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.

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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.

March 3, 2020: Trump Claims He's Raising Funding for National Parks (He's Lying)

3/3/20: It turns out Trump doesn’t have his stock market mojo back! The Federal Reserve cuts interest rates ½ percent to counteract any slowdown in the U.S. economy due to the coronavirus threat. 

The Dow still drops 786 points. 

Meanwhile, Dr. Zero (a.k.a. Donald J. Trump) continues to insist that a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus might be just around the corner. Kind of like he convinced Kim Jong-un to give up all his nukes back in June 2018. 

Anyway, the president finds himself in a bit of a pickle. First and foremost, he’s clueless when it comes to the science of the virus. For sure, he’s too lazy intellectually to study the topic. That means he’s reduced to shouting nonsense at rallies and tweeting nonsense in between.

 

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Glacier National Park.

Mount Rainier National Park.

Clear mountains stream - Yosemite National Park.

Lower Falls, Yellowstone National Park.

Hikers in Zion.

TODAY, HE POSTED NONSENSE about how he wants, “Congress to send me a Bill that fully and permanently funds the LWCF [Land and Water Conservation Fund] and restores our National Parks. When I sign it into law, it will be HISTORIC for our beautiful public lands. ALL thanks to @SenCoryGardner and @SteveDaines, two GREAT Conservative Leaders!” 

This would be truly HISTORIC news – because Trump keeps trying every year to cut funds for the Interior Department, which runs the parks. 

As the National Parks Conservation Association, or NPCA, noted just last month, the proposed federal budget for Fiscal Year 2021 would cut park funding by $587 million (a 17 percent reduction). 

Trump and his buds also hoped to slash funding for the E.P.A. by $2.4 billion (a 26 percent cut). 

In addition, the NPCA noted, the proposal “nearly zeros out funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund, a critical conservation tool that supports local tourism and recreational economies and enhances opportunities for the American public to enjoy access to its public lands.”

 

In other words, someone must have poked Trump with a sharp stick and informed him how unpopular his administration’s ideas were. 

As far as protecting the parks, you could go back to FY 2020, when Team Trump tried to cut funding for the Interior Department by 14 percent. 

Or FY 2019, when the national parks were supposed to absorb a 7 percent cut. 

And, of course, you had the 12 percent cut proposed in FY 2018.