By Donnie R. Dann

This Alert speaks for itself and contains little editorial comment.

Congressman Mark Meadows, Republican from western North Carolina, a member of the House Freedom Caucus (commonly known as the Tea Party), has released a list of over 200 “harmful regulations” (his description) that can be eliminated by the incoming administration in the first 100 days. See this link for all of them, but I list a sampling of the environmentally related ones below. Other areas targeted for revoking include civil rights, food safety, financial regulations, consumer protection, etc., but they are beyond the scope of this Newsletter.

• #15 proposes that “Country of Origin” labeling on beef and pork be revoked.

• #146 revokes the Bureau of Land Management’s Environmental Impact Statement for coal.

• #161 cancels the U.S. commitments to the Paris Agreements on Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

• #162 eliminates the Office of Global Climate Change at the State Department.

• #164 rescinds the Framework for Climate Change and National Security.

• #170 eliminates the Special Envoy for Climate Change.

• #172 eliminates the Bureau of Oceans & International Environmental & Scientific Affairs.

• #190 rescinds the National Environmental Policy Act’s (NEPA) guidance on global warming compliance.

• Other regulations to be removed include emission standards for vehicles, regional haze regulations, carbon pollution guidelines for electric utilities, the Clean Air Interstate Rule, and the Renewable Fuel Standard Program.

• Executive Orders to revoke – Chesapeake restoration and protection; Oceans, Coasts, Great Lakes protection, Investment in Industrial Energy Efficiency, and Sustainability Goals for Federal Agencies.

• Energy conservation regulations on air conditioners, refrigerators, etc. are described as “too burdensome to comply with”.

And this is just the first 100 days! Will the new administration implement some or all of these actions?

Guess!

If you oppose this upheaval of our environmental protections, these are some actions you can take. Write, or better call, or better yet visit your legislator(s) and tell them. Volunteer for, but most importantly contribute to the extent you can to environmental organizations that will fight them.

This Newsletter may be excerpted, reproduced or circulated without limitation.