No doubt it’s the Obama holdovers who still run the agency on a day-to-day basis.
This clip is from a brief filed in March 22, 2017 by the (supposedly) Trump EPA in litigation over the major war-on-coal EPA rule known as the Mercury Air Transport Standard (MATS).
As you can see, the Obama holdovers in the Trump EPA are telling the court that the rule will save 11,000 lives per year — all by reducing PM
Below is the background story on all this from Greenwire.
Readers of this page and “Scare Pollution” know the saving-11,000-lives claim is utterly false. the real number is ZERO.
As per the Greenwire story, EPA filed a motion this week stating the March 22 brief may not actually be its position. What the EPA is referring to as “not being its position” is unclear — i.e., it may or may not not include the saving-11,000-lives claim.
Here’s where the rubber hits the road, though.
The legal merits of coal industry arguments aside, I’m not sure how anyone can reasonably expect D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Democrats (or even Republicans) to rule in their favor if they think the EPA MATS rule is saving 11,000 lives per year.
If the PM2.5-kills myth is allowed to continue and is indeed promoted by the Trump EPA, the rollback of the Obama war on coal will only last as long as pro-coal Republicans control the White House and are not forced by SCOTUS to continue the war on coal. Ever-wobbly and environmentally under-informed Justice Anthony Kennedy may indeed believe that coal kills. If he does he will be the 5-4 vote forcing/allowing EPA to destroy coal.
Dennis:…………
My recalculation shows Lisa’s predictions to be slightly optimistic….The latest figures are:
10987.641 premature deaths.
4694.7195 heart attacks.
3096.5171 E.R. visits
This is real science…My correction factor is 0.9988765 based on the assumption that 2016 was only 364.81966 days in duration….All scientists are invited to refute or verify these figures [which was not possible for the original claim.]
On the basis of this research and the impact of ‘the march’ I hope to get promoted to a senior science position paying more than the institution janitor………..
This is Lisa Jackson territory:
“Lisa P Jackson, EPA Administrator – Fulfilling the UN Mission”
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/science-papers/originals/lisa-p-jackson-epa-administrator-fulfilling-the-un-mission
“When extolling the virtues of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, MATS, at the University of Minnesota, [in January 17th, 2012], Jackson claimed that:
“Once the rule is fully implemented in 2016, it will prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths; 4,700 heart attacks and 3,100 Emergency Room visits among children.”
I wonder how those figures panned out last year?
It is great to see that someone in the administration actually read what these legal saboteurs put in their brief and told the court that they might not have stated the EPA’s true position.
To those not familiar with the law, that is a stunning filing. Saying your attorneys have filed arguments with the court that are, in effect, false.
After terminating these attorneys, the next best result would be the administration reaching a fair settlement or to simply allow the other side to win. That is what the EPA has done for years with phony environmental group lawsuits – although in those cases, the EPA also handed over billions of $ to the “victorious” environmental plaintiffs.