New EPA Administor

Yesterday’s News Conference in Houston:

Reporter: EPA Administrator—“Do you believe Co2 is a contributor to global warming”

Pruitt "I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do, and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see. ... But we don't know that yet. ... We need to continue the debate and continue the review and the analysis."

Fact: 97 percent of Scientists say it is a major factor. There is no dispute except among the Climate deniers.

Reporter: As a follow up question do you believe an apple falling from a tree is due to the Laws of gravity?

Pruitt: “No, there is a dispute among Scientists and more study is needed”

Fact : in 1687 Newton stated “Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is directly proportional to the product of the masses of the particles and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.” No one has disputed that in over 300 plus years
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Pruitt Should stick to lawyering and leave Science to the Scientists

SCOTT PRUITT NEW EPA ADMINISTRATOR

Those of us who were EPA employers in the 1980’s remember Ann Gorsuch. She was appointed the Administrator of the Agency by President Ronald Reagan with the sole purpose of dismantling EPA. Ann Gorsuch slashed EPA’s budget by 22 percent and aggressively rolled back clean air and clean water rules and other protections. In the first year of the Reagan administration, there was a 79 percent decline in the number of enforcement cases filed from regional offices to EPA headquarters, and a 69 percent decline in the number of cases filed from the EPA to the Department of Justice. She cut the total number of agency employees, and hired staff from the industries they were supposed to be regulating.

In 1982, Congress charged that the EPA had mishandled the $1.6 billion toxic waste Superfund and demanded records from Gorsuch. She refused and became the first agency director in U.S. history to be cited for contempt of Congress. In those days Congress had a backbone and had the courage to face down the President who claimed she need not turn over the documents citing Executive Privilege. In the end she had to resign her position after 22 months as Administrator.

Today Scott Pruitt was confirmed by the Senate to become EPA’s Administrator. He has the same mandate from President Trump as Anne Gorsuch had from President Reagan. This Congress has no backbone so I fear the worst for our Environment.

BOSTON HARBOR 1969

Boston Harbor before the Cleanup

https://vimeo.com/174398217e

JAPANESE TOILETS

Someone asked me the other day whether I had encountered any Japanese toilets when I was in Japan. In the Hotels I stayed in Tokyo and Osaka we had western style toilets. However in the offices were we met our Japanese Engineer counterparts, there were only Eastern style toilets. Was there privacy? did you manage?, was there toilet paper?--- these were some of the  questions that were thrown my way. Fortunately I never had to use these in the way that would require that I needed to squat.

On the bullet trains between Tokyo and Osaka most of the Toilets were of the Eastern variety. There was one car that had a Western style privy. The Japanese never felt privacy was an issue when it came to nudity or toileting. The baths are coed and whole families engage in the enjoyment of the hot tubs.

See picture attached

50TH ANNIVERSARY

50 years ago today I made the best decision of my life when I married my sweetheart Jane-- then and now.

EPA

Yesterday, The Electoral College voted Donald Trump to be President of the United States this coming January. Judging by the selection of his Cabinet it is his intention to either eliminate or emasculate many of the Federal Agencies that protect us as Citizens. One Agency in particular concerns me—the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

I joined the Agency when it was created in 1970 and spent most of my Professional Career there. I remember how things were when we started. The Nations’ air and water were in deplorable condition. Most cities were plagued by smog. People less than a mile from the huge Hollywood sign in Beverly Hills in Los Angeles could not see it. A river in Ohio literally burned in flames. Locally, the Merrimack and Nashua Rivers were cited as among the most polluted in the country and Boston Harbor---the worst harbor.

After passage of the Clean Air and Water Acts and the regulations that followed we began to see improvements. Today our cities are free of smog and most rivers and estuaries enjoy near natural conditions. Here in New England the Merrimack and Nashua Rivers and Boston harbor have returned to near pristine conditions.

I do not believe that Mr. Trump means to return our country to those old days. However, going too far with de-regulations will do exactly that. We as Citizens must keep a close watch and prevent that from happening

ELECTRIC TROLLEYS

The primary mode of public transportation in South Boston some 81 years ago when I was born was the electric trolley. We lived at the top of West Fifth St. so the closest line to us was the one that ran along Dorchester St. My mother would often take me to visit her sister in Brighton. She would deposit her nickel in the small box located near the conductor and off we would go. I travelled free because of my age. As we travelled toward Andrew Station the conductor would clang his bell when he encountered an obstruction. At Andrew the subway would take us to Park St. and then a trolley to Brighton.

The trolleys were powered by overhead wires which were connected to the car with an electric harness. Occasionally the harness became disengaged. This was particularly true at Perkins Square where the East and West Broadway lines intersected with the Dorchester line. The conductor would set the brakes, leave the car and proceed to the rear where he would set the harness on the correct line.

As I got older I would travel all over the city just for the fun of it. I loved the trolleys and subway system. I had to be careful to get off of stations that had crossovers otherwise I had to pay another nickel to return ---as I found out one day. Since I lived close to the trolley line I became accustomed to the sound of the clanging bell. After WWII the trolleys gave way to busses and the clangs replaced with annoying horns.

Several years ago while on vacation in San Francisco I stayed in Union Square along one of the Cable Car lines. Early one morning I was awakened by the clanging bell of the Cable Car. It brought me back instantly to a simpler time of my childhood.  Only then did I realize how much I missed the sound of the clanging bell.