With EPA Lawsuit, Environmental Groups Step Up Fight Against 'Super-Toxic Chemical Cocktail'

'Our federal regulators have again unlawfully bowed to the chemical industry,' says Center for Food Safety

A new lawsuit is challenging the EPA's approval of herbicides, with key ingredients found
in Agent Orange and Monsanto's Roundup, on farms in 15 states nationwide. (Photo: Mike
Mozart/flickr/cc)

By Nadia Prupis
A coalition of health and environmental organizations on Monday challenged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to expand the use of a new herbicide in nine states, which the groups say could endanger wildlife and public health.

The lawsuit (pdf) is the most recent step in a fight to push back against the use of the weed killer, Dow's Enlist Duo, which combines glyphosate, found in Monsanto's Roundup, and 2,4-D, the key ingredient in the infamous warfare herbicide Agent Orange.

As the coalition points out in a press release following its lawsuit, 2,4-D "has been linked to serious illnesses like Parkinson's disease, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and reproductive problems. It also threatens endangered species that reside in the approved states, like the whooping crane, the Louisiana black bear, and the Indiana bat."

In March, the research arm of the World Health Organization declared that glyphosate was a "probable" source of cancer in humans and should be considered a carcinogen.

The EPA first approved use of Enlist Duo in six states in October, but recently widened that list to include an additional nine. The 15 total states where Enlist Duo may now be used are Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

"Our federal regulators have again unlawfully bowed to the chemical industry, rather than protect our communities, land, and farms," said George Kimbrell, senior attorney for the Center for Food Safety, one of the groups challenging the EPA's decision. "We will continue to defend them vigorously."

Also in the coalition are Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Pesticide Action Network North America. The groups initially sued the EPA in October in response to its first approval, charging that the agency violated the Endangered Species Act by allowing the use of those chemicals, but the case was dismissed.

"In expanding its approval for this super-toxic chemical cocktail, EPA has shown an utter disregard for human health, our drinking water, and endangered species like the iconic whooping crane," said Lori Ann Burd, environmental health director at the Center for Biological Diversity, on Monday. "EPA has left us with no choice but to go to court."

As the coalition points out, the EPA approved Enlist Duo to address the rash of glyphosate-resistant "super weeds" infesting tens of millions of acres of U.S. farmland. But using 2,4-D to kill the weeds is nothing more than a "quick fix," the coalition said.

"Independent and USDA scientists... predict that the Enlist Duo 'crop system' will only foster resistance to 2,4-D in addition to glyphosate, continuing the GE crop pesticide treadmill," the Center for Food Safety said in a statement.

Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, senior scientist at the Pesticide Action Network North America, added, "Rural communities rely on EPA to take its job seriously... Communities across the Midwest are furious, knowing that they now face unprecedented levels of 2,4-D drift each summer."

Reprinted with permission from Common Dreams.

FCC Sets Deadline for Vote on Net Neutrality: Officials Say New Regulations Will be Decided in February

An image from a pro-net neutrality vigil at the White House on November 6, 2014. (Photo: Stephen Melkisethian/flickr/cc)

By Nadia Prupis
The Federal Communications Commission will vote on new rules and restrictions on net neutrality in February, officials said Friday.

According to a Washington Post report, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is planning to circulate a draft proposal to fellow commissioners "with an eye toward approving the measure weeks later."

At the heart of the debate is the issue of equality on the internet. Supporters of net neutrality are calling for strict rules that would prevent cable giants like Comcast and Verizon from using so-called "fast lanes" to speed up or slow down websites—and charge content providers higher rates for the privilege of faster loading times.

Opponents are pushing for looser regulations that they say would prevent overuse of bandwidth and support investments in better networks.

Although the specifics of Wheeler's proposal are still unpublished, the Post reports that "momentum has been building recently for far more aggressive regulations than Wheeler had initially proposed."

A former Comcast lobbyist, Wheeler supported ending net neutrality as recently as May of 2014, but began planning to expand the FCC's authority over internet service providers later that year—particularly as President Barack Obama continued to voice ever-growing support for stronger regulations.

Specifically, Obama called on the FCC to govern ISPs using Title II of the Communications Act, which would reclassify the internet as a public utility.

Friday's news clears up weeks of speculation over when the FCC would take its next step on net neutrality. However, as the Post explains, setting a firm meeting date so near in the future means that Wheeler "does not see the need for more public input on the benefits and drawbacks of using Title II... It also implies the FCC will not be able to avoid a showdown with Congress over net neutrality."

Bolstered by regaining control over the Senate, Republicans are expected to introduce their own legislation on net neutrality soon. The industry-backed proposal, while banning the use of fast lanes, would nonetheless avoid using Title II to reclassify the internet as a public utility.

Reprinted with permission from Common Dreams.

Obama's Sellout On Net Neutrality: Appoints Cable Industry Lobbyist to Chair FCC - FCC Promptly Votes for Chair's Proposal To Kill Net Neutrality

FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler. (Screen capture from YouTube video)

By Todd Shields and Chris Strohm
U.S. regulators advanced a proposal to let Internet-service providers led by AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. charge Web companies such as Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. to provide fast lanes for their content.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler had enough reluctant support from his two fellow Democrats to win a 3-2 preliminary vote for his proposal, which advocacy groups and Internet companies said undermines the ideal of treating Web traffic equally.

RELATED STORY: Obama Must 'Make It Right' On Net Neutrality: After He Pledged To Fight For Net Neutrality His Appointed FCC Chair Proposes Net Bias

Internet service providers like AT&T and Comcast may benefit by charging more to distribute Internet content, while Web companies that might have to pay, such as Google and Netflix Inc., are at a disadvantage.

RELATED STORY: Net-Neutrality Advocates Angered by FCC’s Planned New Rules: Obama Appointed FCC Chair Who Was A Lobbyist for the Cable and Wireless Industry

The vote opens a comment-and-review period intended to lead to a second vote and a final rule later this year. A court in January threw out open-Internet rules the FCC adopted in 2010.

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Ralph Nader Wants Liberals to Back Rand Paul — Don't Do It: A Left-Libertarian Alliance Would Hurt Liberal Goals

Ralph Nader's Left-Libertarian "alliance" idea doesn't address how such a coalition
will approach African American priority issues like racial profiling, voter suppression,
workplace discrimination, police brutality and other forms of institutional racism.
(Photo by Sage Ross)

By Bill Scher
This week, Ralph Nader returned to the political stage with a new book, Unstoppable, whose triumphant subtitle is The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State. To kick off his publicity tour, he has argued that liberals should "definitely" impeach President Barack Obama, abandon the "international militarist" Hillary Clinton, and instead embrace Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) as a possible leader of his dream coalition.

To what end? In the book, Nader writes that by marrying the Left with the libertarian Right, we can cut off government support for corporations and have "honest government," "fair taxation," and "more opportunity." Nader sees relatively low-hanging fruit in opposing "sovereignty-shredding global trade agreements, Wall Street bailouts, the overweening expansion of Federal Reserve power, and the serious intrusions of the USA PATRIOT Act against freedom and privacy." He also articulates loftier, if not fully fleshed out, aspirations to "push for environmentalism," "reform health care," and "control more of the commons that we already own"...

The Nader strategy of a permanent coalition with the libertarian Right greatly limits what liberals can accomplish. Where there is a joint desire to restrain government (end the drug war) and limit spending (stop corporate welfare), a Nader-Paul alliance can form. But you can forget about anything that involves new government regulation, higher taxes, and more spending. That would preclude big-ticket liberal priorities like capping carbon emissions, expanding anti-poverty programs, guaranteeing universal preschool, and investing in infrastructure.

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Net-Neutrality Advocates Angered by FCC’s Planned New Rules: Obama Appointed FCC Chair Who Was A Lobbyist for the Cable and Wireless Industry

FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler. (Screen capture from YouTube video)

President Obama Sold Us Out Again: Obama appointed an FCC Chairman who was a lobbyist for the cable and wireless industry - placing a fox in charge of the hen house. Wheeler was inducted into both the Cable Television and Wireless Halls of Fame for his work in promoting the growth of those industries. —Ronald David Jackson

By Sam Gustin

Internet service providers could strike special deals with Internet companies like Netflix or Skype for preferential treatment, under proposals by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler, violating the ideal of equal access for all consumers

The Federal Communications Commission plans to propose new rules that would allow Internet service providers to charge content companies for preferential treatment over the “last mile” to users, according to multiple reports, in a blow for advocates of “Net neutrality,” the principle that consumers should have equal access to content available on the Internet.

The proposed rules, which are being circulated among the five FCC commissioners, come three months after a federal court struck down the agency’s 2010 Open Internet Order. After details of the proposal leaked out Wednesday evening, Net-neutrality advocates reacted with anger, with some claiming the new rules threaten the Internet’s traditionally free and open culture...

Net-neutrality advocates argue that Internet startups might not be able to afford to pay for such special treatment, potentially stifling innovation on the Internet, which has spawned one of the greatest periods of technological development in U.S. history, generating hundreds of billions of dollars in economic growth.

“The FCC is inviting ISPs to pick winners and losers online,” Michael Weinberg, vice president at Public Knowledge, a Washington-based consumer-advocacy group, said in a statement. “This is not Net neutrality. This standard allows ISPs to impose a new price of entry for innovation on the Internet.”

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Documents Show Wall Street Deregulation That Helped Smash The Global Economy Was Secretly Pushed by Clinton Advisers — Many of Whom Infiltrated The Obama Administration

John Podester was one of the Wall Street moles in the Clinton Administration who
pushed for banking "reforms" that ultimately helped shatter the global economy. The
policies he advocated made his friends richer and impoverished millions. Podester
would go on to work in the Obama Administration. (Screen capture from YouTube
video)

By Dan Roberts
Wall Street deregulation, blamed for deepening the banking crisis, was aggressively pushed by advisers to Bill Clinton who have also been at the heart of current White House policy-making, according to newly disclosed documents from his presidential library.

The previously restricted papers reveal two separate attempts, in 1995 and 1997, to hurry Clinton into supporting a repeal of the Depression-era Glass Steagall Act and allow investment banks, insurers and retail banks to merge.

A Financial Services Modernization Act was passed by Congress in 1999, giving retrospective clearance to the 1998 merger of Citigroup and Travelers Group and unleashing a wave of Wall Street consolidation that was later blamed for forcing taxpayers to spend billions bailing out the enlarged banks after the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

The White House papers show only limited discussion of the risks of such deregulation, but include a private note which reveals that details of a deal with Citigroup to clear its merger in advance of the legislation were deleted from official documents, for fear of it leaking out...

[One such adviser, John] Podester, currently works at the White House as special adviser to President Barack Obama. [Gene] Sperling stood down as director of Obama's National Economic Council last month.

Along with [Bo] Cutter, who worked on Obama's transition committee, all three men were close allies of Rubin, who spearheaded the deregulation of Wall Street before joining the board of Citigroup in 1999. In 2007, he briefly became its chairman.

The closeness of Obama's team to the deregulation policies of the late 1990s is well known and has been criticized by campaigners as a reason for the current administration's reluctance to institute more aggressive Wall Street reforms after the banking crash.

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