From salmon to fracking to wild life refuge drilling, Trump very consistent! Now add platics:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/14/politics ... index.html
(CNN)President Donald Trump is all about plastics, arguing his support for it sets him apart from Democrats, trolling them for their environmental concerns and pushing any blame for too much of the stuff onto China.
But Trump's plastics boosterism comes at a time when corporate America -- from Google to Coca-Cola and beyond -- is trying to appear more in line with environmentalists, at least attempting to associate their names with less plastic and more recycling.
It's the latest in a very long line of examples of progressive change in the era of Trump being driven not just from outside the White House, but in spite of it.
Trump took personal credit Tuesday for a new plastic manufacturing plant being built by Royal Dutch Shell in Pennsylvania. Never mind that it had been planned since 2012 and built with the promise of more than $1 billion in tax credits from state taxpayers. That didn't stop Trump from using it to push Pennsylvanians to support his reelection.
"Virtually every leading Democrat has vowed to eliminate fossil fuels," he said, overstating the calls by Democrats to pursue renewable energy and address climate change. He asked Pennsylvanians to "get out there and make sure we win."
The plant will use a byproduct of fracking to produce pellets used in the production of many many different kinds of plastic, including those that make cars lighter and more fuel efficient and in wind turbines, a point the Trump administration has echoed. Further reading: The New York Times documented how the plant is part of a larger effort to bring manufacturing jobs to the Rust Belt, and the Pittsburgh TV station WTAE published a fascinating investigation that used customs records to determine that tens of thousands of tons of foreign steel was used to construct the plant despite the abundance of steel in Steeler country.
"You must be aware of all the reports that say the world is awash in plastic and the last thing it needs is more plastic," a reporter said. " What's your feeling on that?"
His answer was to blame China, but also to make clear that in his mind, plastics are OK.
"Well, we have tremendous plastics coming over from Asia, from China, and various others," he said. "It's not our plastic. It's plastic that's floating over in the ocean and the various oceans from other places. No, plastics are fine, but you have to know what to do with them. But other countries are not taking care of their plastic use and they haven't for a long time. And the plastic that we're getting is floating across the ocean from other places, including China."
Trump actually does have an anti-plastic waste accomplishment he could point to. He signed a bipartisan bill to combat garbage and plastic in the ocean, the Save Our Seas Act. At the event where he signed it, however, he managed to not utter the word "plastic."
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Said Peter...what you're requesting just isn't my bag
Said Daemon, who's sorry too, but y'see we didn't have no choice
And our hands they are many and we'd be of one voice
We've come all the way from Wigan to get up and state
Our case for survival before it's too late
Turn stone to bread, said Daemon Duncetan
Turn stone to bread right away...