Meanwhile at the EPA . . .

[41chevy]

High Crimes and Misdemeanors: Resolution to Impeach EPA Head To Be Introduced in Congress

Just one month after the EPA poisoned Colorado's Animas River when government workers punched a hole in a gold mine they were supposed to be cleaning up, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar is leading the way to introduce a resolution of impeachment for EPA Administrator Regina McCarthy.

The resolution, which can be found here, accuses McCarthy of lying under oath to Congress, perjury and high crimes and misdemeanors.

"Impeaching Regina McCarthy, Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, for high crimes and misdemeanors," the resolution states.

A Dear Colleague letter is also being circulated on Capitol Hill in order to gain support for the resolution and details multiple instances when Gosar believes McCarthy made false statements under oath.

"Administrator McCarthy committed perjury and made several false statements at multiple congressional hearings, and as a result, is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors—an impeachable offense," the letter written by Gosar states. "Perjury and making false statements to Congress are an affront to the fundamental principles of our republic and the rule of law, and such behavior cannot be tolerated. This bill holds Administrator McCarthy accountable for her blatant deceptions and unlawful conduct."

A few examples included in the letter:

On July 9, 2015, Administrator McCarthy appeared before the House Committee on Space, Science, and Technology and made false statements in violation of section 1001 of title 18, United States Code. When questioned on how a provision in the administration’s new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule was developed which allows previously non-jurisdictional waters to be regulated if they have a “significant nexus” to jurisdictional waters within 4,000 feet, McCarthy falsely claimed, “It is available in the docket…and that’s what we relied on, both the knowledge and expertise of our staff, the information that we received from the public and comments and the science that’s available to us.”

An April 27th memo to Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, from Major General John Peabody, proves that this was a false statement and that the 4,000 foot determination was not based on science stating, “The arbitrary nature of the 4,000-foot cutoff of jurisdiction is demonstrated by the fact that EPA staff engaged in drafting the rule told Corps staff during a conference call in March 2015 that EPA was going to cut off [Clean Water Act] jurisdiction at a distance of 5,000 feet from the [ordinary high water mark] of traditional navigable waters, interstate waters, territorial seas, impoundments or tributaries. Then, three days later, EPA staff changed its position” and went with the 4,000-foot cutoff; “EPA staff never provided any scientific support or justification for either a 5,000-foot or 4,000-foot cutoff.” Furthermore, Federal Judge Ralph R. Erickson also found “the 4,000 foot cutoff to establish jurisdiction over ‘similarly situated’ waters has no connection to relevant scientific data” and cited this fact as one of the primary reasons for his injunction issued August 27, 2015.

On July 29, 2015, Administrator McCarthy appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and committed perjury in violation of section 1621 of title 18, United States Code. At the hearing, I entered into the Congressional Record the April 27th and May 15th memorandums from Corps’ Major General Peabody. These memos include remarks that directly contradict statements made under oath by Administrator McCarthy at the hearing including: that Gen. Peabody and other Army Corps employees had “serious concerns about certain aspects of the draft final rule”; that “the Corps’ recommendations related to our most serious concerns have gone unaddressed”; that “the rule’s contradictions with legal principles generate multiple legal and technical consequences that, in the view of the Corps, would be fatal to the rule in its current form”; that “our technical review of both documents indicate that the Corps data provided to EPA has been selectively applied out of context, and mixes terminology and disparate data sets”; and that “In the Corps' judgment, the documents contain numerous inappropriate assumptions with no connection to the data provided, misapplied data, analytical deficiencies, and logical inconsistencies. As a result, the Corps' review could not find a justifiable basis in the analysis for many of the documents' conclusions.”

Legislation for the resolution is expected to be introduced Thursday or Friday of this week. McCarthy was appointed EPA administrator by President Obama in July 2013. Her short tenure has been embroiled in controversy.

[kscarbel2]

The removal of the incompetent and ignorant EPA head Gina McCarthy would be in the best interest of America............and therefore I assume it won't happen.

[kscarbel2]

Administrator Start End

Gina McCarthy 07/19/13 present

Bob Perciasepe (Acting) 02/15/13 07/18/13

Lisa P. Jackson 01/26/09 02/14/13

Stephen L. Johnson 05/02/05 01/25/09

Stephen L. Johnson (Acting) 01/26/05 05/01/05

Michael O. Leavitt 11/06/03 01/25/05

Marianne L. Horinko (Acting) 07/12/03 11/05/03

Linda J. Fisher (Acting) 06/28/03 07/11/03

Christine Todd Whitman 01/31/01 06/27/03

W. Michael McCabe (Acting) 01/20/01 01/30/01

Carol M. Browner 01/22/93 01/19/01

William K. Reilly 02/06/89 01/20/93

John Moore (Acting) 01/21/89 02/05/89

Lee M. Thomas 02/08/85 01/20/89

Lee M. Thomas (Acting) 01/04/85 02/07/85

William D. Ruckelshaus 05/18/83 01/04/85

Lee Verstandig (Acting) 03/10/83 05/17/83

Anne M. Gorsuch [burford] 05/20/81 03/09/83

Walter Barber, Jr. (Acting) 01/26/81 05/19/81

Steve Jellinek (Acting) 01/21/81 01/25/81

Douglas M. Costle 03/07/77 01/20/81

John Quarles, Jr. (Acting) 01/21/77 03/06/77

Russell E. Train 09/13/73 01/20/77

Robert Fri (Acting) 04/30/73 09/12/73

William D. Ruckelshaus 12/04/70 04/30/73

If one takes the time to review the appointed heads of the EPA over the years, and management of this agency, any ordinarily prudent individual should be shocked. The previous head for example, Lisa Jackson, was just was unqualified as McCarthy.

As in any professionally run business, becoming head of the EPA should be based on qualifications and experience. However, it is in fact a political circus...........and the negative results clearly reflect that.

The rapid tightening of commercial truck exhaust emissions regulations over the 2000 thru 2010 period was reckless and irresponsible, forcing the truck manufacturing industry to produce vehicles so unreliable that they were little more than advanced science experiments in mass production. During this time frame, truck operators of all types and size lost millions of dollars because the EPA demanded tighter emissions before viable, reliable technology existed for its smooth implementation.

Another point, if the EPA had qualified leadership, it would have moved for the United States to adopt the Euro emissions regulations from year 2000, putting the US on the same page as the rest of the world, and saving vehicle manufacturers millions of dollars by no longer forcing them to design and produce two separate engine line-ups.

[41chevy]

My thought also. Paul

[kscarbel2]

Four former EPA administrators appointed by Republican presidents who testified in favor of the agency’s proposed power plant regulations at a Senate subcommittee hearing last week did not respond when asked if they agreed with President Obama that global warming was accelerating.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) asked former EPA heads William Ruckelshaus, Christine Todd Whitman, William Reilly and Lee Thomas whether they agreed with Obama’s previous statements that the Earth is warming faster than previous predictions.

“The president, on Nov. 14, 2012, said, ‘The temperature around the globe is increasing faster than was predicted even 10 years ago’,” Sessions said at a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee’s “Climate Change: The Need to Act Now” hearing held on Capitol Hill last Wednesday.

“And then on May 29th last year, he said, ‘We also know that the climate is warming faster than anybody anticipated five or ten years ago’,” Sessions said. “So I would ask each of our former administrators if any of you agree that that’s an accurate statement on the climate. So if you do, raise your hand.”

None of the former EPA heads did so.

“Well, thank you,” Sessions said. “The record will reflect no one raised their hands.”

Video - http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/former-epa-heads-mum-when-asked-if-global-warming-accelerating

[HeavyGunner]

It's funny that none of the global warming criers never mention facts like this http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2015/05/19/updated-nasa-data-polar-ice-not-receding-after-all/

Unfortunately it's just another profitable business venture that leaves phony, hollow politicians feel good while makin money. Just ask al gore.

[david wild]

If there is any global warming caused by man, the airline industry should be one of the number one culprits, subject airplanes to what trucks have gone through and not a plane could fly. Think about how much fuel is burned by the airline industry and where, right there at the ozone level, watch a truck in the winter and see what the exhaust does, it goes to the ground, just watch the vapor trail. airlines are never discussed when talking about air pollution.

[Apple dog]

Don't forget the space shuttle and all the rockets that punch holes in the ozone. Nothing is ever said about that. The fuel used in all of them is highly toxic and the fumes can't be breathed. Like HeavyGunner said climate change and global warming is nothing more than a cash cow.

[j hancock]

It seems like 'Bumma is on Air Force One everyday. I guess that doesn't count toward global warming. Oh, everywhere Air Force One goes so goes Air Force One B just in case they need a spare.

Global warming occurs when politicians speak.

[kscarbel2]

Alike current EPA head Gina McCarthy, ex-New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman had ZERO qualifications to be head of the EPA (Jan 1, 2001 to June 27, 2003). She was/is totally clueless about the position.

In fact, it’s been decades since the EPA had a “qualified” head. Instead, it has been largely lead by a long string of stooge politicians.

The many individuals who have acted as Secretary of Transportation, including ex-Charlotte, North Carolina mayor Anthony Foxx, amounts to the same situation……not a single individual with “qualifications” applicable to the post. (City mayor…..transportation…..parallels?  NOT)

Why is the U.S. taxpayer paying for unqualified politicians to head key posts? If I ran my business this way, I’d be bankrupt within 12 months.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Former EPA head admits she was wrong to tell New Yorkers post-9/11 air was safe

The Guardian  /  September 10, 2016

Christine Todd Whitman, who reassured the public over Ground Zero air, says: ‘I’m sorry. We did the very best we could … with the knowledge we had’

Christine Todd Whitman, who as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under George W Bush at the time of the 9/11 attacks told the public the air around Ground Zero in New York was safe to breathe, has admitted for the first time she was wrong.

Among those who were exposed to toxins released when the WorldTradeCenter collapsed, the toll of illness and death continues to rise.

Speaking to the Guardian for a report on the growing health crisis to be published on Sunday, the 15th anniversary of the attacks, Whitman made an unprecedented apology to those affected but denied she had ever lied about the air quality or known at the time it was dangerous.

“Whatever we got wrong, we should acknowledge and people should be helped,” she said, adding that she still “feels awful” about the tragedy and its aftermath.

“I’m very sorry that people are sick,” she said. “I’m very sorry that people are dying and if the EPA and I in any way contributed to that, I’m sorry. We did the very best we could at the time with the knowledge we had.”

She added: “Every time it comes around to the anniversary I cringe, because I know people will bring up my name, they blame me, they say that I lied and that people died because I lied, [they say] people have died because I made a mistake.”

A week after two hijacked passenger jets were flown into the towers of the WorldTradeCenter, killing 2,753 people – 184 died in the Pentagon in WashingtonDC and 40 were killed when a United Airlines plane came down in a field in Pennsylvania – Whitman issued a statement. It said: “I am glad to reassure the people of New York … that their air is safe to breathe and their water is safe to drink.”

She has always maintained that as head of the EPA she was simply passing on what government scientists were telling her [because she was clueless about the profession], warning those working at Ground Zero itself to wear respirators but dismissing concerns over the surrounding area, which was engulfed in dust and ash.

Three days after the attacks, Whitman, who had previously been the Republican governor of New Jersey, told reporters: “The good news continues to be that air samples we have taken have all been at levels that cause us no concern.”

In 2003, the EPA inspector general criticized the agency’s handling of the crisis, finding that the EPA had no basis for its swift pronouncements about air quality. Politicians, including the then New York senator Hillary Clinton, laid into the Bush administration, accusing it of deceiving the public.

More than 37,000 people registered with the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), a federal organisation set up in 2011 to oversee those affected by exposure to the toxins released at Ground Zero, have been declared sick. Many have chronic respiratory illnesses or cancer.

More than 1,100 people covered by the WTCHP have died  [an incompetent Whitman has the blood of Americans forever on her hands]. That number includes first responders who were at Ground Zero and people who lived and worked in the surrounding area.

A WTCHP spokeswoman, ChristySpring, said: “We have a list of health conditions that the program provides medical monitoring and treatment for, established by the government to have been related to exposure to the dust and debris from the 9/11 attack on the WorldTradeCenter.”

Whitman said: “If people are dying from this – and I have not seen the data – and they had believed everything was fine, then you have got to blame the message they were hearing, and what they were hearing was that the ambient air quality in Lower Manhattan at the time was OK.”

Jerrold Nadler, a veteran US congressman whose district covers the WorldTradeCenter site, told the Guardian on Thursday that Whitman had never admitted she had been wrong about the air quality.

“She knew or should have known” the air was dangerous, he said.

In 2008, Nadler accused Whitman of causing thousands to suffer injury “and in some cases death” due to “unnecessary exposure to toxins released by the collapse of the WorldTradeCenter buildings”.

In a ruling in a lawsuit brought by New York residents that year, a federal appeals court ruled that Whitman could not be held liable for health problems caused by the air around Ground Zero.

On Friday, Whitman questioned the level of proof that the air made people sick, but said: “If this is a direct relation, we all screwed up.” She thought she was right at the time, she said, but added: “I can believe that the scientists may not have had all the information they needed.”

Shortly after the attack on New York, Whitman said it was known that asbestos, lead and other toxins were in the wreckage of the Twin Towers, known as “the pile”, and that those working on rescue and recovery there should wear respirators. Most did not.

As the city under Mayor Rudy Giuliani led the work at Ground Zero rather than the federal government, Whitman said, she had had no authority to enforce the recommended wearing of safety equipment.

At the time, she said that beyond the pile, in the surrounding neighborhoods and the rest of Manhattan, the air did “not pose a public health hazard”.

[mowerman]

more shenanagens for sure,,,,,back peddling ,dancing around questions,washing hands of the matter...wow and yes she is for sure not going away...bob

[mowerman]

dont forget if they were to get rid of her,,,,would make obambi look bad,,,,another ding on his pefect record,,,,,ooooooooooooohhhh,,,we cant have that!!!!!!!!!.lol.bob

[mowerman]

oh obambi appointed regina McCarthy