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The "I Have Zero Faith In Humanity" Thread

syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
SCOTUS sides with terrorist power plant industry, says that profits matter more than thousands of lives and over a hundred billion of dollars in health costs (compared to 9.6 billion in industry costs). 2 9-11s every year - American lives don't matter, corporate profits do:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/06/29/418557691/supreme-court-blocks-obama-administration-plan-on-power-plant-emissions

In a 5-4 decision, the court sided with industry and 23 states that challenged the Environmental Protection Agency over the rules for oil- and coal-fired utilities, which the EPA estimated would cost $9.6 billion dollars annually.
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"The regulations have been in the works for nearly two decades. Work on them began in the Clinton administration, got derailed in the George W. Bush administration, and then were revived and adopted in the Obama administration.

"The regulations were subsequently upheld by a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., last year.

"They stem from 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, which ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to expedite limits on power plant emissions of mercury and 188 other dangerous air pollutants.

"Mercury is considered one of the most toxic pollutants because studies show that when it falls from the atmosphere, it readily passes from fish and other sources to a pregnant woman's unborn fetus and the fetal brain, causing neurological abnormalities and delays in children. The EPA estimated that 7 percent of American women of childbearing age — millions of women — were being exposed to the pollutant in dangerous amounts."
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http://www.rmi.org/RFGraph-health_effects_from_US_power_plant_emissions

A 2010 study by the Clean Air Task Force estimated that air pollution from coal-fired power plants accounts for more than 13,000 premature deaths, 20,000 heart attacks, and 1.6 million lost workdays in the U.S. each year. The total monetary cost of these health impacts is over $100 billion annually.
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Regulations were working in reality and would've save American lives and billions of dollars:

http://www.catf.us/fossil/problems/power_plants/

Using the most recent emissions data, in this 2014 study, CATF examines the continued progress towards cleaning up one of the nation's leading sources of air pollution. This latest report finds that over 7,500 deaths each year are attributable to fine particle pollution from U.S. power plants. This represents a dramatic reduction in power plant health impacts from the previous studies.

This reduction reflects improvements due to a variety of federal and state regulatory and enforcement initiatives that CATF has supported, including the Mercury and Air Toxics Rule (MATS) and the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and the active enforcement of existing regulations such as New Source Review (NSR). Since 2004, these measures have dropped Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) pollution by 68% and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) by 55%, the leading components of fine particle pollution. This was achieved through the near doubling of the amount of scrubbers (the technology used for reducing SO2 pollution) installed at power plants and additional retirements of coal capacity. Yet, despite this progress, some in the power industry and several recalcitrant states persist in trying to overturn the MATS and CSAPR regulations in court and reverse this life-saving trend.

Our 2004 study showed that power plant impacts exceeded 24,000 deaths a year, but by 2010 that had been reduced to roughly 13,000 deaths due to the impact that state and federal actions were beginning to have. The updated study shows that strong regulations that require stringent emission controls can have a dramatic impact in reducing air pollution across the country, saving lives, and avoiding a host of other adverse health impacts. The study also shows regrettably that some areas of the country still suffer from unnecessary levels of pollution from power plants that could be cleaned up with the application of proven emission control technologies.
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Instead of the industry paying the true cost of doing business, the US taxpayer pays, along with their family lives and increasing pressure on the US healthcare system:

"In a dissent, Justice Elena Kagan noted that EPA conducted a “formal cost-benefit study” later, when setting specific emissions standards, and “found that the quantifiable benefits of its regulation would exceed the costs up to nine times over -- by as much as $80 billion each year. Those benefits include as many as 11,000 fewer premature deaths annually, along with a far greater number of avoided illnesses.”

“EPA’s power plant regulation would be unreasonable if the agency gave cost no thought at all,” Kagan wrote. “But that is just not what happened here.”
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syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
stevew said:
the supreme court can't give barry everything he wants.....
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It wasn't his idea. This decision will cost the US taxpayer money and lives - the power industry is stealing their profits by passing off the true cost of doing business to everyone else via their want of unregulated pollution:

The regulations have been in the works for nearly two decades. Work on them began in the Clinton administration, got derailed in the George W. Bush administration, and then were revived and adopted in the Obama administration.
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stevew

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
41,256
10,171
syadasti said:
It wasn't his idea. This decision will cost the US taxpayer money and lives - the power industry is stealing their profits by passing off the true cost of doing business to everyone else via their want of unregulated pollution:
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i was kidding.
 
slyfink

slyfink

Turbo Monkey
Sep 16, 2008
9,834
5,667
Ottawa, Canada
fvck. Syadatsi, you make me depressed. Well not you, but what you post. ugh.

I was coming to post this, but now it seems not funny anymore:

A 10-year-old boy will need stitches after he was stabbed in the head by another young boy Monday afternoon at Little Ray's Reptile Zoo, according to the wildlife centre's owner.

It happened at about 2:30 p.m. on the first of a week-long wildlife and nature summer camp at the zoo in south Ottawa.

Ottawa police responded and said the boy suffered injuries that were not life threatening.

"Two of them got in a fight," said Paul Ray Goulet on Monday afternoon. "Just a little scuffle and one [of the boys] picked up a pair of craft scissors and struck the other one with them, and one of the kids is ... needing a couple of stitches."

The 11-year-old boy who stabbed the 10-year-old isn't being invited back to the camp, Goulet said.

"The child who was hurt certainly would be invited back ... Obviously for the other kids at our camp, in their best interest, the one who was responsible for the incident obviously won't be allowed to return to the camp."
 
Toshi

Toshi

butthole powerwashing evangelist
Oct 23, 2001
40,064
8,969
The EPA will make a new round of regulations and do the cost-benefit analysis first. Then it'll hold up. It will just delay things a few years, and change like this is glacial anyway. If the utility companies are smart they'll see the writing on the wall + the economic advantage of not using coal in the face of cheap natural gas and will continue to gradually make their plants cleaner.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
Well who wins 2016 will really matter for future Supreme Court appointments. We still have no solution for Citizens United. Funding cuts for vital NASA and NOAA research so we're likely past the point of no return. How many years has it been since there's been adequate public funds for gun safety research? The thousands of lives that have been waiting and billions we could save matter more.

Should we wait years after they attack the Endangered Species Act, Clean Water/Air Act, etc etc. These agencies have been underfunded and overwhelmed for decades now and many of their priorities don't have time for politics, these are pressing scientific realities that need immediate attention.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/07/29/climate_change_new_bill_in_congress_would_de_emphasize_noaa_climate_funding.html

http://www.audubonaction.org/site/News2?abbr=aa_&page=NewsArticle&id=6323
 
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syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
stevew said:
whoopi goldberg does not agree.
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Hill might be a bit better choice for meaningful social commentary than a comedian, IDK?

Dr. Hill is a Distinguished Professor of African American Studies at Morehouse College. Prior to that, he held positions at Columbia University and Temple University.

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syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
stevew said:
or pay....

i have a digital subscription to bike......i'm out of bookshelf space.
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IMBA member comes with free digital subscriptions often - I forget what since I don't look at digital subscription services even if they're free. This is the Internet.
 
stevew

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
41,256
10,171
syadasti said:
IMBA member comes with free digital subscriptions often - I forget what since I don't look at digital subscription services even if they're free. This is the Internet.
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i gave up on bit torrents.
 
syadasti

syadasti

i heart mac
Apr 15, 2002
12,690
290
VT
stevew said:
i gave up on bit torrents.
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What's that have to do with free paid digital subscriptions that come with IMBA membership or the fact that almost all popular publications lack a paywall other than maybe newspapers and random overhyped magazines or random content of limited value. They all still get ad revenue and do their best do track you and sell your information either way.

Bike has a free coverage on the web too you know?

http://www.bikemag.com

Paying extra at any all you can eat buffet is pointless, information overload either way.
 
Westy

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
56,260
22,289
Sleazattle
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