s comments and also many articles with their accompanying comments listed in my WUWT 10th anniversary anthology — that one was on page 1,221 (free download — see WUWT articles for Nov. 17, 2016 for article “WUWT Milestone…” for link) to find out the answer for yourself. Dr. Murry Salby’s April, 2013 Hamburg, Germany lecture video (youtube) also addresses this issue.
Hoping you are a sincere-but-forgetful, genuine, truth-seeker and not a troll,
and with best wishes for an enlightening bit of reading,
Janice
markl: Either you are not the same “markl” who has been commenting here for years, or, amazingly, you missed the many discussions of the C12 v. C14 non-issue.
Nope, same person. Yes I missed it. Don’t break a leg getting off of your high horse 🙂
Markl,
You have Carbon isotopes confused.
C12 C13 are the stable isotopes. C12 is much much more prevalent than C13 (or than the even rarer C14).
C14 is radioactive with a decay half-life of 5730 yrs. it is produced in the upper atmosphere by cosmic rays generating high-speed neutrons which hit C13 to make C14.
Plants take up all 3 isotopes as CO2 in the Calvin-Benson cycle (using the RuBisCO enzyme) to make sugars, which makes cellulose and lignin, which makes wood and nucleic acids.
But the Rubisco enzyme very slightly prefers the lighter, faster (more kinetic) C12 CO2 which biases the uptake of Carbon in plants (and animals since we eat plants for carbon) toward the lighter C12 isotope But there is still C13 and C14 also in plants, thus radiocarbon dating of C14 out to about 10 half-lives of 60k yrs works for archaeologists.
Fossils fuels, by definition, have been buried for millions of years, and thus are devoid of C14 CO2. Biogenic origin fossil fuels are enhanced in C12 over C13 from what is measured in the armosphere and disolved in ocean water.
Thus the more fossil fuels we burn, the theory is that C12:C13 ratio increases with increasing pCO2 (C13 decreases as a fraction). This is what is observed in measurements of ice core samples and other proxies. This is strong evidence that the CO2 increase in the atmosphere is not simply ocean release (Henry’s Law) but is mostly due to burning long-buried fossil fuels. This theory though may be incorrect due to volcanic releases of CO2 and merhane hydrate releases from ocean floors.
“You have Carbon isotopes confused.”…. Apparently so, it was years ago that I read the study. Thanks for clarifying. I was weak in college chemistry. Your explanation basically verified the study conclusion that there is an AGW “fingerprint” on atmospheric CO2 but we just don’t know how much. This is a warmist talking point that keeps popping up.
Thanks for the C13 correction, Joel. I originally typed “13” and then, neglecting to double-check (d’oh!), changed it to match markl’s.
I suspect that the landfills around DC are about to become overwhelmed with trucks full of paper and broken hard drives.
Shredded paper and hammered hard drives.
Paper in landfill, shame, burn it.
You can always burn the paper in a power plant. It is carbon neutral too :-O
Scott Pruitt nominated head of EPA, a Limerick:
Hopefully Scott Pruitt can do a better job of cleaning up the EPA than the present administration.
Yes, Trump seeks advice for his picks,
while “experts” like Gore takes his licks.
Pruitt’s new EPA
has to change, come what may,
and end CO2 politics. https://lenbilen.com/2016/12/07/scott-pruitt-nominated-head-of-epa-a-limerick/
Climate Report to UN: Trump right, UN wrong – Skeptics Deliver Consensus Busting ‘State of the Climate Report’ to UN Summit
http://www.climatedepot.com/2016/11/15/skeptics-deliver-2016-state-of-the-climate-report-to-un-summit-everything-you-been-told-about-global-warming-is-wrong/
It will be interesting to see who Trump selects for WH science advisor. Lindzen would be great. The Left couldn’t criticize his credientials and their heads would explode again.
He’s too old and controversial. Judge Judy (Curry) would be much better. (She’s a Democrat, for one thing, and she is able to get along with all sorts of people.)
You just described Time’s Man of the Year. (Old and controversial)
Best of all for Science Advisor: Ristvan! He has a much broader knowledge of science than Judy, and he’s a genius-level polymath. (And he went to Harvard, FWIW.)
I love one of Lindzen’s interviews where refers to guys like Gore who stand to make money on the climate scam. He said, “You can see their eyes bulge.”
Lord Donoughue: Labour Must Ditch Its Climate Change Obsession
https://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/lord-donoughue-labour-must-ditch-its-climate-change-obsession/
Dylon, “For the times they are a-changin’.”
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen…
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall…
The hilarious thing when you think about what is about to happen to the Climate Hustle is the Dems-Libtards-Greens can only blame themselves.
Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate took votes away from Hillary. Enough votes lost to the Green candidate in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania to otherwise have handed the White House to Hillary.
Senator Harry Reid, in his political maneuvers to enable Obama to have unchecked executive actions by packing the DC Court of Appeals and destroying the filibuster for cabinet and judges, has no provided Trump an uncheckable path to undo everything Obama and the Libtards have done for 24 years going back to WJ Clinton.
Harry Reids use of the “nuclear option” has got be the stupidest example of being short-sighted in the history of the world. Did he really think the democrats would control the Senate for eternity? Passing Obamacare by shoving it through a procedural backdoor with literally zero republican support was instant doom for Obamacare and shortsightedness equal to Reids.
Beyond their zealous ideologies, they were grossly incompetent. And based on their reaction to losing all 4 branches of government and a large majority of governorship and statehouses, they have recommitted to their fanaticism but also to their gross incompetency in leading this country.
So, what if a good portion of the 68 Democrats who voted against Nancy Pelosi decide to flip side and caucus with The GOP?
Think about what could be done then, and how many more states would shift right in the next elections? Can anyone say Convention of States👍
Did they think they would be in power forever?
Just look at their reactions once they realized Hillary had lost.
Yes, I think it’s obvious that they believed they had an unbreakable lock on power.
Brad, just remember. The same people who got us into this mess would be the ones running a constitutional convention.
Alx,
The only thing I can say is that Hillary was supposed to win. Trump’s use of “rigged election” talked put them in a corner. They had to publicly come out forcefully against it, and likely short-circuited their plans to actually rig the elections in critical states.
It’s obvious that Al Gore went a long way to change President-Elect Trump’s mind. Having an open mind is a must.
Algore’s negative reaction was taken as an endorsement.
Here’s a response to accusations the Pruit (and other climate-related Trump appointees) is a shill for fossil fuel interests. (it alludes to the British “regulars” who stopped the German advance in 1914. They were called the “contemptible” by some German bigshot before the battle.):
*contemptibles“
An apt quote, Mr. Knights.
However, it contains one major flaw (not fatal to your point) in the face of which I cannot remain silent. God is why those brave “contemptibles” won WWI. Housman was gravely mistaken, there.
Neither has God has not abandoned the United States of America (or the free world as a whole):
Trump won.
Hallelu Yah.
Praise the Lord.
“Neither has God
notabandoned… .” Sigh.This is the god who sat idly by watching over 15 million die in WW1 and somewhere between 20 and 40 million die in the flu pandemic after WW1. This is the god who sat idly by whilst the Nazis butchered 6 million Jews. This is the god who watched as Mao killed over 50 million.
You can keep your demonic, death worshipping god.
God Is Dead (thank goodness). Halle-f*ckin-lu Yah
Yes, Mr. Green Genes. God allowed us our free will. And we do terrible things with it.
This is also the God who let his Son be nailed to a cross and killed — to save your eternal soul.
Only someone who loves you and loves you very much would do such a thing.
You are loved the most by the One you hate the most.
There’s an offer on the table.
Take it or leave it.
It is your choice.
Just remember: it’s the only ticket Home.
Janice
Housman!! Wonderful quote!!!!
happy days are here again.
E&E Legal says
Some people really like to flaunt their gift for understatements!
This is just some of what Pruitt will be up against:
1. “At the 2015 United Nations climate talks in Paris,[Bill] Gates announced the formation of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a group of more than 20 billionaires who’ve agreed to invest in clean energy. Gates owns roughly 2.5% of Microsoft, accounting for just under 15% of his fortune.”
2. Not to mention the contracted promise Donald J Trump made for a cancellation of “billions in global warming payments to the United Nations.”
Let the greens waste their money if they want–they can flush it down the toilet pretending that renewables are cost effective until their vast fortunes are all gone, for all I care.
Sometimes it takes losing a fortune for a man to come to the realization that he’s been so wrong about so much. And if he doesn’t come to that conclusion, being a pauper has destroyed his ability to cause any additional damage.
Zeke,
Completely agree.
E&E also wrote:
” Finally, we strongly encourage him to add a deputy administrator to his team who has significant EPA experience, who shares the President’s vision, and can protect that vision from a hostile agency staff.”
Hostile agency staff is a gross understatement of what OK AG Pruitt will face at the EPA as its Administrator.
With any luck, many will simply quit or retire rather than face re-training and reassignment.
That agency just needs a haircut. Really.
We can have all kinds of merriment about the understatements, but it is a good description of the problem. We have the green special interests engaging in sue n settle with the EPA, and we also have the former head of the EPA going to Rio and making agreements with foreign powers about our domestic energy production.
That is outrageous.
As much as I love the science angle and all of the work that WUWT and others do, the truth is that the EPA is legislating and that is Congress’ role. And the states also are responsible for their own legislatures and affairs — esp. the need to produce sufficient coal power for their economies and dropping temps. That is the important signal from the Pruitt nomination, who doesn’t think the EPA should “pinch hit for Congress.”
Force congress to do their constitutional duty in regulatory reform? With all three branches Republican, it might happen.
My understanding is that the investments will be in research.
As long as they are investing their own money, I don’t care what Bill Gates (or any of the others) invest in.
Anyone notice a few of the usual posters missing 😉 🙂
You’d be surprised who reads WUWT … Nova … Judy
I think you missed who I was referring to. 🙂
should be *alluding to*
They have locked themselves in a safe-room and are to busy playing with play doh or colouring books.
Ah … today is not a good day for some
Xanax and Glenn Fiddich single malt sales are exploding even higher in Liberal land tonight.
Do they really put them in their de-caff lattes?
Seems a bit of a waste to me.. but that is the green far-left way… WASTE.
I pity the puppies and kittens locked in there with them.