About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2020)
POLITICS The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Weekend Edition - June 6-7, 2020 9A Trump allows commercial fishing in marine conservation area TRANSITION TO GREATNESS TRANSITION TO / - * GREATNESS V Wb few ’ 3 SS r ' % TRANSITION T GREATNE t i \\ GREjHftES'k / ^ + 1 ♦*' • PATRICK SEMANSKY I Associated Press President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion with commercial fishermen at Bangor International Airport in Bangor, Maine, Friday, June 5. BY PATRICK WHITTLE AND ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press BANGOR, Maine — President Donald Trump rolled back protections Friday at a marine con servation area off the New England coast, signing an order to allow commercial fishing in a stretch of water environmentalists say is critical for endangered right whales and other fragile marine life. “We are reopening the Northeast Canyons to com mercial fishing,” Trump told a roundtable meeting with fishing industry rep resentatives and Maine officials. “We’re opening it today.” The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument off the New England coast, created by former Presi dent Barack Obama, was the first national marine monument in the Atlan tic Ocean, and one of just five marine monuments nationwide. The conservation area comprises 5,000 square miles east of Cape Cod, which contains vulnerable species of marine, such as fragile deep sea corals and endangered right whales, which number only about 400. The whales are sus ceptible to ship strikes and entanglements in fishing gear. It’s also a place fisher men have long harvested lobsters and crabs, and its creation drew the ire of commercial fishing groups, some of whom sued. Trump said Obama’s establishment of the con servation area and banning fishing “was deeply unfair to Maine lobstermen.” “We want conservation and good environmental practices — that’s very important — but we also want something that’s fair to you,” he told the fishermen. Environmental groups vowed to push back against the president’s actions. Trump’s decision will devastate protections for the underwater world along that stretch of New England, and threatens the end for right whales and other endangered marine animals, said Kristen Mon sell, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group. “Gutting these safe guards attacks the very idea of marine monu ments,” she said. The action comes a day after the equally sweeping rollback and proposed roll back of public health and environment protections by the Trump administra tion. On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to look for ways to override envi ronmental laws to push big projects like highways and pipelines to completion. And the Environmental Protection Agency pro posed changing the rules for crafting air pollution limits under the Clean Air Act, in a way critics say will make it harder to move against dangerous pollutants in the future. Trump has made a pri ority of annulling or weak ening public health and environmental regulations — especially ones enacted under Obama — that he sees as overly burdening business. US will allow limited flights by Chinese airlines, not a ban BY DAVID KOENIG Associated Press The Trump administration said Friday it will let Chinese airlines operate a limited number of flights to the U.S., backing down from a threat to ban the flights. The decision came one day after China appeared to open the door to U.S. carriers United Airlines and Delta Air Lines resuming one flight per week each into the country. The Transportation Department said it will let Chinese passenger airlines fly a combined total of two round-trip flights per week between the U.S. and China, which it said would equal the number of flights that China’s aviation authority will allow for U.S. carriers. Delta praised the U.S. gov ernment for trying to “ensure fairness and access to China. ” United said it was review ing the matter. Neither said whether the latest develop ment in the dispute between the two countries would affect their plans. Both had hoped to offer more flights. The Transportation Department said it might fur ther ease restrictions if China does the same. Officials are concerned, however, about conditions China is impos ing that could affect whether U.S. airlines resume their flights. Those requirements include taking temperatures of all passengers in mid-flight and suspending an airline’s future flights if five or more passengers test positive for the coronavirus after arriv ing in China. China’s embassy in Wash ington did not respond to mes sages seeking comment. The dispute between Washington and Beijing over airline service has been build ing for weeks and is part of broader trade and diplomatic tension between the world’s two biggest economies. In early January, there were more than 300 flights per week between the two countries, but international carriers reduced and then stopped flying to China as the coronavirus pandemic devas tated demand for air travel. United, Delta and American Airlines suspended flights to China before mid-March. Chinese airlines reduced but didn’t eliminate their flights to the U.S. They ran about 20 flights per week in February, 34 by mid-March. Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Air lines and Xiamen Airlines continue flying those routes. Travel in both China and the U.S. has partly recov ered in the past two months, although it remains far below 2019 levels. In May, Chicago- based United and Atlanta- based Delta petitioned China to resume flights there, but received no response. “Jesus is our peace” Ephesians 2:14 From Randy and Friends Where young adults, with significant challenges, are being prepared to serve in the community .randyandfriends.com visit us on facebook 678-617-5527 C/Mvnw GUARANTEED # li % I^ight Ckoice" HOMES Energy Efficient Homes. Guaranteed. jacksonemc.com/rightchoice Jackson EMC is a company we trust... so the fact that the Right Choice program is Jackson EMC's, meant our home would be designed and built to very high standards. I tell anyone buying a home, if you have a choice, get a Right Choice home. 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