Has anyone been out to the #BLM #ClearCreekManagementArea in #SanBenitoCounty #California recently? I want to go visit #NewIdria. Is the road open and passable for a 4x4 all the way through to #Panoche or is it still washed out and impassable?
Is there still a seasonal restriction on entry to the Serpentine ACEC or can you go out there any time of year now (with proper permits)?
How's the surface friable #asbestos situation out there these days?
@camwilson also #wood is a #rebewable and #CarbonNeutral source.
As for the #blades there sadly doesn't seem to be much of an alternative to #composite #plastic which is not recycleable as even cutting it into pieces makes #GlassFiber shards that are jist barely less toxic as #asbestos.
Things that have #asbestos in them that you wouldn't think do-
linoleum AKA vinyl flooring, Sheet vinyl.
The backing on many of these products contains a fair amount of asbestos. It's not much of an issue, unless you pull it up, because it's often glued down and when you pull it you pull the asbestos backing apart.
Today in Labor History February 14, 1949: Canadian asbestos workers began a six-month strike. It also marked the beginning of the Quiet Revolution, a period of intense socio-political change in Quebec. The strike began at midnight on February 14, when miners walked off the job at four asbestos mines. Most of the mines were owned by American or English-Canadian companies, but most of the workers were francophones. The largest company was the American Johns-Manville firm. The workers’ demands included the elimination of asbestos dust inside and outside of the mill and a small raise. Six weeks into the strike, Johns-Manville hired scabs to keep the mines open. 5,000 strikers attacked the scabs, destroying their property and intimidating them through force. Miners and police fought on the picket line. They arrested hundreds of miners. On March 14, someone blew up a part of a railroad track leading into the Johns-Manville property. On May 5, the strikers barricaded a mine and every road into and out of town. They only backed down when the police pledged to open fire on them. The next day, the police beat miners and began mass-arresting them. This intimidated the union leadership to the point that they gave in and agreed to return to work with few gains.
#Trump has stocked the #EPA w/ #political appointees who have worked as lawyers & lobbyists for the #oil & #chemical industries. They include #DavidFotouhi, the nominee for deputy administrator, a lawyer who recently challenged a ban on #asbestos; #AaronSzabo, a lobbyist for both the oil & chemical industries who is expected to be the top #air #pollution regulator; & #NancyBeck, a longtime chem industry lobbyist, who is serving as snr EPA adviser on chemical safety & pollution.
"A woman who laid her coat on her sleeping son during cold winter nights on her return from work at an asbestos factory in Leeds did not know she was killing him."
Charlotte Bailey for Prospect #UK: https://longreads.com/2025/01/31/asbestos-a-corporate-coverup-a-public-health-catastrophe/
The man tapped by President Donald Trump to be second-in-command of the federal agency that protects the public from environmental dangers
is a lawyer who has represented companies accused of harming people and the environment through pollution.
#David #Fotouhi, a partner in the global law firm Gibson Dunn,
played a key part in rolling back climate regulations and water protections
while serving as a lawyer in the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump’s first administration.
Most recently, Fotouhi challenged the EPA’s recent ban of #asbestos, which causes a deadly cancer called mesothelioma.
In a brief filed in October on behalf of a group of car companies called the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, he argued that, for the specific uses that were banned, the “EPA failed to demonstrate that chrysotile asbestos presents an unreasonable risk of injury.”
The EPA banned the carcinogen in March, long after its dangers first became widely known.
More than 50 other countries have outlawed use of the mineral.
The agency had worked toward the ban for decades, and workers died while lobbyists pushed to delay action, as a 2022 ProPublica investigation showed.
https://www.propublica.org/article/david-fotouhi-donald-trump-epa-pollution
These guys are completely CRAZY - CRAZY!!! They don't give a damn about the planet, air quality, global warming, or just plain saving lives by following the scientific method. They just care about profiting - even if that means damaging the environment. This time, the inmates are really running the asylum!!
"The man tapped by President Donald Trump to be second-in-command of the federal agency that protects the public from environmental dangers is a lawyer who has represented companies accused of harming people and the environment through pollution.
David Fotouhi, a partner in the global law firm Gibson Dunn, played a key part in rolling back climate regulations and water protections while serving as a lawyer in the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump’s first administration.
Most recently, Fotouhi challenged the EPA’s recent ban of asbestos, which causes a deadly cancer called mesothelioma. In a brief filed in October on behalf of a group of car companies called the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, he argued that, for the specific uses that were banned, the “EPA failed to demonstrate that chrysotile asbestos presents an unreasonable risk of injury.”
The EPA banned the carcinogen in March, long after its dangers first became widely known. More than 50 other countries have outlawed use of the mineral. The agency had worked toward the ban for decades, and workers died while lobbyists pushed to delay action, as a 2022 ProPublica investigation showed.
Less than a day after Trump’s inauguration this week, the White House webpage that celebrated the historic ban was gone."
https://www.propublica.org/article/david-fotouhi-donald-trump-epa-pollution
Flashback 2018, RollingStone: More Asbestos! More Asbestos! More Asbestos!
President #trump's long-time love affair with #asbestos is making its way into federal policy
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-asbestos-707642/