US Government Rolls Back Environmental Protections for Energy Drilling

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Just when I thought the last episode I

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did was bad enough where I talked about

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opening up marine protected

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areas in the US to fisheries,

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now we have opening up and rolling back

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regulations, all regulations, as many as

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possible, to ensure that

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energy needs can be met in the US.

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We're going to talk about why this is

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such a bad idea and why I'm not surprised

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again of the rollback of regulations by

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this administration,

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but what it can do on this episode of the

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How to Protect the Ocean

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podcast. Let's start the show.

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Hey everybody, welcome back to another

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exciting episode of the How to Protect

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the Ocean podcast. I'm

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your host, Andrew Bowen.

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And this is the podcast where you find

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out what's happening with the ocean, how

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you can speak up for the ocean,

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and what you can do to live for a better

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ocean by taking action.

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I am here out of my office and in sunny

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Negril, Jamaica on vacation with my

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family and some friends.

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I have a lovely time here. It is

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beautiful. This beach

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is absolutely amazing.

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I'll share some pictures as we go through

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this B roll here as I'm talking.

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But today we're going to be talking about

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the rollbacks that have come back, come

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through on the White House website,

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where we're talking this rollback of all

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regulations that have to do with impeding

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the development of

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energy needs for the US,

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including oil drilling and natural gas

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drilling. This has been a contentious

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issue for a long time before Donald Trump

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got in the first time

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and for a long time.

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There's a reason why a lot of these

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regulations have been put into place. The

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Marine Mammal Protection Act and others,

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Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, a lot of

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these different mags and Stevenson's Act.

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All these regulations have been put into

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place to protect the environment because

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in the past in the 70s, especially when a

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lot of these were put in, we started to

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see a decline in fisheries.

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We started to see in fish stocks, we

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started to see a decline in marine

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mammals in general and even like large

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sharks and so forth.

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So putting together all those protections

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brought back the sharks like the great

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white shark brought back a lot of the

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fish that would ensure that sea lines

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were able to be fed and marine mammals were able to be fed.

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And they could prosper and that's what

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brought the great white sharks back along

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the west coast anyway.

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And so when we see regulations like this

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be rolled back, we forget the past. We

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forget why they were

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put in the first place.

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And now with energy needs being so high,

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especially with this US administration

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with their drill baby drill type of

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motto, they don't care about environment.

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They just want the least amount of

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regulations. And this will happen. I've

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explained the last episode. This is what

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happens with developers

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is they want to go fast.

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They want to move as quickly as possible

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to satisfy their investors and they want

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to make as much money as possible.

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They don't care what gets in their way,

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especially with the environment. We've

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seen that with oil companies

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before. They just don't care.

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They know that oil spills are a part of

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their business plan and they are OK with

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it and they just don't care.

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And it's frustrating as someone who loves

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the ocean so much, someone who loves the

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planet so much, anyone of you probably

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say, hey, you know what, this sucks.

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This is not fun to see. And it's not fun

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to see any of this happen, which is why

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it's so important to vote and to

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understand who you're voting for and to

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make sure that you're voting for the

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right people that are going

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to protect the environment.

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Doesn't matter. Each side of the aisle

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has people that want to protect the

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ocean, want to protect the environment.

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They're hunters, they're fishers. They

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enjoy the environment just like anybody

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else. Their kids enjoy the environment.

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But we need to vote for the same people,

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right, for the people that want to

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protect the environment and understand

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that you can develop the economy and you

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can protect the economy as

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well as protect the ocean.

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Right. It's really that simple and

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protect the planet. However, we just seem

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to divorce the two every single time and

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it sucks. It sucks to see.

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But this is what's going to happen

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essentially now, the way they're doing

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it. And I'll link to the website where

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this information can be found.

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But essentially, you're looking at a way

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of sun setting these regulations. So not

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just eliminating the regulations

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outright, but essentially every five

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years, they will be these regulations,

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environmental regulations, especially get

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in the way of energy will be reviewed by

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the federal department and which is in

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charge of this type of regulation.

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So say the Marine Mail Protection Act

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will be monitored by, I believe it's NOAA

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or some division within NOAA on a

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vacation here. I haven't done all the

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research. I've just tried to

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react to this type of news.

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But regardless, they'll roll back every

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five years. They'll wonder, hey, is this

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really worth it? Is this going to be in

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the way of other regulations? Do we allow

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it to continue for another five years? Do

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we revisit it in five years?

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Do we make it stronger or roll back some

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of those regulations to allow for maybe

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we'll protect a little bit of the marine

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mammals that are not in the way of energy

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needs and which is drilling and so and

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seismic surveys to for oil exploration or

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do we just let it go?

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Do we just not renew it? That's the case

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every five years for these environmental

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regulations, which is very difficult.

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Now, there are some stipulations. I

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believe the Clean Water and Clean Air Act

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cannot be just taken away

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by executive order alone.

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There are some legal frameworks within

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there. And I'm sure there's some other

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legal frameworks with other protections.

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But there is somebody that can be taken

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out through this executive order. And

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they will be looking at Endangered

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Species Act, Max and Stevenson's Act,

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Marine Mail Protection Act.

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These all can be rolled back or

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deregulated. And just based on who's in

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charge of each department, I wouldn't be

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surprised to see this happen within the

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next any amount of years, even next few

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months, who knows? It doesn't mean that

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every five years, I think it's a maximum

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of five years. It sounds like each of

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these regulations can be visited at any

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point within those five years. So, you

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know, be ready, be ready to see some of

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these regulations go down very quickly.

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Or be reviewed very quickly within the

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next few months. It seems like this

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organization is this administration is

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moving very, very quickly. And guess

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who's in charge of looking after this

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doge Department of Government Efficiency,

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I think is what it's called. But doge is

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in charge. So they're going to lead with

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the department in question that has

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managed the regulation and they're going

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to decide whether this is going to be in

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the way and slow down the process of oil

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exploration and oil drilling. And this is

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what's going to happen for the next five years.

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And this is what's going to happen for

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the next at least four years unless

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midterms can change some things. But this

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is what's going to happen. And we need to

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hear your voice. This is where it counts

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for all the American citizens that want

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to change and want to make sure that the

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environment your ocean is protected and

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the animals that live within is

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protected. This is your chance to stand

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up to a government that wants to

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deregulate, wants to defund a lot of

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environmental initiatives. And this is

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just not cool. We just need

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to make sure that we stop this.

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I'm not an American citizen, but

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definitely want this to stop. And I don't

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want these regulations, the hard work

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that a lot of people put in to protect

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the ocean to protect the environment. I

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don't want to see this happen where it's

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all this work, all this funding, all this

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protection of the ocean

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goes out by the wayside.

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And we're going to see degradation and

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rain protected areas have been opened up,

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like as I mentioned in the last episode.

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And now we're going to start to see it

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get worse. Right. We're going to start to

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see, you know, the Remap Protection Act

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that maybe disappear. Some of the

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Magnuson-Stevens Act, rollbacks, a lot of

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regulations either deregulated or roll

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back or gutted. It is going to be gutting

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just to see how this portrays in the

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future. Short term gain, right? Not

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looking for long term prosperity.

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And so we'll see what happens, but I'd

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love to hear what you think. I'd love to

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hear your thoughts on this. Do you think

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that we should be deregulating every one

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of these protections and every one of

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these regulations? Do you think we should

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get rid of them? Do you think most of

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them will be sunsetted after a while?

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They'll just be like, hey, we're done. We

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want to make sure we can drill.

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The disappointing part here is the fact

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that it's going to take a long time to

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put these acts back. That's where it

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becomes a real hardship because I've seen

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it happen before. We had it here in

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Canada. They gutted the Fisheries Act.

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They changed it. But now it's for oil and

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gas needs. It took a long time before the

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next government can put it back in place.

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They did make it stronger. They did have

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a consultant process and a review

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process, but it took about five or six

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years to put it back. And that was

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difficult during that time.

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And so we're going to have a lot of

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development that probably happened in the

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amount of fish habitat and the amount of

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fisheries and just environmental habitat

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that was degraded during that process was

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probably ridiculous. We still don't even

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know the effects yet. And that was 10

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years ago. So this is a warning from

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Canada saying, hey, this could be really

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bad in the future. We can lose a lot of

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animals. We can lose a lot of endangered

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species during this time when we

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deregulate. There's a reason why these

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regulations are in there for the first

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place in the first place and to

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deregulate them is not good. So anyway, we're going to be doing a lot of things.

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That's it for me. I'd love to hear your

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thoughts on this. Let me know in the

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comments below. Or if you are listening

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to this on just audio, let me know how

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you feel. Hit me up on DMS on Instagram

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at how to protect the ocean. That's at

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how to protect the ocean. Or you can

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email me by just going to

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speakupforblue.com for slash contact.

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Go to the contact us page and just fill

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out the form. It goes right to my email.

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Love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank

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you so much for listening to this episode

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of how to protect the ocean podcast from

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the world. Jamaica. I'm your host,

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Andrew. Have a great day. We'll talk to

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you next time and happy conservation.