From Government Accountability & Oversight
WEBEDITOR
Readers may recall this failure to disclose by EPA air office nominee Joseph Goffman, architect of the overturned Obama-Biden Clean Power Plan who is back at it now in the Biden administration — despite the record suggesting his own actions and disregard for the law are such that he should be nowhere near any such authority, or even in the building.
EPA under “Law Whisperer” Goffman has operated as an egregious scofflaw following its slap down by the U.S. Supreme Court in West Virginia v. EPA, proceeding with Goffman’s planned and now inarguably impermissible “backdoor” or “law whispering” strategy — imposing the climate agenda in the absence of any such grant of congressional grant of authority via a “suite of rules” intended to cause regulated parties to rethink their resistance.
E&E News reports Goffman is now under scrutiny for other possible lapses.
GAO humbly submits the allegation at issue there pales in comparison to that already reported on but, to date, left to sit without attention.
I have to say, I am completely at sea when it comes to the US legal systems and agencies.
But I can recognise the direction of travel at least. And at every turn science is used and abused for all the wrong reasons
“Air pollution ‘aged’ hospital Covid patients by 10 years, study shows”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/21/air-pollution-aged-hospital-covid-patients-by-10-years-study-shows
We are in the midst of a battle in London where the Mayor wants to introduce an arbitrary charge on cars older than registration in 2006 Great idea some might say, but all vehicles have to pass the mandatory MOT test, which tests – and fails on – emissions.
The Mayor needs money – very badly, to refill TfL’s coffers.
If you are against ULEZ expansion (ignore cost of living etc) then you want people to die.
But as we all know, that’s just dark rhetoric, designed to induce feelings of guilt…..
and what will be a side effect of ULEZ….
Social isolation raises risk of early death by 32%, new study finds
The Express
Another story somewhere linked isolation/loneliness with Covid deaths.
via lockdown not least.
Is it ‘just unfortunate’, some sort of Really Bad Mistake or are they setting out to deliberately kill?
Anyway: this is nice from GB News
Net Zero Madness
And in the Supreme Court we have a numpty backed by FoE and Greenpeace trying to make matters worse
reply to Strativarius. Unfortunately that’s not the end of it. Next comes Road User Charging which will use all those nicely installed cameras (those that haven’t been vandalised) to charge EVERY vehicle a fee for using the roads. Rumours are that TFL (Transport for London) has already started to advertise for RUC (Road User Charging) managers. The future looks great
Oh I am aware of the possibilities…
“Sadiq Khan plots to use Ulez cameras for future ‘pay-as-you-drive’ scheme
Road user pricing plans are being lined up to replace current charges, but there are concerns it would lead to additional costs for drivers”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/04/sadiq-khan-plots-use-ulez-cameras-future-pay-as-you-drive-scheme/
Of course – if you know London – you know it isn’t going to work. The number of cameras needed….
“The number of cameras needed….” Well it’s not as if they’ve been using them to stop knife crime or other serious criminal activity, is it?
At least EVs also “Use the Road” and should be subjected to the same fees
How much does an 8W handheld laser cost? Asking for a friend.
Sure, the Biden Administration, also the Carter, Clinton, and Obama Administrations, weaponized the EPA, along with other Federal Agencies, such as FBI, DOJ, IRS, etc, but, just as Whistleblowers came forward for the others, there will be Whistleblowers from the EPA. The tell-all book I’m waiting for is from inside the Biden Whitehouse, naming who writes all of those things Biden struggles to read (whomever that is they were not elected).
Anyone who attempts to write and publish such a tell-all book will find themselves frog-marched into a windowless black van, and wisked off to the “re-education camp” run by the Department of JustUs.
… never to be seen again.
It will be a ‘clintonicide’, twice shot in the back of the head by his/her own hand and then jumped to his/her death from a ground floor window just to make sure.
After all that, what was his supposed ethics lapse?
Are you claiming people of the green persuasion have an ethical, as opposed to an ideological, approach?
There is a lot of bluster here about Goffman being under scrutiny for an ethical lapse. But it never says what that was.
This incident is about him violating Joe Biden’s ethics pledge by having extensive contact with an outside group with a vested interest in EPA regulations.
And not for the first time either, although those other incidents are unlikely to be looked at.
What was that outside group?
It was officials of a Harvard University group seeking some input into Mercury concentrations, I think. The important issue (to the ethics committee) is that Goffman was previously employed by Harvard (executive director) and the ethics pledge, which Goffman signed, prohibits all contact with a previous employer. Whilst the flagrant breach of ethics is paramount to the ethics committee, it would be very interesting (and relevant) to find out why Harvard wanted to meet with him and whether it was for the same reason as previous instances (imposition of regulations by default, not approved regulatory process).
Perhaps if you had actually read the article, you would already know that.
Using the George Wallace playbook in responding to losing a Supreme Court case, for one.
Nick,
The above article states,
The “suite of ruels” link takes one to a WSJ article that talks about EPA rules that impose a carbon capture requirement on power plants. This is the sort of conduct the Supreme Court found to be illegal because Congress didn’t give the EPA authority to make such sweeping changes to the economy.
It isn’t unethical to plan a lawsuit.
It is unethical for a member of the group being sued to work with the group doing the suing to “plan a lawsuit”.
It is unethical for a government department to collude with an outside plaintiff to file a lawsuit when they know that the department will “settle” the lawsuit without any involvement by the judicial system, thereby achieving the results they wanted in the first place.
It is unethical because it achieves a result that is neither sanctioned by Congress nor follows legal administrative processes for a rulemaking as required by accepted law.
According to the Clean Air Acts, NAAQS, or National Ambient Air Quality Standards, are recommended maximum allowable concentrations of six specific pollutants:
CO Carbon MONoxide
PM Particulate Matter
NO2 Nitrogen Dioxide
SO2 Sulfur Dioxide
Pb Lead
O3 Ozone
Goffman tried to “sneak in” limits on CO2, or carbon DIoxide by the NAAQS rule-making process, in order to try to force CO2 capture technology, but this was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Some rule changes to NAAQS have been successful in the past, without Congressional approval.
For example, PM limits were originally applied to particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter, commonly called PM-10. It was later determined that the smallest particles, less than 2.5 microns in diameter, can more easily enter the lungs and cause damage, so that separate (lower) limits could be applied to PM-2.5.
For the NO2 standard, it was found that NO (nitrogen oxide) can react with oxygen in the air in the presence of sunlight to produce NO2, so that the limits were applied to concentrations of both NO and NO2, commonly referred to as NOx.
The limits on lead were also extended to limits on all lead-containing compounds that can exist in the vapor phase.
But this logic cannot be applied to CO2, because it does not spontaneously react to form CO (carbon monoxide), whose emissions are regulated under NAAQS. While carbon monoxide is known to be toxic, carbon dioxide is inert for animals and humans, and beneficial to plant life.
It’s not a lapse, it is built in & continuous. He does whatever he can get away with … no ethics at all.
kind of reminds me of someone…
oh yeah,
democrats.
It’s unethical to plan an illegal lawsuit and it’s illegal to file one. But that’s not the point. It’s unethical, and stupid, to overreach the EPAs remit. Especially given that the Supreme Court already stuck down their earlier attempt at overreach. The Biden administration attempts to rule by executive fiat will keep being stuck down as unconstitutional. They think they score political points for trying, but the efforts are harmful because it takes a lot of effort to unwind the illegal moves, and that effort could be used for better purposes. The recent EPA rule that mandates carbon capture for gas plants, will slow any transition to renewables because they only economically viable backup power is gas plants.
Strange Nick caring about ethics… he never has before. !
Most things the EPA does for “climate” are immoral, unethical, and anti-science…
.. guided purely by a political/cult agenda.
As there are revolving doors between persons working for FDA, pharma companies and non-governmental organizations, I am beginning to see the same thing in the environmental space.
The above Goffman was a senior attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund early in his career, working on “market-based” approaches to address air pollution problems. Before that he worked on a Senate environmental committee. He’s transited the revolving door as well as the escalator, and hence, ethics conflicts.
Recently, a scientist from the institute where I work, entered the revolving door, and joined Environmental Defense.
It’ll never stop… Until enough realize what really is going on.
NEW – WEF Young Global Leader, Dr. Vanessa Kerry, becomes the first-ever WHO Director-General Special Envoy for “Climate Change and Health.”
Vanessa’s father, John Kerry, serves as Biden’s climate czar.
@disclosetv
A safe assumption is that any present or prospective member of the Biden administration has no ethics.
above, Nick the liar, tries to make it look better by calling it an ethics ‘lapse’.
I seem to remember people here defending Scott Pruitt who was by any standard a scoundrel. Funny how the world turns.
I didn’t. Scott Pruitt may have been a scoundrel – a fairly isolated incident. It doesn’t excuse the widespread corruption and sleaze exhibited throughout the Democrat – Biden regime though, does it?
“Scott Pruitt may have been a scoundrel – a fairly isolated incident” Isolated in what way. The Trump team was full of crooks…
Do you have any evidence of that, or is that just what you are paid to believe?
If you can read Mark …..
Below, a list of everyone in Trump’s orbit over these past five years who has run afoul of the law over these past 5 years. (They’re listed in alphabetical order by last name.)
1. Steve Bannon: Trump’s political Svengali was charged with fraud in August 2020 for a fundraising scam tied to raising dollars to build Trump’s much bally-hooed border wall. The allegation, which Bannon has denied, was that he and others involved in the We Build The Wall group used money raised to pay for lavish personal expenses.
2. Tom Barrack: Barrack was charged on seven counts. The allegations, according to the indictment, center on the idea that Barrack used his closeness to Trump to “advance the interests of and provide intelligence to the UAE while simultaneously failing to notify the Attorney General that their actions were taken at the direction of senior UAE officials.” Following Trump’s 2016 victory, Barrack asked UAE officials to provide him with a “wish list” they hoped for from the administration over the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. “The defendant is charged with acting under the direction or control of the most senior leaders of the U.A.E. over a course of years,” wrote the prosecutors of Barrack.
3. Elliott Broidy: Broidy, a top fundraiser for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, pleaded guilty in October 2020 to conducted a secret lobbying campaign in exchange for millions of dollars. As CNN’s Kara Scannell wrote at the time of his Broidy’s guilty plea: “Broidy was charged earlier this month with conspiracy for failing to register and disclose his role in a lobbying effort aimed at stopping a criminal investigation into massive fraud at a Malaysian investment fund and advocating for the removal of a Chinese billionaire living in the US.”
4. Michael Cohen: The one-time fixer for Trump, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for a series of crimes, most notably secret hush-money payments made during the final months of the 2016 presidential campaign to two women alleging affairs with Trump. The sentencing judge said that Cohen had pleaded guilty to “a veritable smorgasbord” of crimes. Cohen turned informant on Trump and, in sworn testimony in front of Congress in 2019, Cohen called Trump “a racist,” “a conman” and “a cheat” – and insisted that the president was fully aware of the hush-money payments.
5. Michael Flynn: Flynn spent a brief stint as Trump’s national security adviser before being forced to resign after he failed to disclose the depth and breadth of his contacts with Russian officials during the transition. Later that year, Flynn admitted that he had lied to the FBI about his contact with Russia and had also done work for Turkey as an unauthorized lobbyist. In early 2020, Flynn and his legal team sought to have his conviction overturned. That effort was rendered moot when Trump pardoned him in November 2020.
6. Rick Gates: Gates, deputy to the campaign chairman of Trump’s 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting Paul Manafort in concealing $75 million in foreign bank accounts. Gates turned informant for the government as part of the broader probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, and was sentenced to 45 days in jail.
7. Paul Manafort: Trump’s campaign manager for part of the 2016 presidential campaign, Manafort pleaded guilty in 2018 to on count of conspiracy against the US and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice due to attempts to tamper with witnesses – and agreed to cooperate with the ongoing Russia probe. Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in prison in 2019. Trump pardoned Manafort, who wound up serving just under two years in prison, in the final weeks of his presidency.
8. George Nader: An informal foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign, Nader cooperated heavily with special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In early 2020, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sex crimes involving minors.
9. George Papadopoulos: Papadopoulos, a relatively junior adviser to Trump’s campaign, was sentenced to 12 days in prison for lying to investigators about his contacts with individuals tied to Russia. Papadopoulos was defiant about his innocence; “The truth will all be out,” he tweeted the night before reporting to prison. “Not even a prison sentence can stop that momentum.” Trump pardoned Papadopoulos in December 2020.
10. Roger Stone: Stone spent years advising Trump although he was only formally affiliated with the 2016 campaign very briefly. He was convicted in November 2019 for lying to Congress and threatening a witness regarding his efforts for Trump’s campaign. According to the judge, Stone’s actions “led to an inaccurate, incorrect and incomplete report” from the House on Russia, WikiLeaks and the Trump campaign. Stone, and stop me if you’ve heard this one before, was pardoned by Trump in December 2020.
11. Allen Weisselberg: Earlier this month, the longtime chief financial officer for the Trump Organization was charged with tax crimes tied to perks he was given in lieu of salary. “All told, the indictment alleged, Weisselberg evaded taxes on $1.76 million in income over a period beginning in 2005 and concealed for years that he was a resident of New York City, thereby avoiding paying city income taxes,”
And how many Democrats have had their crimes and peccadilloes swept under the carpet? The list of criminal activity that has been ignored because they were on the left would drown the small number you complain about here. Either there is rule of law and everyone is treated the same or your country has become a kleptocracy with a regime kept in place by corruption and graft.
“And how many Democrats have had their crimes and peccadilloes swept under the carpet? “
Well, be specific? If they are being swept under the carpet get a decent carpet cleaner to flush them out. I’ll wait while you do it….
“the left would drown the small number you complain about here.”
Just words…. got any evidence? Even Durham came up with only one pathetic conviction for a guy who altered an email and he got probation. Mueller on the other hand got 34 individuals and three companies indicted.
“Either there is rule of law and everyone is treated the same”
There is and they are. Many of these Trump crims were convicted by Trump appointed Judges. Just like Trump appointed judges have concluded there was no election fraud.
The Biden team is run by a mob of crooks !
Every one of them, from the “big boss” downwards !
Funny how the world turns. !
“The Biden team is run by a mob of crooks !”
Well let’s see your list of Biden appointed staff who have been charged or convicted of crimes? And Hunter is not in Biden’s team.
So no list…. what a surprise….
and living rent free…
You might want to acquaint yourself with the various official investigative reports to the contrary … and your mate Shifty Schiff censured by Congress just yesterday for his blatant lying in the face of contrary evidence … much like what you are attempting.
See above for a shortened list of Trump associates who are crooks. There are more….
“You might want to acquaint yourself with the various official investigative reports to the contrary “
Got any links?
Queue up the bolds and exclamation points. But not the links…..
Isn’t some kind of ethics violation a requirement for a Brandon appointee?