Another reason why elections matter

Control of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is now in the hands of clowns like David Vitter.

Here's a taste of their work when they were in the minority.

Sen. David Vitter, top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, has been investigating the collusion between environmental activists, lawyers and lobbyists, billionaires and their supporting foundations who use large sums of money to influence environmental public policy.

Oddly enough no mention of the 100 million the Koch Bros spent this last election cycle.

LINK

Guarantee you the first order of business will be changing the header image on the committee web page.

Wilderness compromises don't please everyone

“When you’re willing to compromise your principles you’ve given up. You abandon them. When you compromise nature, nature gets compromised.”  -Conservation Pioneer Martin Litton who died on Nov. 30, 2014

While the Secretary of the Interior and groups like TU and TRCP held their noses and applauded compromises on wilderness bills and other public lands initiatives attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, some groups say the deals went too far.

Greenpeace, WildEarth Guardians, Center for Biological Diversity, the Western Watersheds Project and a handful of Montana-based groups sent a letter to senators Monday urging them to remove the natural resources related provisions from the defense act.

Calling the public lands package a "stealth" provision driven by provincial political considerations, the groups say the bills will result in logging, mining and grazing in exchange for modest wilderness protections.

LINK (via:The Spokesman Review)

The top 5 offensive provisions of the public lands rider according to the Montana Environmental Information Center.

Anti-Pebble Mine group snatches up former Obama admin. officials

The horror!

“This is a prime example of the revolving door between this administration and the environmental left,” a Republican Senate aide told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Putting all of America’s natural resources completely off limits and killing the jobs that come with them seems to be their number one goal.”

LINK (via: The Daily Caller)

Maybe someone could ask Michael Bastasch at the Daily Caller how this differs from the revolving door between the prior administration and companies involved in the energy production industry.

LINK (PDF)

Sucks to get beat at your own game.

Senators likely to hit EPA nominee over ‘expensive powerplay’ with Pebble Mine

Gina McCarthy, President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency nominee will get her confirmation hearing this week. McCarthy is expected to face questions regarding the EPA's spending taxpayer dollars holding meetings regarding environmental assessments for the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska, as well as exceeding its authority by arguing it can veto the mine.

LINK (via: The Daily Caller)

Leading the Spanish inquisition against McCarthy will be the dynamic duo of Republican Senator David, diaper wearing Vitter and House Republican Paul, evolution and the Big Bang theory are lies from the gates of hell Broun.

Meanwhile Rapala has joined the fight against Pebble. (via: In Fisherman)

Pebble Mine Meets Weird Science

The top investigator for the science committee in the House of Representatives, Georgia Republican Rep. Paul Broun, wrote the EPA and said its study of the proposed Pebble mine in the Bristol Bay region fell short and shouldn’t be used to block development.

“These are serious concerns. If EPA ultimately uses this watershed assessment as justification to pre-emptively veto mining permits in Bristol Bay – not withstanding EPA’s legal authority to do so – the scientific credibility of the assessment will need to be beyond reproach,” Broun wrote. “This is obviously not the case.”

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/10/161540/republicans-say-epa-is-digging.html#storylink=cpy

LINK (via: McClatchy)

Republican Rep Paul Broun, the top investigator for the House science committee believes evolution is a lie from the pit of hell and the earth is 9,000 years old. 

LINK  (via: The LA Times)

Broun is not the only crackpot on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/08/10/161540/republicans-say-epa-is-digging.html#storylink=cpyS