Pro
Corruption, pro Pollution deregulation by the new SWAMP DWELLERS –
U.S.
House axes rules to prevent corruption, pollution
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By Lisa Lambert
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
Two major U.S. rules
aimed at curbing corruption and pollution in the energy sector may be entirely
wiped from the books by next week, after the Republican-led House of
Representatives on Wednesday voted to repeal them.
The Senate is expected
to take up repealing the rules, both of which were years in the making, as soon
as Thursday.
Under the virtually
untested Congressional Review Act, the Republican-led Congress can vote to
permanently undo newly minted regulations. Agencies cannot revisit overturned
regulations and timing in the law means any regulation enacted in the Obama
administration's final months are eligible for axing.
Required by the 2010
Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, the Securities and Exchange Commission's
"extraction rule" was approved this summer to require companies such
as Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp to publicly state the taxes and other fees
they pay to governments.
Exxon, and other major
energy corporations, fought for years to keep the rule from seeing the light of
day. After a series of legal battles the SEC in June 2016 finally
completed the rule, which supporters say can help expose questionable financial
ties U.S. companies may have with foreign governments.
During Wednesday's
debate, Representative Maxine Waters, the senior Democrat on the House
Financial Services Committee, raised concerns that Exxon's CEO during those
fights was Rex Tillerson, just confirmed in the top diplomatic post of
Secretary of State. During Tillerson's confirmation hearings, he raised
Democrats' hackles by saying he did not know Exxon lobbied against U.S.
sanctions on Russia, where he did business for years.
Republicans say the
rule is burdensome and costly for energy companies, and also duplicates other
long-standing regulations.
On the House floor
Republican Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, called
the rule part of "a radical leftist elitist agenda against carbon-based
jobs."
The stream buffer rule is
intended to lessen the amount of waste from mountain-top removal coal mining
deposited in local waterways.
Republican lawmakers,
though, say it is hurting coal jobs by placing unworkable limits on the
industry. Democrats, on the other hand, say it cuts down on water pollution.
Republicans consider
loosening regulation as high a priority as dismantling the Affordable Care Act
and rewriting the tax code, according to Kevin McCarthy, the second most
powerful Republican in the House.
On Thursday, the House
will vote on repealing three other rules - on methane on public lands, expanding background checks for some gun purchases, and
requiring federal contractors to post information on their workers. I’ll bet those on the Terrorist No Fly list will like
this!!!
In recent weeks, the
House has also passed bills to slow down regulatory processes and President
Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, has issued executive orders trying to shrink
the government bureaucracy.
(Reporting by Lisa Lambert, additional
reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
Another
defeat for clean air, safe water, and for corruption!
Buy water filter kits, face masks,
and clothespins for your noses. It’s getting stinky.
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