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    EPA Inspector General wants to know how something like this was OK'd

    Sarah Okeson, DCReport @ RawStory
    July 29, 2019

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    The Escondida open-pit copper mine in Chile is the largest copper mine in the world. (Mining Technology)

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Sarah Okeson, DCReport @ RawStory

    Cathy Stepphelped greenlighted polluting Lake Michigan during her time overseeing Wisconsin’sDepartment of Natural Resources, and now she is helping a mining company that could contaminate Lake Superior.


    Stepp, a regional administrator for the EPA, is part of an investigation by the agency's inspector general into how Minnesota awarded a permit in December to PolyMet Mining Co. which wants to build a $1 billion copper-nickel mine on 19,000 acres near Hoyt Lakes, Minn., near the North Shore of Lake Superior.

    The water permit has become a test case for Trump’s effort to weaken environmental oversight by having the EPA mostly defer to state regulators.

    Stepp’s chief of staff, Kurt Thiede, who previously worked for her in Wisconsin, was asked in the Minnesota review to stall submitting written comments from the EPA on the proposed mine until after the period for submitting public comments had ended. That move in effect made those comments secret until environmental groups sued.

    “Under the current administration, EPA is a pollution watchdog not only on a leash but under a muzzle, as well,” said Kyla Bennett of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the nonprofit that sued for the records on behalf of WaterLegacy.

    Kevin Pierard, a senior official in the EPA’s Chicago office, told Minnesota regulators that the proposed permit didn’t have numeric limits on how much pollution could be in discharges from the mine. He also said the discharges would exceed federal health and aquatic life standards for mercury, copper, arsenic, cadmium and zinc.

    Pierard’s comments were read over the phone to Minnesota regulators so they wouldn’t appear in the official record, a move former EPA attorney Jeffry Fowley said was “seriously improper conduct.” Fowley said the permit is “an end-run around the … requirements of the Clean Water Act.”

    Glencore PLC, one of the world’s largest publicly traded companies with annual revenues of more than $200 billion, took majority ownership of PolyMet in June. The U.S. Justice Department has subpoenaed Glencore in an investigation into foreign corruption and money laundering, asking for documents for business in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Venezuela and Nigeria.

    “Alarm bells should have gone off all over the place,” said former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson. “It’s like making an investment in a company and suddenly finding out the mob owns it.”

    In Wisconsin, Stepp and Thiede helped Foxconn, the giant Taiwan manufacturer best known for assembling iPhones, be exempted from any major environmental review. Foxconn and the state claimed the deal would bring up to 13,000 jobs to Wisconsin, but now it looks like just 1,500 people could be hired to start.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Enjoy good journalism?

    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

    We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click to donate by check.

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    … then let us make a small request. The COVID crisis has slashed advertising rates, and we need your help. Like you, we believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We need your support to do what we do.

    Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Invest with us in the future. Make a one-time contribution to Raw Story Investigates, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.

    Report typos and corrections to: corrections@rawstory.com.
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    Prosecutors grilled Donald Trump Jr. this month about shady payments made by his dad's inaugural committee

    Brad Reed
    February 24, 2021

    Former President Donald Trump's eldest son testified under oath earlier this month about shady payments made by his father's inaugural committee being probed the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

    A new court filing reveals that Trump Jr. testified on February 11th this year about payments made by the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee made to the Madison hotel in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the Trump Organization.

    Interestingly, the DC AG's Office claims in its filing that Trump Jr.'s testimony "raised further questions about the nature of the Loews Madison invoice and revealed evidence that Defendants had not yet produced to the District."

    Additionally, the office alleges that it has obtained evidence that "directly" contradicts testimony given by former Trump campaign deputy Rick Gates, who became a household name in recent years thanks to his indictment and subsequent cooperation with former special counsel Robert Mueller's probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

    It is unclear if Trump Jr. faces potential jeopardy in this investigation, although the Daily Beast reported this week that prosecutors in New York are examined the eldest Trump son's work on behalf of the Trump Organization as part of a wide-ranging criminal probe of its business practices.

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton flees reporters at airport after leaving state amid power crisis

    David Edwards
    February 24, 2021

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was confronted by a reporter this week after he left the state despite an ongoing energy crisis.

    KXAN's Maggie Glynn caught up with Paxton on Tuesday as he was returning from a trip to Utah. Paxton has claimed that he needed to make the trip in person for a demonstration by Utah law enforcement.

    In video of the confrontation, Glynn can be heard repeatedly asking the Texas attorney general to comment on the massive power outages that were caused by a winter storm.

    Paxton, however, ignored the questions as KXAN staff literally broke into a run to follow him to the parking lot.

    "We're just asking for your comment to Texans," Glynn said. "They want to hear from you, sir. Sir, please. Do you have anything to say?"

    Throughough the incident, the Texas Republican declined to make eye contact with the reporter. He eventually was ushered into a black SUV before driving away.

    Watch the video below from KXAN.

    NEW: @TXAG Paxton landed in Austin this afternoon after a trip to Utah last week. It's the first time we have seen the attorney general in-person since the energy crisis across the state last week. I tried asking some questions, he didn't answer any. #txlege @KXAN_News pic.twitter.com/kguCb29vFC
    — Maggie Glynn (@maggie_glynn1) February 24, 2021

    'The Stripper & the Congressman': Fanne Foxe dead at 84

    Agence France-Presse
    February 24, 2021

    Fanne Foxe, an exotic dancer known as the "Argentine Firecracker" who was at the center of one of the US capital's most notorious sex scandals, has died, The Washington Post reported. She was 84.

    Foxe leapt into the headlines of newspapers across the country in 1974 after diving into the Tidal Basin in Washington after a boozy night at a nightclub with a married congressman.

    Foxe was the stage name adopted by Annabel Edith Villagra, who was born in Nueve de Julio, Argentina. The Post said she died on February 10 in Clearwater, Florida.

    Foxe's brief moment in the national spotlight came in October 1974, when police stopped a car that had been driving erratically and without headlights in downtown Washington late at night.

    The then 38-year-old Foxe emerged from the car in an evening gown and dove into the chilly waters of the Tidal Basin.

    Another occupant of the car was an inebriated Democratic congressman, Wilbur Mills of Arkansas, the powerful 65-year-old chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

    The pair had spent the evening at the Silver Slipper nightclub, where Foxe had performed.

    Wills won re-election in November 1974 but left politics in 1977 and died in 1992.

    Foxe went on to write a memoir -- "The Stripper and the Congressman" -- married a contractor and eventually settled in Florida, according to the Post.

    © 2021 AFP

     
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