Month: August 2018

Environmentalists are alarmed that President Donald Trump is following through on his campaign pledges to roll back Obama-era rules that tightened restrictions on greenhouse gases, promising the moves would lead to more American jobs and economic growth.

At a recent rally in Charleston, West Virginia, under a “Trump Digs Coal” banner, the president announced plans to roll back the Clean Power Plan.

“We are putting our great coal miners back to work.” Trump said, claiming that coal is necessary for the nation’s energy security. “You can do a lot of things to those solar panels, but you know what you can’t hurt? Coal. You can do whatever you want to coal.”

Trump’s plan abandons the previous administration’s goal of scaling back U.S. reliance on coal and reducing the nation’s carbon emissions by a third by the year 2030. Instead, Trump wants to allow coal-producing states like West Virginia to set their own limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration proposed a repeal of the American Clean Cars Standards, the Obama-era regulation that set stringent limits on vehicle fuel-efficiency and emissions. The proposal include revoking the rights of states to set their own strict vehicle emission targets, setting up a legal battle with California and 18 other states with ambitious clean cars programs.

Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, said the state will fight what it believes to be “an egregious proposal that violates the law and is damaging to the interests of the people of this country when it comes to improving air quality.”

Environmental activists also have denounced the proposals. Tomas Carbonell of the Environmental Defense Fund said cars and power plants are responsible for the majority of carbon pollution in the U.S. He added that the administration’s rollback of these climate protections “sends a real signal to the world that America is not going to do its part to reduce pollution.”

Even the administration’s Environmental Protection Agency’s own analysis acknowledges that increased pollution from the rollback of the Clean Power Plan could lead to 1,400 more premature deaths each year by 2030. Carbonell said this would mean health and economic costs with potentially “billions of dollars in net harm to Americans resulting from this proposal even after you take into account the compliance cost.”

The plan is supported by the industry lobby that says Trump’s coal-friendly policies create jobs. Jason Bostic from the West Virginia Coal Association said that since Trump took office, the state has added about 3,000 direct mining jobs. He dismissed criticism that coal is a dying industry that hurts the environment.

“I think what you have are critics outside of this industry that are a little bit unrealistic in their goals about a renewable economy built on wind power, wishes and unicorns.” he said.

If approved, Trump’s proposal, called the “Affordable Clean Energy Rule,” could keep coal plants operating longer, by allowing them to invest in facilities without having to upgrade pollution control technologies to meet existing standards.

Yet, experts are skeptical the proposal would actually would save coal jobs in the long term given that there are cheaper and cleaner energy sources like natural gas, and that the cost of renewable energy like solar and wind continue to drop.

Blair Beasley of the Bipartisan Policy Center said, “The coal industry is still facing some pretty significant headwinds,” despite Trump’s rollbacks.

Most analysts believe Trump’s proposal is driven more by political rather than economic considerations. In West Virginia, Trump’s approval ratings are almost always above the national average. Beasley noted, however, that as the power sector transitions away from coal, there are communities that potentially could be left behind, and this is an important consideration in policymaking.

The Clean Power Plan was blocked by the Supreme Court in early 2016 and never implemented. Yet, West Virginians blamed President Barack Obama for the decline of the coal industry.

In his last year in office, Obama’s approval rating in the state was 24 percent, the lowest in the nation. Jake Zuckerman, political reporter at the Charleston Gazette-Mail said that a fair criticism for the Obama administration is they did not hold public hearings in West Virginia on the Clean Power Plan.

“I think that people got this feeling that they weren’t being heard, which I think carries a lot of weight here,” he said.

Now these coal miners feel Trump is listening. At the Trump rally in Charleston, Kevin Abbot from Gilbert, West Virginia, said he lost his job under Obama, but now he’s back to work.

“I’m tickled to death,” he said. “The pay went up. The mining industry went up. So, everything’s looking real good as far as mining goes.”

Abbott, who has been mining for 32 years, said he likes everything Trump has done. “He’s sticking with his campaign promises.”

The administration’s proposals to roll back antipollution standards are in line with Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement. Every country in the world except the U.S. and Syria, are now signatories of the agreement, which aims to mitigate the effects of global warming.
…

Environmentalists are alarmed that President Donald Trump is following through on his campaign pledges to roll back Obama-era rules that tightened restrictions on greenhouse gases, promising the moves would lead to more American jobs and economic growth.

At a recent rally in Charleston, West Virginia, under a “Trump Digs Coal” banner, the president announced plans to roll back the Clean Power Plan.

“We are putting our great coal miners back to work.” Trump said, claiming that coal is necessary for the nation’s energy security. “You can do a lot of things to those solar panels, but you know what you can’t hurt? Coal. You can do whatever you want to coal.”

Trump’s plan abandons the previous administration’s goal of scaling back U.S. reliance on coal and reducing the nation’s carbon emissions by a third by the year 2030. Instead, Trump wants to allow coal-producing states like West Virginia to set their own limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration proposed a repeal of the American Clean Cars Standards, the Obama-era regulation that set stringent limits on vehicle fuel-efficiency and emissions. The proposal include revoking the rights of states to set their own strict vehicle emission targets, setting up a legal battle with California and 18 other states with ambitious clean cars programs.

Xavier Becerra, California’s attorney general, said the state will fight what it believes to be “an egregious proposal that violates the law and is damaging to the interests of the people of this country when it comes to improving air quality.”

Environmental activists also have denounced the proposals. Tomas Carbonell of the Environmental Defense Fund said cars and power plants are responsible for the majority of carbon pollution in the U.S. He added that the administration’s rollback of these climate protections “sends a real signal to the world that America is not going to do its part to reduce pollution.”

Even the administration’s Environmental Protection Agency’s own analysis acknowledges that increased pollution from the rollback of the Clean Power Plan could lead to 1,400 more premature deaths each year by 2030. Carbonell said this would mean health and economic costs with potentially “billions of dollars in net harm to Americans resulting from this proposal even after you take into account the compliance cost.”

The plan is supported by the industry lobby that says Trump’s coal-friendly policies create jobs. Jason Bostic from the West Virginia Coal Association said that since Trump took office, the state has added about 3,000 direct mining jobs. He dismissed criticism that coal is a dying industry that hurts the environment.

“I think what you have are critics outside of this industry that are a little bit unrealistic in their goals about a renewable economy built on wind power, wishes and unicorns.” he said.

If approved, Trump’s proposal, called the “Affordable Clean Energy Rule,” could keep coal plants operating longer, by allowing them to invest in facilities without having to upgrade pollution control technologies to meet existing standards.

Yet, experts are skeptical the proposal would actually would save coal jobs in the long term given that there are cheaper and cleaner energy sources like natural gas, and that the cost of renewable energy like solar and wind continue to drop.

Blair Beasley of the Bipartisan Policy Center said, “The coal industry is still facing some pretty significant headwinds,” despite Trump’s rollbacks.

Most analysts believe Trump’s proposal is driven more by political rather than economic considerations. In West Virginia, Trump’s approval ratings are almost always above the national average. Beasley noted, however, that as the power sector transitions away from coal, there are communities that potentially could be left behind, and this is an important consideration in policymaking.

The Clean Power Plan was blocked by the Supreme Court in early 2016 and never implemented. Yet, West Virginians blamed President Barack Obama for the decline of the coal industry.

In his last year in office, Obama’s approval rating in the state was 24 percent, the lowest in the nation. Jake Zuckerman, political reporter at the Charleston Gazette-Mail said that a fair criticism for the Obama administration is they did not hold public hearings in West Virginia on the Clean Power Plan.

“I think that people got this feeling that they weren’t being heard, which I think carries a lot of weight here,” he said.

Now these coal miners feel Trump is listening. At the Trump rally in Charleston, Kevin Abbot from Gilbert, West Virginia, said he lost his job under Obama, but now he’s back to work.

“I’m tickled to death,” he said. “The pay went up. The mining industry went up. So, everything’s looking real good as far as mining goes.”

Abbott, who has been mining for 32 years, said he likes everything Trump has done. “He’s sticking with his campaign promises.”

The administration’s proposals to roll back antipollution standards are in line with Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement. Every country in the world except the U.S. and Syria, are now signatories of the agreement, which aims to mitigate the effects of global warming.
…

President Donald Trump has followed through on pledges to roll-back Obama-era rules that tightened restrictions on greenhouse gases, promising the moves would lead to more American jobs and economic growth. Trump’s proposal includes loosening restrictions to the American Clean Cars Standards and the Clean Power Plan. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has more.
…

President Donald Trump has followed through on pledges to roll-back Obama-era rules that tightened restrictions on greenhouse gases, promising the moves would lead to more American jobs and economic growth. Trump’s proposal includes loosening restrictions to the American Clean Cars Standards and the Clean Power Plan. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has more.
…

The saws, the sanding, the hammering. The constant sounds of construction are music to the ears of country music star Garth Brooks.

“That sound you are hearing right there, that’s love,” he said, competing to have his voice heard over the ever-increasing buzz of activity that surrounds him on this construction site.

For Ericka Santiestepan, a single mother of two young children, the slam of a hammer hitting a nail is also the sound of hope.

“I feel like I won the lotto. It’s means everything. I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to have to go next,” she told VOA.

That’s because when the A-frame trusses Brooks is helping build are finally raised, they form the roof over Santiestepan’s new, permanent home.

“I’m in a house,” she said, grinning, “and I have these amazing people to help me — Garth Brooks and Trisha (Yearwood) are working on my house. I want them to sign the inside of my walls!”

Hand up, not a hand out

Santiestepan isn’t getting anything for free. Once the house is built, she will have a mortgage, albeit an affordable one, thanks to Habitat for Humanity’s no-interest loan, paid for by Santiestepan’s own “sweat equity” during this construction project.

“It’s a hand up, not a hand out,” country music star Yearwood explained. She and husband, Brooks, are just two volunteers among hundreds in what is a massive volunteer effort on the outskirts of South Bend, Indiana, to build nearly two dozen homes similar to and alongside Santiestepan’s.

This newly forming neighborhood is the current focus of Habitat for Humanity’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, an annual event the former president and first lady began in 1984.

“The myth is that President and Mrs. Carter started Habitat,” said Jonathan Reckford, Habitat for Humanity’s chief executive officer. The nonprofit organization was in fact founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller.

The headquarters is in Americus, Georgia, not far from Carter’s hometown of Plains. After some cajoling, the Fullers encouraged the Carters, who returned to Plains in 1981 after a stinging electoral defeat to Ronald Reagan, to participate in a local build project in 1984. Thirty-four years later, they continue to lend their name and muscle to Habitat’s global effort to build homes for those in need.

“I think every human being would probably like some excitement in their life, some challenge in their life, some particular thing for which they can be grateful in the future, some obstacle to overcome, something from which they could be proud. And Habitat answers all those questions for me,” Carter explained during a news conference on this year’s construction site.

​One week work project

Though the house-building project takes place for one week a year, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Habitat for Humanity Work Project is now one of the most identifiable aspects of their legacy.

“When the Carters got involved, worldwide, lifetime to date, Habitat had helped 758 families,” Reckford said. “Since they got involved, we’ve been able to partner with 13.2 million people to have new, rehabbed, or repaired homes. And right now, we are at a pace that we are partnering with someone in the world every 50 seconds. And there is really no one that has had more to do with that than President and Mrs. Carter.”

Intense heat, advanced age and even cancer have not kept the Carters from building houses across the United States and 14 other countries, working alongside volunteers like Suzanne Taylor.

“He said once that he’s going to do as much as he can with as much as he can for as long as he can because his faith demands it,” Taylor said. “I think it’s a lesson to all of us to maybe get off the couch a couple more times and go do something to make the world a better place.”

“Nobody works harder than them, and they set an example for everybody. They really do,” Yearwood said, standing near the former president and first lady as they cut wood and assembled material that will eventually become a front porch railing.

Gratitude is motivating

Brooks admits that although he is 38 years younger than Jimmy Carter, volunteering alongside him is an exercise in intimidation.

“You don’t keep up with him. You are just scared not to,” Brooks said half-joking, smiling. “He just puts the fear of God into you. He says it’s not a race, as long as his house is done first.”

It’s a race that Santiestepan, whose future home stands next to the one Jimmy Carter was building the railing for, is happy to lose.

She didn’t know anything about the Carters before the project began, and now doesn’t need to do a Google search to learn more. She’ll be living in a community built in part by their compassion.

“Every time I think about it, I just want to cry, just because without them, I couldn’t do it,” Santiestepan said, fighting back tears. “I wouldn’t have this. I wouldn’t know where I would be next year. I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart. It just means a lot. They have no idea what they are doing for everyone. I mean, they know, but I don’t know if they can feel exactly how it feels like. It’s a dream come true.”

The gratitude shown by new homeowners like Santiestepan is one highly motivating factor that keeps the Carters returning to construction sites year after year.

“Just to see the expression on their face,” the former president said, fighting back his own tears. “They start crying first, and I start crying right behind them, and it’s a matter of deep emotion for me. And I’m already emotional about this project, as you can tell.”

It’s a project that when completed will put 23 modern homes on Mishawaka’s map this year, joining more than 4,000 on the global map since 1984. And all built by a former president who grew up in a house with no running water or electricity.
…

The saws, the sanding, the hammering. The constant sounds of construction are music to the ears of country music star Garth Brooks.

“That sound you are hearing right there, that’s love,” he said, competing to have his voice heard over the ever-increasing buzz of activity that surrounds him on this construction site.

For Ericka Santiestepan, a single mother of two young children, the slam of a hammer hitting a nail is also the sound of hope.

“I feel like I won the lotto. It’s means everything. I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to have to go next,” she told VOA.

That’s because when the A-frame trusses Brooks is helping build are finally raised, they form the roof over Santiestepan’s new, permanent home.

“I’m in a house,” she said, grinning, “and I have these amazing people to help me — Garth Brooks and Trisha (Yearwood) are working on my house. I want them to sign the inside of my walls!”

Hand up, not a hand out

Santiestepan isn’t getting anything for free. Once the house is built, she will have a mortgage, albeit an affordable one, thanks to Habitat for Humanity’s no-interest loan, paid for by Santiestepan’s own “sweat equity” during this construction project.

“It’s a hand up, not a hand out,” country music star Yearwood explained. She and husband, Brooks, are just two volunteers among hundreds in what is a massive volunteer effort on the outskirts of South Bend, Indiana, to build nearly two dozen homes similar to and alongside Santiestepan’s.

This newly forming neighborhood is the current focus of Habitat for Humanity’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Work Project, an annual event the former president and first lady began in 1984.

“The myth is that President and Mrs. Carter started Habitat,” said Jonathan Reckford, Habitat for Humanity’s chief executive officer. The nonprofit organization was in fact founded in 1976 by Millard and Linda Fuller.

The headquarters is in Americus, Georgia, not far from Carter’s hometown of Plains. After some cajoling, the Fullers encouraged the Carters, who returned to Plains in 1981 after a stinging electoral defeat to Ronald Reagan, to participate in a local build project in 1984. Thirty-four years later, they continue to lend their name and muscle to Habitat’s global effort to build homes for those in need.

“I think every human being would probably like some excitement in their life, some challenge in their life, some particular thing for which they can be grateful in the future, some obstacle to overcome, something from which they could be proud. And Habitat answers all those questions for me,” Carter explained during a news conference on this year’s construction site.

​One week work project

Though the house-building project takes place for one week a year, the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Habitat for Humanity Work Project is now one of the most identifiable aspects of their legacy.

“When the Carters got involved, worldwide, lifetime to date, Habitat had helped 758 families,” Reckford said. “Since they got involved, we’ve been able to partner with 13.2 million people to have new, rehabbed, or repaired homes. And right now, we are at a pace that we are partnering with someone in the world every 50 seconds. And there is really no one that has had more to do with that than President and Mrs. Carter.”

Intense heat, advanced age and even cancer have not kept the Carters from building houses across the United States and 14 other countries, working alongside volunteers like Suzanne Taylor.

“He said once that he’s going to do as much as he can with as much as he can for as long as he can because his faith demands it,” Taylor said. “I think it’s a lesson to all of us to maybe get off the couch a couple more times and go do something to make the world a better place.”

“Nobody works harder than them, and they set an example for everybody. They really do,” Yearwood said, standing near the former president and first lady as they cut wood and assembled material that will eventually become a front porch railing.

Gratitude is motivating

Brooks admits that although he is 38 years younger than Jimmy Carter, volunteering alongside him is an exercise in intimidation.

“You don’t keep up with him. You are just scared not to,” Brooks said half-joking, smiling. “He just puts the fear of God into you. He says it’s not a race, as long as his house is done first.”

It’s a race that Santiestepan, whose future home stands next to the one Jimmy Carter was building the railing for, is happy to lose.

She didn’t know anything about the Carters before the project began, and now doesn’t need to do a Google search to learn more. She’ll be living in a community built in part by their compassion.

“Every time I think about it, I just want to cry, just because without them, I couldn’t do it,” Santiestepan said, fighting back tears. “I wouldn’t have this. I wouldn’t know where I would be next year. I’m grateful from the bottom of my heart. It just means a lot. They have no idea what they are doing for everyone. I mean, they know, but I don’t know if they can feel exactly how it feels like. It’s a dream come true.”

The gratitude shown by new homeowners like Santiestepan is one highly motivating factor that keeps the Carters returning to construction sites year after year.

“Just to see the expression on their face,” the former president said, fighting back his own tears. “They start crying first, and I start crying right behind them, and it’s a matter of deep emotion for me. And I’m already emotional about this project, as you can tell.”

It’s a project that when completed will put 23 modern homes on Mishawaka’s map this year, joining more than 4,000 on the global map since 1984. And all built by a former president who grew up in a house with no running water or electricity.
…