February 17, 2020: Funding for National Parks Cut - A Toilet Paper Caper

 

2/17/20: If you think the Trump administration has been terrible for the environment, you’re not dreaming. 

A little-noticed facet of the problem is the president’s complete failure to appoint heads to important government agencies. For three years, the National Park Service has been without a Senate-confirmed Director. As of today, more than half the top leadership posts in the Service are vacant or filled by men and women in “acting” positions. Several of the gems in the parks system, Yosemite, Denali, and Grand Canyon, are currently without permanent superintendents. The Trump administration has continued to press Congress to cut funding for both the Department of the Interior and the National Park Service, which Interior oversees. 

With only a skeleton leadership force in place, there are fewer and fewer voices to speak up for the nation’s parks and fight for the best ways to meet the needs of more than 300 million visitors annually. 

But, hey, Trump has been “saving” coal mining jobs (by the hundreds) during his three years in office.

 

And his administration has been relaxing rules meant to curb air pollution, including the release of mercury and lead from coal-fired power plants, both of which can cause serious health problems in children. 

Also, companies will have more time to deal with coal ash holding ponds, which may be leaking contaminants into the groundwater. 

So, there’s that!

Going to the Sun Highway, Glacier National Park.

The Trump administration wants to cut funding for parks.

Yellowstone River. You can keep it clean for trout fishing.

Or you can allow mining nearby.

* 

PRESIDENT TRUMP keeps thanking the Chinese government for its fine efforts to control the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. But the Chinese continue to have difficulty containing the disease. A cruise ship, turned away at several ports, finally docked in Cambodia this weekend, after company officials assured the government no one aboard was carrying the virus. 

Nearly 2,000 passengers and crew disembarked and scattered, happy to be heading home after a long, enforced isolation. 

Unfortunately, an American passenger, almost immediately tested positive after coming ashore. Now tracking down hundreds of potential carriers who have scattered round the globe, and deciding who they might have come in contact with, presents a daunting health challenge.

 

As of this morning, the death toll from the disease stands at 1,770, with more than 71,000 cases reported. 

The threat of a pandemic has disrupted supply chains and businesses around the globe. The Tokyo Marathon has banned all but elite runners, affecting 38,000 competitors. Chinese factories are running on a limited basis. Casinos in Macau are closed. Taiwan reports 22 cases, Thailand 35. In China more than 1,700 health care workers have been infected. Aboard the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama, the virus has continued to spread, with 454 cases reported. 

The strangest example comes from Hong Kong, where people have been hoarding food, water and supplies and hunkering down at home. With store shelves emptied, a gang of three men decides to hold up a supermarket delivery man at knife point and steal fifty packs of toilet paper worth $220.