AltFedArchy

The government wants you to think a shutdown is no big deal. It's is. They want things to keep running in the meantime. They will- but not safely and not paid. Because not everyone is necessarily aware what a shutdown means for Gov workers, this is how it works...

Employees fall into one of the following three categories:

Excepted: Unpaid, required to work (those needed to protect life and property).

Exempted: Paid, required to work (those funded by non-lapsed sources)

Furloughed: Unpaid, employees that are neither excepted nor exempted. These employees have been ordered to "expeditiously complete orderly shutdown activities" then head home. This may be a few minutes for some employees or a few days depending on their job duties and what it takes to perform an "orderly shutdown" of their activities.

Who is furloughed? Legit everyone but "safety" workers. So fees, maintenance, timekeepers, facilities, everybody. And no, those thousands of people will not be paid for whatever amount of time they aren't working.

Who is Exempted? In my neck of the woods (pun intended) it's law enforcement, fire, ems, search and rescue and dispatchers. Hey that sounds like a lot? Guess what - almost all of the law enforcement in the park are simultaneously EMS, search and rescue and the Fire department. One person, four jobs. That's the way... It always is by the way, which is HIGHLY PROBLEMATIC (but that's a different rant). We will keep doing those four jobs, unpaid and unsupported. When will we get paid for our work?- who knows. You may ask yourself - why do we have to keep working when everything is shutdown? Because they're not closing the national parks. Yeah. So people are going to keep coming, keep using the bathrooms that won't be cleaned, keep using the roads that won't be maintained safely, keep getting hurt and in trouble.

Right now, there is a massive rollover DUI car accident on one side of the park and someone just got gored by an animal on the other side of the park. So all of us (the three people on shift at the moment) will be figuring out which one to heading out to. We have to choose. And it's going to be extremely dangerous when we do get on scene because those "non-essential workers" that were furloughed? -Those are the people we count on daily to go above and beyond their own normal duties and help.

Those are the people who manage traffic around the accident for us so we don't get hit. Those are the people that get extra resources for us (lights for night time, blankets, Gatorade if it's a long extraction on scene). Those are the people that make sure we get paid for being called out in the middle of the night, the people that make sure all the protocols are being followed so everyone is safe, the victim advocates that talk to the families, they are the essential hands needed because- if you haven't all forgotten- they already gutted our limping agency staff by like 30%.

What can you do?

What’s new?

Well, for a small group of us first responders, the government has now ordered that we be paid… from our park’s admission fee money fund. The admission fee money fund that is supposed to go directly towards improving the park – fixing roads, cleaning and fixing facilities, visitor experience stuff. The admission fee money fund that’s supposed to cover those improvements for the entire year… Is now being used to pay us. So guess what happens when that runs out? A.) no more pay, B.) no improving the park.

But the parks are still open? So wouldn’t the fees of people still coming in cover part of that? No. Because we’re not allowed to collect fees during the shutdown. The parks are open, not gaining any revenue, burning through their reserves, and becoming significantly more unsafe and generally trashed and destroyed, by the day.

What does that look like?

Last week it was very icy and a tour bus of 50 people slid partially off the road, blocking a whole lane of traffic. This was on the MAIN ROAD, on a blind curve, only 10 miles into the park.

We only have one remaining, non-furloughed plow/sander driver. For reference, we normally have 4-5. He was 50 minutes away (and then the sander broke so he had to go back to the garage for a bit to try and fix it.) The one remaining tow truck driver was almost 90 minutes away. There was only me and my coworker on shift to deal with traffic and we couldn’t direct people around the accident because the road all around it was still icy because the sander hadn’t gotten there and someone was bound to slide off again. So we had to just keep traffic stopped. For almost a two hours, every single visitor to the park was in stopped traffic. About 10 miles worth of cars just sat, parked in the road. Hundreds and hundreds of people.

Some of them turned around to go back to the entrance, but an RV slid off the road going the other way, so now traffic was blocked in both directions. Which meant when the sander WAS fixed, it couldn’t get through the traffic. And because it was just me and my coworker, we didn’t have anybody who could leave the scene of the accident to go down and clear that traffic for the sander.

As I stood there in the cold (thankful that I had pulled my yaktrax out of storage soon enough to use them for the occasion because the road was SOLID ICE) people kept getting out of their cars, coming up to me, and complaining. I’m not allowed to give political opinions at work, but I was able to provide them facts:

Fact: We only have one plow truck driver, because everyone else has been furloughed. If we had our normal amount, all the roads would be sanded and this probably wouldn’t have happened.

Fact: We only have two officers on right now. Usually, we can try to pull some people from other divisions to help with traffic- those people are also furloughed.

Fact: The reason you are in traffic right now is directly caused by the government shutdown.

The main thing I want to communicate to the general public, though, comes from the repeated question I got “Well, if the roads were so dangerous why didn’t you just close the park?”

Ma’am?

Fact: The administration has forbidden us from closing National Parks.

We were ordered to “Continue operations and services as normal”… with at least 65% of our staff furloughed.

Fun epilogue to the story is that 2 hours in, just as the sander and tow truck finally arrived, another car went careening off the road about 30 miles from there, blocking traffic for both lanes. I left one scene and came to that one we discovered the drive was HURT, and needed an ambulance. My coworker and I are also the EMTs/ambulance drivers (and fire department and search and rescue and…) so we had to have our dispatch center start calling people at home to come in and help. (Their overtime won’t be paid until the government restarts by the way).

Five people came in on their day off and we managed to transport to the hospital, do the crash report, clear the road… and deal with SEVEN MORE slide offs in the following two hours.

What are the takeaways from all this complaining I’m doing:

Fact: 65% or more of National Park Service staff that are furloughed and have no income right now. They still have bills though, and some people are in significant trouble financially (because it’s not like they paid us much in the first place).

Fact: Coming to your national park right now is not only extremely dangerous for you, but also causing significant and irreparable damage to the park- to the actual natural resource, to our infrastructure, and to our facilities.

Fact: Parks were ordered to use the finances that we usually would put towards keeping up said facilities and infrastructure, to pay the people we are forcing to work right now. BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT HAS FORBIDDEN PARKS TO CLOSE THEIR DOORS AND SHUT THEIR GATES.

Please don't come here. Please contact your local representative. Please spread the word

Because it looks like it's going to be another busy day.

(picture from the article linked above)

hey peeps, i would be calling your doctors STAT to see if you're in the clear about where your drugs are manufactured

then i would definitely be call your representatives and bitch them a new asshole

people are legit going to die because of this

Which means that calling your reps now may actually make a difference in whether this kills people.

Step 1: Search up the generic name for whatever meds you take, then call your pharmacist - not your primary - and ask where it comes from and whether any part of it is manufactured in the US. THEN call your primary and tell them to pre-order your next round, even if you're not due yet. (They might try to tell you they can't do that. They can.)

Step 2: Call your reps - by now you should be calling them so often they're one of the top numbers saved in your phone, but you can also find them very easily here - and tell them specifically that you are worried about the financial impact on American business this will have and ask them what they plan to do about it. Because sadly, concerns about money and saving their own skin will probably get their attention faster than any concerns about the harm it will do to vulnerable individuals.

• USDA -> Department of Famine

• FDA -> Department of Pestilence

I'd recommend reading the whole article but this has not come into effect yet. Putting this here since people don't like clicking sometimes.

Joseph Gedeon at The Guardian:

Amid the Donald Trump administration’s heavy-handed review of Smithsonian museums, the Guardian has seen a document compiled by the White House that details examples of how the widely visited cultural institutions have overly negative portrayals of US history. The document, based on public submissions shared with the administration, points to what it says are problematic exhibits at seven different museums, including a Benjamin Franklin exhibit that links his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people and a film about George Floyd’s murder that it says mischaracterizes the police.

“President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable,” a White House official said. “Until we get info from the Smithsonian in response to our letter, we can’t verify the numbers of artifacts that have been removed because the Smithsonian has removed them on their own.” Trump announced the initiative on Truth Social earlier this week, writing: “The Smithsonian is OUT OF CONTROL, where everything discussed is how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been.” The seven museums that have so far been flagged for review include the National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Latino, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of African Art, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Museum of Asian Art.

The administration argues exhibits at these museums focus excessively on oppression rather than American achievements. At the National Museum of American History, the document flagged the ¡Presente! Latino history exhibition for allegedly promoting an “anti-American agenda” by examining colonization effects and depicting the US as stealing territory from Mexico in 1848.

Examples from the document also shames the museum’s Benjamin Franklin exhibit for linking his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people, and the Star-Spangled Banner display for focusing on American historical failures and controversies rather than celebrating national achievements. The National Portrait Gallery is being singled out for focusing on how the Chinese Exclusion Act and other racist immigration laws contradicted the Statue of Liberty’s welcoming message. The African art museum is targeted over the George Floyd film. And the Asian art museum is flagged for exhibitions for claiming to impose western gender ideology on traditional cultures. Last week, the White House budget director, Russ Vought, sent letters to eight museums demanding information about exhibits within 30 days and instructing officials to implement “content corrections” including replacing “divisive” language. The review follows similar Trump administration pressure on universities, which resulted in institutions paying hundreds of millions to the government and walking back diversity initiatives.

The anti-American censor-happy Trump Regime targets Smithsonian museums for “negative” portrayals of American history-- particularly in regards to the depiction of slavery’s role in founding the US-- because the exhibits are too focused on “oppression” than celebrations of American history.

The Trump Regime has no regard whatsoever for historical accuracy or truth with this heavy-handed edict.

See Also:

"Sen. Mike Lee has introduced the SCREEN ACT, a bill that applies the "harmful to minors" standard used to ban LGBTQ+ books and resources in schools and libraries and apply it nationally to the internet.

Any site that has any amount of material "harmful to minors" would be forced to employ surveillance tech (biometric scans, ID uploads, background checks) to prevent minors from accessing "pornography."

You will not be surprised to learn that this is backed by the Heritage Foundation.

Unlike some of the state age-verification laws, many of which are being challenged in court, SC will be enforced by the FTC, which has the ability to levy fines, raid business and freeze bank accounts. Yes, meaning that even non-for-profits like Ao3 will suffer.

This is something for all US users to keep on their radar. Call your reps, call your senators, and spread the word to protect our archive!"

- When talking with Republicans play up the fact that this would force Elon to implement age verification systems on X (yes do call it X during the call). Elon's been threatening to primary Republicans who stand in his way so there's fear of him. Also play up concerns about "Liberals" doxxing people or Chinese hackers.

- When talking with Democrats, play up the connections to Project 2025 and suggest voters will not be happy to see Democrats siding with it.

Republicans:

Ted Cruz, Texas (Chairman) - Phone: (202) 224-5922

John Thune, South Dakota - Phone: (202) 224-2321

Roger Wicker, Mississippi - Phone: (202) 224-6253

Deb Fischer, Nebraska - Phone: (202) 224-6551

Jerry Moran, Kansas - Phone: (202) 224-6521

Dan Sullivan, Alaska - Phone: (202) 224-3004

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee - Phone: (202) 224-3344

Todd Young, Indiana - Phone: (202) 224-5623

Ted Budd, North Carolina - (202) 224-3154

Eric Schmitt, Missouri - (202) 224-5721

John Curtis, Utah - Phone: (202) 224-5251

Bernie Moreno, Ohio - Phone: 202-224-2315

Tim Sheehy, Montana - Phone: (202) 224-2644

Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia - Phone: (202) 224-6472

Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming - Phone: (202) 224-3424

Democrats:

Maria Cantwell, Washington (Ranking Member) - Phone: (202) 224-3441

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota - Phone: (202) 224-3244

Brian Schatz, Hawaii - Phone: (202) 224-3934

Ed Markey, Massachusetts - Phone: (202) 224-2742

Gary Peters, Michigan - Phone: (202) 224-6221

Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin - Phone: (202) 224-5653

Tammy Duckworth, Illinois - Phone: (202) 224-2854

Jacky Rosen, Nevada - Phone: (202) 224-6244

Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico - Phone: (202) 224-6621

John Hickenlooper, Colorado - Phone: (202) 224-5941

John Fetterman, Pennsylvania - Phone: (202) 224-4254

Andy Kim, New Jersey - Phone: (202) 224-4744

Lisa Blunt Rochester, Delaware - Phone: (202) 224-2441

SCRIPT

Hi, my name is [], and I am one of Senator []’s constituents. I live in [city, zip code - leave your full address if leaving a voicemail].

I am calling in regards to a bill that was recently introduced in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transport: the SCREEN act.

Hey, we've got another public comment period with a rapidly approaching deadline here in the United States! Short version is that the Department of Agriculture, which manages the U.S. Forest Service, has severely curtailed its obligation to public outreach and comment on its activities, to include timber sales and environmental impact reports. The foundation of a democracy is in the power of the voices of the people, and this decision circumvents our ability to give feedback on Forest Service decisions.

That means that it will be easier for the Forest Service to clearcut old-growth forests regardless of the ecological impact, and make it easier for profiteers to exploit the natural resources of these publicly owned lands. This decision was made to benefit the few, not the many, and it's blatantly obvious.

Firstly, all thoughts are my own and not tied to my employer etc. etc. etc.

With that out of the way, I understand the sadness and the frustration and the disappointment that such a lovely place (and so many other buildings) burned down. But I have long said that when it comes to disaster losses, we need to be more accepting of the impermanence of things. Nothing lasts forever, and it's okay to mourn things when they're gone, but that's life. You can't let it consume you. The lodge burning down doesn't mean you can't remember all your favorite times there, or that there won't be a way in the future for people to make new memories in the same place. It's not the first time the lodge has burned down, after all!

Now, as for the anger and blame that's being hurled around about the response to this fire: everyone needs to cut it the fuck out. A building is not worth the lives of the people out on those firelines. They did what they could against a fast moving, massive wildfire that was started by natural causes, but in the end nature won out. There is only so much you can do in those circumstances, especially with historic wooden structures.

This is not the end of tourism on the North Rim, it's just a change. Something new will come, and what that is will be an important conversation between the NPS, the local communities, and other interested parties. For everyone who loved the Lodge and other things that were lost to this fire, I urge you to (in a few weeks, when things have calmed down a little) reach out to your local NPS office and volunteer groups and elsewhere to see what you can do to help. There's going to be a lot to do, and as we all know departments like NPS are really hurting right now due to all the governmental chaos.

Now, on a more personal note, here's what I would like to see happen going forward:

Rebuild the Lodge with the latest fire safety standards in mind while maintaining the original look and feel as much as possible, and explain it. Put up permanent placards around the new lodge explaining why different materials were chosen, why design changes were made, etc..

Where possible and safe, leave some evidence of the fire's effect on the original building. Maybe don't put a new roof on one of the semi-outdoor areas, and leave the burned beams, IDK. Put placards there too.

Involve the local community in the recovery process. You know those stands where you slot your phone in and then take a picture and email it in to a scientific study to monitor the growth of plants or something? Put those up everywhere and use the submitted photos to post about the rebuilding and regrowth process and show timelapses and all that. And do other things, like working with local companies and really highlighting their contributions.

Have a memorial wall somewhere in the new lodge where people can leave pictures and write down their memories of the old lodge. Embrace the grief.

Give a way for tourists to learn about and participate in the recovery process as well. Maybe community replanting areas they can visit, or have ranger led hikes where everyone gets a seed shaker of local seeds.

Signage signage signage. Put signs explaining the fire ecology of the area, what happened with this fire, how things regrow after fire, all of that.

Make sure to have tons of fire safety information everywhere. Not just how to avoid human caused fires, but how to stay safe if you are out exploring the area and a fire starts.

Sell fire safety related items in the shops.

Anyway, I am once again asking you to call your reps if you care about accurate life-saving weather forecasts, clean drinking water, having fish you can eat, climate change, and more, because the people who work on these issues — including me and my peers — cannot survive this without your help.

This is what the "unleashing American energy dominance" executive order crap means: gutting environmental review under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA). The changes mean fewer projects will need environmental reviews and regulators will have less time to identify potentially significant environmental consequences of major infrastructure projects. It also guts the public comment process, throttling accountability and the public's right to comment.

The proposed changes at DOE include reducing the maximum time for completion of an environmental assessment through an environmental impact statement from three years to two. DOE employees also are directed to maximize use of "categorical exclusions", broadening their ability to exempt activities from environmental assessments or an environmental impact statement if the agency deems the activity as not harmful to the environment. (source)

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Summary paraphrased from the National Law Review article above:

On 30 June 2025, US Department of Energy (DOE) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or the Commission) announced revisions to their respective NEPA procedures. Both agencies updated their regulations to remove references to recently rescinded White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA implementing regulations. DOE in particular makes significant changes in its interim final rule that dramatically streamline and reshape its NEPA implementation regulations.

The Supreme Court’s 29 May 2025 decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County signaled that NEPA reviews should be narrower in scope, more concise, and take less time. DOE issued notice of an interim final rule to revise 10 CFR part 1021, removing whole swaths of DOE’s NEPA regulations to simplify the regulations and leave only the provisions related to DOE’s existing categorical exclusions and related requirements, as well as a provision for emergency circumstances. The interim final rule is effective immediately and comments are due within 30 days after the date of publication in the Federal Register.

DOE's interim final rule places most of the NEPA procedures in sub-regulatory guidance, which means they are now nonbinding on the agency and DOE retains discretion to adopt different approaches on a “case-by-case basis.” DOE implicitly acknowledged that these actions preclude the requirement for notice and comment that would normally kick in when an agency proposes new or modified regulations.

Notably, DOE’s new NEPA guidance appears to be a paradigm shift for NEPA reviews, where the agency’s first step now is to look for an applicable categorical exclusion from NEPA altogether, and if one does not already exist, the agency is to consider whether to establish a new exclusion. A categorical exclusion (CE) is a class of actions that a Federal agency has determined do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and for which neither an environmental assessment nor an environmental impact statement is normally required. DOE’s guidance also emphasizes that no statutory requirement exists to post draft environmental impact statements for public comment.

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The public comment period on the DOE's proposed rule ends on August 4, 2025. Comments can be submitted here: https://www.regulations.gov/document/DOE-HQ-2025-0026-0001

SUMMARY:

In this action, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to repeal specific amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units (EGUs), commonly referred to as the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), that were promulgated on May 7, 2024. The amendments that the EPA is proposing to repeal include the revised filterable particulate matter (fPM) emission standard, which serves as a surrogate for non-mercury hazardous air pollutant (HAP) metals for existing coal-fired EGUs; the revised fPM emission standard compliance demonstration requirements; and the revised mercury (Hg) emission standard for lignite-fired EGUs.

DATES:

Comments. Comments must be received on or before August 11, 2025 and can be submitted through the link above.

Public hearing: The EPA will hold a public hearing on July 10, 2025. Please refer to the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for information on registering for the public hearing.