Excellent Stargazer123 post from IHubExactly!!! You need to pay attention to what you are reading, instead of looking at it through tinted glasses. You say:
"Now cousin Henry opine [that he is against the Pebble mine] doesnt matter but 2 posts ago Wheelers 2nd in command will make all of the decisions!?!?!?"
You posted that Pebble was doomed because Wheeler had taken himself off the case. I pointed out that that didn't matter. Wheeler said that he wouldn't involve himself in the Pebble permitting process because it would be a conflict of interest. Therefore, to ensure that everything was done legally, and, more importantly, fairly, Wheeler was having his second in command, Henry Darwin, take over the EPA's involvement in the Pebble mine project.
You then said that Henry was against the Pebble mine and so you implied that he would make sure that Pebble's permitting process wouldn't go anywhere, and therefore the mine was doomed.
I next said (1 post ago): "Doesn't matter what Henry Darwin's views are about Pebble. Unlike the rogue EPA under Obama, our present EPA follows the rule of law, and so will Henry Darwin, even if he thinks that Pebble is a 'toxic mine' as you so like to put it, even though you KNOWthat there is nothing toxic about it! And if you don't, then you need to do some serious research on the Pebble mine. And, by the way, fake news won't cut it."
I will simplify it down for you.
Wheeler said that he wouldn't involve himself in the EPA's involvement in Pebble, and would let his second in command, Henry Darwin, take over that position. Therefore, it doesn't matter that Wheeler reclused himself.
(1) This shows that your statement that Wheeler reclusing himself means that Pebble is doomed, has no logic behind it.
You then said that Henry Darwin, who took over for Wheeler, is against the Pebble mine, and therefore Pebble was doomed. You implied that he will use his bias against the mine, to find some way to prevent it from being built.
I replied that Henry Darwin, and the present EPA, follow the rule of law, and therefore Henry Darwin will put his feelings aside, and that if the mine is approved, he will not come up with some fake rule to derail it.
(2) This shows that your statement that Darwin is opposed to the Pebble mine and therefore it is doomed, again, has no logic behind it. Especially since he is NOTopposed to the mine.
Henry Darwin was Arizona's former top environment official. Under both Republican and Democrat administrations, as the Director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Darwin proved his abilities to streamline government bureaucracy -- and his record as a state official shows support for flexible ways to comply with federal environmental programs.
While at ADEQ, and then as the Chief Operating Officer for the State of Arizona, Darwin spearheaded efforts to create more efficient government agencies. He had tremendous success in implementing lean management principles, which resulted in drastic reductions in the times needed for agencies to issue decisions. Regardless of where you sit philosophically, having an agency simply sit on an application, or churn through repetitive processes, does no one any good. Good or bad decisions can be argued about, but lengthy delays in getting any decision at all creates irreparable harm to both the environment and the economy.
Darwin will not let the Pebble application drag on.
He will work with all stake holders to aggressively streamline processes, and eliminate wasteful and time consuming actions that have no significant benefit to the overall goal.
Importantly, Darwin is not just a “bean counter.” Because he is extremely knowledgeable about environmental issues, he will understand what processes are truly necessary to comply with both the law and the regulatory framework, to be protective of human health and the environment, and which processes simply add time and cost at little value.
Regardless of political persuasion; attorneys, businesses, individuals and organizations should be heartened that EPA will be moving forward to reduce the times involved in making decisions. Whether you agree with the decision, or you want to challenge it in court, everyone should want the decision to get made in a timely fashion.
Although Darwin is committed to environmental issues, he is strongly against fake science. At ADEQ, he resisted Obama's federal efforts to limit greenhouse gases. Darwin questioned whether EPA has the authority to regulate those emissions under the Clean Air Act as proposed by the Clean Power Plan, according to his written testimony before Congress. Trump’s EPA has begun to roll back that Obama-era rule.
This shows that Darwin will make sure that environmental fake news ploys will not have any say in the permitting process of the Pebble mine, and that Pebble's approval process will be based on real science. That is all we ask, and thus, Henry Darwin's implementation in the Pebble approval proceedings greatly enhances the already strong probability that the Pebble mine will be approved.