DL Open Thread: Sunday, March 12, 2023

‘I Got Your Oil Slick Right Here’.  Biden to Alaska:

The Biden administration has decided to authorize a mammoth ConocoPhillips oil project in northwest Alaska, despite arguments by opponents that it will exacerbate climate change, according to people familiar with the matter.

The project is enormous by almost any measure. Its $8 billion price tag puts it at the forefront of pending US oil projects today. And the 180,000 daily barrels of crude it’s projected to eventually yield represents roughly 1.6% of current US production.

Environmental activists who helped put Biden in the White House insisted approval would be a betrayal of his campaign pledges. At the same time, Biden has faced intense pressure from lawmakers, unions and many indigenous communities in Alaska who say the Willow project would provide an economic lifeline to the region, providing critical revenue to combat poverty, support local schools and even boost longevity.

If ‘on the one hand’ means climate catastrophe, there should be no ‘on the other hand’.  BTW, Politico-style pundits are characterizing this as a ‘move to the political center’.  Presumably b/c ConocoPhillips represents the political center.  Won’t somebody credible please primary this guy?

Pence Chooses His Lane.  Granted, it’s a ‘loser’s lane’ for the Rethug primary, but it at least has the virtue of truth.  History will look very kindly on Mike Pence.  Not, thankfully, for his time as President:

“President Trump was wrong,” Pence said during remarks at the annual white-tie Gridiron Dinner attended by politicians and journalists. “I had no right to overturn the election. And his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”

With his remarks, Pence solidified his place in a broader debate within the Republican Party over how to view the attack. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, for example, recently provided Tucker Carlson with an archive of security camera footage from Jan. 6, which the Fox News host has used to downplay the day’s events and promote conspiracy theories.

“Make no mistake about it, what happened that day was a disgrace,” Pence said in his Gridiron Dinner remarks. “And it mocks decency to portray it any other way.”

Yep–SVB Bank Failure Was Due To Weakening Of Dodd-Frank:

This precarious scenario, however, may not have been been the case were it not for the work of SVB’s President Greg Becker, who eight years ago asked a Senate committee to relax regulations that would soon be applied to his own bank. His appearance kicked off a half-a-million-dollar lobbying effort that led to a bill, signed by then-President Trump, undoing regulations precisely as SVB and other banks had asked for.

Becker, along with several other banking executives, asked senators to raise the threshold for banks that should be subject to this expanded level of supervision from $50 billion in assets—a milestone his bank was quickly approaching—to $250 billion. ( You know, a modestly-incremental increase of 500%.)  His testimony explained that the stricter risk checks would needlessly cost his banks millions, diverting resources from their ability to lend to “small and growing businesses” that are “job creation engines.”

He argued that there was no need for these expensive, federal-government-mandated checks because SVB’s activities had a “low risk profile”—and because the bank was perfectly capable of keeping itself in check with its “strong risk management practices.”

Following the hearing and three years of SVB lobbying lawmakers, Becker got his wish: In 2018, Trump signed a bill into law raising the threshold for stricter bank oversight to $250 billion in assets.  (With the help of our two banking lackey senators.)

Betcha Carper and Coons are out there saying that this was a unique case, and that no other banks face the same fate. Betcha they’re wrong.

Tracy Carluccio: “Crash Points Out The Folly Of Rail Transport Of Hazardous Materials.”  From the Deputy Director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network:

If you live or work anywhere near a railway, you are enmeshed in a network capable of terrorizing communities and inflicting massive harm. In the event of a derailment and the release of toxic cargo, the pollution that results can not only cause immediate damaging health effects but also can degrade air and water quality for years; if flammable or explosive, the effects can be catastrophic. Delaware, the country’s second smallest state, has eight different freight carriers, with tracks crisscrossing its 1,982 square miles of land.

Read the whole thing. Then ask yourselves: If ‘Bobby’ Byrd being good at his job’ increases the likelihood of an airborne toxic event (h/t to Don DeLillo), shouldn’t legislators push back on his lobbying efforts and, you know, place the safety of their constituents over those Norfolk Southern campaign contributions.  So far, not a single Delaware legislator has publicly announced they will return those contributions.

What do you want to talk about?