What does government shutdown mean for the environment? The National Park Service will close more than 350 national parks and museums, including Yosemite National Park in California, Alcatraz in San Francisco, and the Statue of Liberty in New York. Last time this happened in 1995-1996, some 7 million visitors were turned away. The Environmental Protection Agency will close down almost entirely during a shutdown, save for operations around Superfund cites (94 percent of the 16,205 employees will be sent home). The EPA is currently in the middle of writing a number of regulations that could be held up by a shutdown, including limits on carbon dioxide emissions for fossil fuel power plants, and a report on regulations for brooks, streams, and other small bodies of water. The Department of Interior: 81 percent of the 72,562 employees would be sent home. (Wildlife law enforcement officers would stay, but the parks themselves would close.) Over 1/2 of NOAA employees were sent home during the last shutdown and their 12 marine sanctuaries were shuttered, turning away divers and fishers. huffingtonpost/2013/09/30/epa-government-shutdown_n_4018904.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 23:18:27 +0000
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