Incoming Virginia Governor Youngkin Goes In All Anti-Environment
Incoming Virginia Governor Youngkin Goes In All Anti-Environment
Incoming GOP Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has just announced his choice for Secretary of Natural Resources, Andrew Wheeler, a longtime coal lobbyist, who served as Trump’s EPA director in the latter part of his term. He has an utterly abysmal environmental record, so bad I cannot think of a single thing he did that I can applaud or even just vaguely approve of. It was just simply all bad.
He combined blocking new rules such as limiting mercury emissions into water and many others, with shutting down the Scientific Advisory Board, to simply ceasing to enforce existing legislation, most notably the Clean Water Act. This appointment follows Youngkin having already declared his intention to remove Virginia from the 11 state regional cap and trade system in the Northeast for GHGs. He may be blocked from doing that, and Wheeler may face a problem getting approved by the VA Senate. But Youngkin will take office a week from now, and his views on the environment are now clear.
Many Republicans look to him as a model for how to win in the future: throw enough carefully selected red meat to the Trumpian base, while also carefully nodding to more moderate policies aimed at appealing to independent suburban women, the apparent key swing voters. So it is curious to see what this politician, who might well end up in the future on a national GOP ticket, chooses to throw to whom.
Two areas where he threw meat to the base were on abortion and guns, areas where the last two years of Dem domination of both the executive and legislature in VA led to modest liberalizing changes. The base wants those rolled back to what was there before. However, since his election, it has become clear that Youngkin is not going to do anything, or not much anyway, on either of these hot button items, which might upset some of those centrist suburban women. Not only that but he would almost certainly find any effort to change any laws regarding these issues being blocked in the still Dem-controlled Senate.
But on the environment, he is clearly taking the hard line. It is not immediately obvious why. This is an issue that could potentially upset those nice centrist suburban women. And while the Trumpist base tends to think the climate change issue is yet another hoax, it is not one of those red meat issues that gets them chanting wildly at Trump rallies.
In fact I think Youngkin is showing his deeper identity as an old country club Republican. He is a billionaire and used to run the Carlyle Group. Heck, George H.W. Bush used to work for/with that outfit a long time ago, although I do not think Youngkin has or ever had any connection with the Bushes. But this is the gang, and these are big money interests he comes from. Certain parts of those big money interests, especially those involved in the energy scctor, especially the fossil fuel part of it. Thus we see this old anti-environmentalist former coal lobbyist being appointed.
I shall close by noting one other development today, one area where he does seem to be throwing red meat to the worst of the Trump base in a way that really will hurt the citizens of the state. He is joining the suit to block the vaccine mandate of Biden on businesses, now at the SCOTUS. And the outgoing governor, Douglas Northam, has been the only stae governor who is an MD. He will be missed on these policies.
Barkley Rosser
Incoming Virginia Governor Youngkin Goes All In Anti-Environment ?
well so far on what record one of his appointees has, it doesnt look like keeping the environment safe for humans is high his list of things to be done
well, i think the anti-environmentalists will do more harm than Covid.
or foreign terrorists
or domestic terrorists
or the laws we enact to protect ourselves from them.
Cobertly,
Let’s not forget that they are only anti-environmentalists because we are environmentalists. They only wanted to monetize natural resources with no regards to environmental impacts on sustainability or poisoning those of us who live and rely on those resources for basic sustenance. We have made some improvements on industrial pollution since offshoring, but our marine seafood harvesting has been on the verge of collapse now for over half a century. Drinking water in urban areas is now less bad here than many other states, but rural wells can be less pristine. Aquaculture has provided some relief for the most valuable table critters such as oysters and striped bass and shrimp, although VA was never as much of a shrimp state as NC.
In any case, have a great year and enjoy life, which we must know is precious and short.
Ron
true enough, but maybe not enough. they have always been anti-environment,,,for ten thousand years. they are only anti-environmentalist because a few people have been trying to point out that they are destroying what supports our life on earth…and all of what makes life worth living…and we are running out of options. They don’t care about the running out..they simply cannot think that way, cannot let themselves think that way, because “winning” and “profit” are the only things they understand.
despite the often claimed “creativity” of capitalism, these people would be unable to cope with any serious change in the way they do business, and they know that.
and the sad thing, is that those of us on the Left think we can beat them without making any changes in our own expected “standard of living” (which means keeping things the way they are for us: money, plastic toys, and fast cars.)
Coberly,
We are in complete agreement on the facts, but my semantics reflects my own blend of sarcasm and cynicism. I will look for an online article about our deal with the menhaden trawlers and post a link below.
Given Virginia’s track record on environmental issues, then the Youngkin administration will fit the trend, just another SNAFU in the long list of abuses to water quality in our streams and estuaries and over-harvesting seafood. I am sure that the menhaden trawlers are celebrating.
I will post a list of links to articles about Omega Protein exceeding their cap on menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay because that is all that I could find. How Governor Northam resolved this problem without closing their Reedville, VA fleet and processing plant is no where to be found. A deal was struck. Instead of losing all those jobs in Reedville, VA, Northam got Omega Protein to increase employment in Reedville by moving the Omega Protein corporate headquarters from Houston, TX to Reedville, VA. There is no need for environmentalists to go to war with industrial destroyers because a political solution can always be found :<)
[List of links to articles about Omega Protein exceeding their cap on menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay because that is all that I could find. How Governor Northam resolved this problem without closing their Reedville, VA fleet and processing plant is no where to be found. A deal was struck. Instead of losing all those jobs in Reedville, VA, Northam got Omega Protein to increase employment in Reedville by moving the Omega Protein corporate headquarters from Houston, TX to Reedville, VA. There is no need for environmentalists to go to war with industrial destroyers because a political solution can always be found :<) ]
https://www.seafoodsource.com/news/supply-trade/omega-protein-signals-intention-to-exceed-chesapeake-bay-menhaden-cap
Omega Protein signals intention to exceed Chesapeake Bay menhaden cap By Chris Chase
September 13, 2019
https://www.wvtf.org/news/2019-09-17/omega-protein-exceeds-menhaden-cap-for-chesapeake-bay
Omega Protein Exceeds Menhaden Cap for Chesapeake Bay
RADIO IQ | By Pamela D’Angelo
Published September 17, 2019 at 3:30 PM EDT
Virginia at risk of sanctions after Omega announces it will exceed menhaden cap
By: Sarah Vogelsong– October 29, 2019 12:09 am
Fisheries regulator worried about Omega Protein exceeding Bay quota
Sep 14, 2021
Omega Protein Exceeds Limit, Keeps Harvesting
The Canadian menhaden-reduction operator says it has exceeded the catch cap set by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in the Chesapeake Bay but will continue harvesting pogies anyway.
September 16, 2019
https://www.dailypress.com/news/environment/dp-nw-menhaden-20210912-ajxho2epmzgnnahy7lkpzwshte-story.html
Northern Neck company harvesting menhaden is nearing its quota, Virginia fisheries regulator warns
By Dave Ress
Daily Press |
Sep 12, 2021 at 11:05 AM
* [I believe in intelligent design. NO, not when it comes to the creation of the universe. No higher intelligence could have been responsible for the creation of this mess. I believe that the maintenance of news worthy articles on the Internet with an eye to avoiding political contradictions is intelligently designed to preserve the reputations of the duly anointed partisans of the partisans by the partisans for the partisans; people can just be damned.]
wow. i believe the solution to this would be jail for the corporate decision makers..and i am no great believer in jail. but we do seem to have a new democratic idea: corporations and politicians can break the law with impunity. it’s all about “freedom,: don’t you see.
so what are “the people” doing about this?
(and a word for Intelligent Design: don’t assume the Designer was designing a rose garden. He may have been designing something like a boot camp…with live ammo. any intelligent designer worth his engineering license would have been able to invent evolution if it suited his Purpose.. which we have to hope was not benevolent sadism.)
Coberly,
I would not rule out “benevolent sadism” as the creator’s central theme or purpose, ironic and just, all in one. Made me grin at my own chagrin.
To give credit where credit is due, then Northam showed some kahunas in dealing with Covid-19. Virginia state employees as of September 1, 2021 had to show proof of vaccination for Covid-19 to keep their jobs (with the standard list of exceptions). Youngkin will withdraw that requirement, which is likely to slow the wheels of state government administration. I got my tax forms ordered today from the state while the mandate was still in effect. I do not expect my state tax refund much before the end of this year though.
I understand the employment problem for Reedville. I do not understand why, after all this time mulling over that problem, that no one has found a replacement industry to take up the employment slack created by the closure of Omega Protein. I would have made a sweet deal with a custom boat finisher to build made to order layouts over the readily available supply of Chesapeake Bay deadrise hulls that are built for work boats all around this region. The work boats are each finished from the base hull to fit their application. Extending that process to fishing boats is a gold mine waiting to be dug. Reedville is already the base for Tangier Island cruises, which would be a base for extending ecotourism in the region. Package charter and headboats with room and board. There is little that the state could do in those directions of course, but state tax moratoriums for regional commercial development would be warranted to offset a important regulatory business closure.
ron
semantics aside, my cynicism is bigger than your cynicism. i keep falling for politicians who unexpectedly do something “good.” i have to kick myself to remember that that is part of their game… good cop bad cop in one person. no one would go to a casino if there were never any big winners.
i think it may be humanly impossible for “the people” to change anything, even in a democracy. the only hope is that “the rich” will realize they are in the same boat and find a way to “lead” us to some level of sanity before it is too late. and that is a very weak hope.
but i shouldn’t say that out loud, because it may only be the noise of the “protestors” that can bring their attention to the problem.
you will note that puts me in the enviable position of being “a shill for the rich.” you can imagine what that does to my credibility on a Leftish blog.
i have mentioned it too many times already, but I just read an easy book “The Premonition”
by Michael Lewis, which describes the effort to build a pandemic prevention plan in the U.S. Since we know how that turned out, I wuldn’t be spoiling the surprise if I told you how the book ends, but it seems to me to describe very well “how things work”, or don’t.
and..to take a violent turn toward another, ongoing, thread on AB… why blaming the Framers for the Left losing elections amounts to “blaming history” for the way we are..
Oh, someting for the protesters to think about: shouting hey, hey, ho, ho, will not give anyone any idea how to fix the problem. someone needs to think it through honestly. there seems to be some chance that there are enough geniuses lurking inside “the system” to have a chance of changing the outcome.
Coberly,
Yep, agreed. Michael Lewis is usually a good read.
I hope Youhgkin and his new guy do not mess up the multi-state agreements on Chesapeake Bay.
Also, another area Youngkin not looking good is vaccine mandates. Looks like he wants to relax them and is joining lawsuit against Biden’s one on businesses over 100 employees. I note Northam has been the only governor with an MD. He will be missed on more than one count.
Barkley,
Yes sir, agreed.
Also, I must credit Northam with getting menhaden catch limits out of legislative hands and put under regulatory powers of VMRC. I have come to gradually respect CBF more than I did over a decade ago when they were more fluff than firm foundation, but VMRC has played its hand as well as allowed by the state for as long as I have been involved.
Barkley,
Either the good news or the bad news about Youngkin’s Covid-19 response, depending upon PoV, is that Northam did good enough that unless a new horrible variant comes along soon then Youngkin’s mistakes will be largely irrelevant, at least in most of VA. E.g., Youngkin is dropping state mandates, but not disallowing them by private employers or school districts. From where I sit then Omicron has been a great teacher, touching everyone while killing off only the reckless or highly vulnerable. It could have been far worse, with a lot more dying. The peak will be over soon. That is the good news. The bad news is that Northam did such a good job that Youngkin will end up getting credit where none is due him.