DL Open Thread: Mon., July 8, 2019
DOJ Seeks ‘Do-Over’ On Census Question. Can’t meet the deadline? Bring in new lawyers and ask for more time. Yo, D’s, you have to meet relentlessness with relentlessness. The Rethugs won’t quit. Looks like you already have.
Which Reminds Me. The problem is the timidity of older D officeholders. Because…Reagan. I like this Ryan Grim guy.
Why Urbanization Can Be Good For The Environment. Sounds good to me:
“Cities, of course, use enormous amounts of resources and generate tremendous quantities of wastes,” Walston writes, “but their environmental advantages are revealed when consumption statistics are reported on a per capita basis.” A 2011 report from the office of the Mayor of New York City found that the average New Yorker consumes 74% less water, uses 35% less electricity and produces 45% less garbage per person when compared with the average American.
In addition to supporting specific, targeted urban biodiversity projects — such as protecting bees and other pollinators in green spaces — city lawmakers, businesses and residents can harness economies of scale for environmental benefit by, for example, ensuring that buildings are occupied at capacity to limit new construction, using low-carbon building materials, improving public transportation to disincentivize private car ownership, and promoting the repair of household electronic devices to prolong their lifespans. Encouraging clothing companies to use upcycled fabrics and consumers to buy less clothing overall would reduce consumption-based emissions from clothing and textiles by 39% by 2030, according to a June analysis by C40, a consortium of 94 major cities committed to climate change.
What’s more, cities are hubs of technological innovation and social movements — including conservation activism. Walston’s own Wildlife Conservation Society, along with the first Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy and Greenpeace were all founded in cities, the paper points out.
Drinking Like A Fish. Jim Beam and fish don’t mix.
Insurance Companies Ditching Big Coal? Chubb has gotten the ball rolling in the US. Who will follow?
What do you want to talk about?
Dog Bites Man: Eric Swalwell To Drop Out Of D Presidential Primary:
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/eric-swalwell-end-presidential-campaign-2020
So, a Chris Coons ad was just on TV. But it wasn’t officially a Chris Coons ad. It does everything BUT say ‘Vote for Chris Coons’, which is the bullshit technical fig leaf that enables special interests to advocate for a candidate.
The source of the ad? The American Chemistry Council.
Cha-ching.
The American Chemistry Council is the well funded and highly influential (with members of both parties in Delaware) special interest that has flown in Professionals (hacks) from as far away as California to keep my bills banning Flame Retardants from mattresses and children’s products for the last few years bottled up in committee. Joined by all of the Republicans on the two committees (it was assigned to in recent sessions) a key Democrat member of both committees who serves as Chair of the JFC waged a vigorous campaign on behalf of this powerful special interest to keep the bills from being released by the committees. The latest iteration of a bill banning these toxic carcinogens which have been proven to severely disaffect brain development in children and cause accelerated cancer rates in firefighters is HS 2 for HB 117. During the Economic Development Committee hearing in May it was tabled at the behest of Democrat Quinn Johnson and Rep Jeff Spiegelman despite voluminous evidence of those chemicals’ harmful properties and in spite of the support for the legislation from the De. Volunteer Firefighters Association and other health professionals. Only Rep. Siegried and Rep. Baumbach voted against tabling. Similar (and in some cases stronger) legislation has been passed in more than 15 states despite the American Chemistry Council’s well funded efforts to bribe and cajole legislators. With the wonderful focus and efforts of attorney Debbie Gottschalk I have re-crafted portions of the bill to address some of the concerns of the committee members and intend to bring it back in January for release. But that’s not the full extent of the American Chemistry Council’s influence over local legislators. They were the prime authors of HB 184 which would bring gasification/incineration of plastics to Delaware. The bill was released by the Natural Resources Committee chaired by Rep. Heffernan who coincidentally was the chair of the first committee that refused to release my toxic flame retardant ban three years previous with the encouragement and belligerence of the Chemistry Council consultant who flew in from California. I will post links proving all of this if anyone is interested in seeing how the well-heeled corporate/fossil fuel community has taken over Delaware politics. Perhaps the most stunning turn of events took place at the May committee hearing when I personally concluded my challenge to Rep. Spiegelman and Rep Johnson with the statement “you’re choosing to put the special interests of the powerful corporations over the health and safety of young children and First-Responders and all Delaware families if you refuse to allow this bill to the floor” Their silence spoke volumes as to their lack of conscience that is an unacceptable abdication of their responsibilities to Delawarean families.
Representative John Kowalko
https://www.shawinstitute.org/focus/human-exposure
https://publicintegrity.org/environment/american-chemistry-council-lied-about-lobbying-role-on-flame-retardants-consultant-says/
Rep. Kowalko