Friday, 03 Feb 2006

An EPA program designed to give flexibility to companies that are "top environmental performers" may be giving a free pass to some heavy polluters and lawbreakers, says a coalition of enviros. Muckraker looks into the claims that Performance Track program participants -- including DuPont, International Paper, and Monsanto -- are getting off easy.

Fault Whitman

Bush appointee misled public on toxic air after 9/11 attack, judge says

Federal judge Deborah Batts said yesterday that former U.S. EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman "increased, and may have in fact created, the danger" to people living and working near the World Trade Center towers in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks -- behavior Batts called "conscience-shocking." Ouch. Most significantly from Whitman's perspective, aside from the demolition of her reputation, is Batts' ruling that she can be sued as an individual -- along with the EPA -- for misleading the public about lower Manhattan's air quality after the attacks. Despite Whitman's repeated assurances during that period, the air was in fact chock-full of an estimated one million tons of dust, released when the asbestos- and concrete-laden towers fell. The class action lawsuit on behalf of residents and workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn seeks to prove that Whitman and the agency knew they lacked the data to support their cheerful public statements.

And by "More Money," I Meant "You're Fired"

Federal renewable-energy researchers laid off as lawmakers divert funds

In Tuesday's State of the Union speech, President Bush called for more funding to develop alternative energy sources. Meanwhile, in the real world, scores of staffers at the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory are about to be laid off, and a pile of contractors along with them. Why? Because about one dollar in every five allocated by Congress for renewable-energy R&D goes to "earmarks" -- pet projects in lawmakers' home states or districts. When DOE is ordered to pay for these projects, it cuts spending in its own labs. While the budget for renewable energy and efficiency projects has stayed roughly steady over the past two years at $1.17 billion, earmarks spiked from $105 million to $160 million, according to a department spokesflack. So much the worse for the rest of us.


After venting her outrage at companies that market bottled water as a healthier option, Wenonah Hauter of Food and Water Watch, this week's InterActivist, received a flood of questions from readers wanting to know exactly what a health-conscious green is supposed to drink. She chats about her beverage of choice, improving school lunches, avoiding genetically modified foods, and more.

The Revolution Will Be Prefaced With a White Paper

New Mexico senators lay groundwork for federal global-warming bill

Could the somnolent federal Leviathan finally be waking to the danger heralded so long by state and local Lilliputians? Could that metaphor be more baroque? New Mexico's senators say they will introduce a bill this spring in the Senate that would mandate action on global warming. Sens. Pete Domenici (R) and Jeff Bingaman (D) -- the chair of and top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, respectively -- jointly issued a white paper yesterday listing the outstanding questions they want to answer before drafting their legislation. The bill would be based on a nonbinding resolution the Senate passed last year that supported mandatory, market-based approaches to curbing greenhouse-gas emissions. Even Domenici and Bingaman don't expect the prospective bill to get far this year in the face of concerted (read: James Inhofe) opposition, say their spokesflacks. But they do hope it will lay the groundwork for future congressional action.

Tool Pigeon

Researchers will use birds to collect air-quality data for blog

Pigs can't fly, but soon pigeons will blog -- about air pollution. UC-Irvine professor Beatriz da Costa and two graduate students are developing tiny Global Positioning System units, cell phones, and pollution sensors that can fit into little bird backpacks (cute!). Da Costa plans to release 20 gear-toting pigeons into San Jose's smoggy air several times in August. As the birds wing toward their home roost, the devices will measure nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide levels, peg the readings to each bird's position, and text-message the data every 30 seconds to a blog, where folks will be able to see it in real time. "I wanted a new way of looking at air pollution that wasn't colored by political perspective and old arguments," says da Costa. Coo.