Trump's appointees are working hard to maximize the damage in the time they have left

[Zorro]

President Trump has never had much interest in the nuts and bolts of governing. Upon taking office, he was surprised to learn that running the U.S. government was actually harder than managing a midsize brand-licensing firm, and his inability to concentrate on the novel coronavirus can now be measured in 5.4 million infections and nearly 170,000 deaths, not to mention the resulting economic cataclysm.

Now, with just two and a half months to Election Day, he may never have had less concern for the actual work of the presidency. But don’t mistake Trump’s personal distraction for his administration falling down on the job. Because while he whiles away the hours tweeting about Fox News, the people who work for him are as industrious as ever, doing all they can to leave us with a country that is harsher, less just, more unequal and dirtier than when they found it.

If they have only a few months left, they’re going to make the most of it. When it comes to laying waste to America, these people are going to run through the tape.

Consider the latest of the administration’s efforts to despoil the environment and accelerate climate change:

• The Trump administration finalized plans Monday to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, a move that will auction off oil and gas rights in the heart of one of the nation’s most iconic wild places. Achieving a goal Republicans have sought for 40 years, it marks a capstone for an administration that has ignored calls to reduce fossil fuel consumption in the face of climate change.

• The move will allow leasing on the 1.6 million-acre coastal plain, the center of a nearly pristine wilderness home to migrating caribou and waterfowl as well as polar bears and foxes that live there year-round. It marks a major step toward reviving fossil fuel development in an area that has been untouched for three decades.

The ANWR was an issue you may have forgotten about; it’s hardly high up on the conservative agenda anymore. But Trump’s appointees didn’t forget. This follows an announcement last week that the administration would scrap limits on methane leaks, leaving it up to oil and gas companies to decide how much of the potent greenhouse gas they’d like to let seep from pipelines, wells and storage tanks.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/17/trumps-appointees-are-working-hard-maximize-damage-time-they-have-left/

[Bev54]

1. This will result in more lawsuits

He has actually not been able to do much in his efforts to destroy the environment as much of it ends up in litigation and he has been losing. This will be stuck in litigation until Biden reverses it.