By Democrat Jared Golden, a congressman from Maine, is livid with the Biden White House and their extreme loyalty to environmentalist groups that attack various industries, seemingly at random or, at least, depending on how much money they feed the Democratic campaign machine.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Golden said the federal government has held Maine lobstermen to an unfair standard over their impacts on the endangered North Atlantic right whale species compared to how it has treated offshore wind developers and other ocean-based industries. He added the administration’s actions were aimed at appeasing environmental groups that have similarly targeted lobstermen.
“The hypocrisy part is what pisses me off because we know that right whales, other whales, get struck by freight vessels all the time. Cruise ships that are out there carting people around hit them,” he told Fox News Digital. “You see very little effort by the federal government to do anything.”
Industry groups and lawmakers including Golden have also said the rules, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) first rolled out in May 2022 with more set for 2024 and 2030, would threaten thousands of blue-collar jobs. Maine’s lobster industry — which by state law is made up entirely of small business operators — provides the U.S. with about 90% of the nation’s lobster supply, making the industry a top economic driver in the state, and boosting other related industries as well.
At the same time, the government in recent months has repeatedly defended offshore wind projects in the face of an unprecedented uptick in whale deaths and widespread calls for a moratorium on offshore wind development until the deaths are further studied. More than 20 whale deaths have been recorded along the East Coast since December with most coming in New Jersey, New York and Virginia where large wind projects are under development.
“Am I concerned about hypocrisy in how the federal government deals with like the Maine lobster fishery, as opposed to big energy projects?” Golden continued. “The answer is 100% yes, because for four years now, I have been constantly harassing the federal government to show us one piece of evidence that Maine’s lobster fishery is at all responsible for any kind of entanglement of whales let alone a death of a right whale.”
Lobster fishermen have been a target of the green movement for years, and the environmentalists are winning. In December, after intense pressure from green groups, the Marine Stewardship Council announced “it no longer considers Maine’s famed lobsters sustainable, given that whales on the brink of extinction are dying after becoming entangled in fishing gear.
The decision to revoke the Marine Stewardship Council’s recognizable blue label was a disaster to small businesses already feeling an economic pinch amid low lobster prices, high fuel costs and questions about its environmental practices.
Retailers across the United States sell seafood rated by the Marine Stewardship Council, a nonprofit that uses independent reviewers to determine whether a fishery is well managed and that it does not harm other species or ocean habitats.”
Following the announcement, Whole Foods declared Maine lobster to be off the table. The AP has reported, “Whole Foods recently said that it will stop selling lobster from the Gulf of Maine at hundreds of its stores around the country. The company cited decisions by a pair of sustainability organizations to take away their endorsements of the U.S. lobster fishing industry.”
Ever since taking over the White House, Joe Biden has been on a regulation frenzy, leaving even some Democrats with a bad taste in their mouths, but now Congress is working to stop the presidential overreach.
The Hill reported that “nine House Democrats broke from the party on Thursday to overturn a Biden administration water regulation, siding with most Republicans on the disapproval resolution.
The measure, which passed in a 227-198 vote, seeks to terminate the Biden administration rule that determines which waters must abide by federal regulations as part of the Waters of the United States.
The Biden administration — when compared to the Trump administration — has a broader outlook on which bodies of water should be protected. In a floor lookout this week, the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said the administration’s rule “expands the federal government’s regulatory power and places the burden on small businesses, farmers, local communities, manufacturers, and private property owners.”
The decision whether or not to check the White House now resides with Senate. “A spokesperson for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told The Hill that the senator will vote in support of the resolution, and Rep. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) said he is undecided. The resolution needs a simple majority to pass.”
Do the Democrats have the will to protect working people from their party’s activists?
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