President Trump donates another unsolicited amateur opinion – in poor taste – to the world:
There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2018
And outgoing California Governor Jerry Brown was understandably disturbed:
So on the way home tonight, I was reminded about Juliana v. U.S., which is the lawsuit brought by a collection of children against the United States’ fossil fuel policy. I’ve blogged about it a little bit, with the latest thread here. The plaintiff’s web site is here, under the name Our Children’s Trust; the basic gist of the lawsuit is that the Federal Government bears responsibility for our failing atmosphere, which is causing multiple ailments for the children of today, through their support for the fossil fuel industry.
The suit was brought in 2015, and both the Obama and Trump Administrations tried to have the suits thrown out, but the latest attempt has more or less failed, and a Federal Judge is now working on getting it to trial – apparently some superior court has temporarily stayed it while considering the latest gibberish from the Trump Administration, but that is not thought to have much chance of success. There’s too much history to quote here, but it sounds like the Trump Administration is virtually standing on its head, trying to get the case thrown out, or at least delayed. Given their overbalance towards profits vs environment, this shouldn’t come as a surprise.
So, Governor Brown, I know it’s in poor taste to undertake major government actions when you’re on the way out the door – but have you thought about the State of California joining this lawsuit? Perhaps we could get those absolutely filthy subsidies to the fossil fuel industry shit-canned for good. Maybe even claw-back some of those ridiculous profits.
