Watch This (cough, cough) Swing (cough)

There has been an ongoing air quality problem in the North Texas area, which the worst administration ever solved to its satisfaction by ending EPA responsibility. That is to say that EPA had its authority removed, and compliance with standards made a matter of self-reporting by industry. Since that time, EPA has been converted into a business-compliant agency like all the members of the executive branch. Now it has approved an environmental plan for Dallas/Ft. Worth that exactly replicates a plan previously rejected.

There is some comfort in the befouling of the air, if the same cretin in chief who engineered that irresponsibility really is planning, as he said, to retire here. Breathing in his own poisons sounds like a fitting end. I don't believe it, though - the Eagles' Nest in Paraguay sounds more likely to me, as long as it has no extradition agreement with the Hague.

Meanwhile, breathing in Dallas/Ft. Worth has been rendered more dangerous for its residents.

Environmental and public health groups contend that the EPA should have stuck with its initial conclusion that the plan does not go far enough in reducing air pollution from vehicles, industries and other sources.

The EPA could have rejected the plan outright, forcing the state to redraft it. If that happened, however, administrative moves by the state might have postponed some clean-air measures for up to three years. "Delay, delay and delay," Mr. Greene said. "The time to move forward is now."

He said the EPA's discussions with the state environmental commission produced better estimates of how much pollution the plan would cut. The plan would order some new cuts in industrial emissions, but not as deep as environmentalists demanded.
(snip)
But Dr. Al Armendariz, a Southern Methodist University environmental engineering professor who has done a technical analysis of the state's plan, said it is still fatally flawed. He predicted ozone levels would still exceed federal limits by the 2010 target date.

"They just recalculated the emissions and didn't put any new emissions reductions in the plan," Dr. Armendariz said. "That's what's so frustrating."

An outright rejection by the EPA would have sent a signal to Texas politicians and businesses that the agency is serious about requiring stronger clean-air measures, he said. "What is it that ... [the EPA] is really afraid of?"

The fear of business is epidemic in N. Texas, where the rights of individuals are put very far behind the interests of business in priorities. It's a fear that means raising children and growing old here is going to be increasingly hazardous to your health.

That isn't all bad. The same perpetrators of crimes against the people should suffer the effects of their crimes. Breathe deep, won't you, temporal White House occupant and minions?

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Meanwhile a staffer to Sen. Cornyn has been outed for trolling in behalf of the campaign using a false name.

This story confirms a suspicion I've had, along with other commenters at websites like Eschaton, that some of the talking points our trolls spout are from paid dissident voices. Having the kind of time many trolls seem to have really indicates they have a position that includes gathering info from the opposition. The troll comments also often seem so devoid of normal mindsets that they have to come from extremists in the right wing. This news is hardly surprising.

"That's unethical at best," Glazer explained to KVUE-TV in Austin, "because he was trying to do it as a paid staffer for the campaign. ... Buck Smith time and again comes in, makes fun of people, challenges them to a duel."

A Cornyn spokesperson, asked by Burnt Orange Report for comment, responded sarcastically, "I am shocked...next thing I know you'll be saying the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus aren't real either."

Typical of high ethical standards of the GoPervs.