Robert Zoellick, the Bush administration's chief trade official, is calling on the U.S. to challenge the European Union's ban on genetically modified food. Zoellick claims the ban is both scientifically backward and "immoral," arguing that it deprives starving people in the developing world of food. The U.S. and the E.U. have adopted polar positions when it comes to GM foods. The former says such food is not only safe but also an important tool in the fight against world hunger, while the latter is broadly suspicious of GM crops and fears that agribusiness is promoting them without adequate concern for …

U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) was chosen this week to lead the House Resources Committee, much to the dismay of environmentalists. As head of the committee, Pombo, who earned only a 9 percent approval rating from the League of Conservation Voters in the last session of Congress, will have significant say in shaping federal legislation on water issues and natural forests and parks. Environmentalists are particularly alarmed by Pombo's new power to help pass legislation modifying the federal Endangered Species Act, which he openly detests. Pombo sees the ESA and other federal environmental laws as generally meddlesome, expensive, and a …

Two former government scientists say their superiors shot down years' worth of research on the effects of tuna fishing on dolphin populations because the findings clashed with the policy aims of the Clinton and Bush administrations. Separate research conducted by Albert Myrick and Sarka Southern indicated that dolphins are exposed to dangerous levels of stress by the practice of chasing and encircling them to catch tuna. Myrick says he retired from his government post in 1995 after he was not permitted to continue his work, and Southern says she was forced to abandon her dolphin study and focus on other …

The top dogs at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission say they are fully committed to safety -- but their own employees are not so sure. One-third of NRC workers question its commitment to public safety, and nearly half would not be comfortable raising safety concerns within the agency, according to a survey conducted by a private consulting firm. About half of the NRC's 3,072 employees were surveyed, ranging from clerical workers to nuclear engineers to senior managers; nearly 90 percent of the latter group said the agency was firmly committed to safety, but 30 percent of non-supervisory workers, including senior career …

It's been nine weeks since voters turned the national government over to Republican lawmakers, many of whom explicitly vowed to help President Bush and his industrial allies complete what former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) failed to do in 1995: dismantle the nation's basic protections for water, air, wild lands, forests, and public health. An uphill battleground. Since the first hours after the election, senior staff members from the most prominent U.S. green groups have been preparing an action plan to foil the Republican assault on the environment -- and today, when Congress reconvenes, that plan will be launched. …

The Bush administration is to blame for last fall's die-off of 33,000 salmon along the Klamath River in Northern California, biologists from the state's Department of Fish and Game have determined. They say the fish kill -- the largest ever recorded in the West -- was the result of the administration's decision to divert water from the river to farming interests, a move that was heavily protested by environmentalists, tribes, and some in the fishing industry, who predicted that salmon would suffer as a result. At the time of the die-off, the Bush administration said not enough science was available …

Despite inevitable resistance from the Bush administration and fellow Congress members, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) plan to unveil a proposal this week that would force all U.S. industries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation would require all industries to limit their emissions to 2000 levels by 2010 and 1990 levels by 2016. McCain has scheduled a hearing on the matter for tomorrow and plans to send a proposal to the Senate floor later this year, according to his aides. That proposal is bound to face stiff opposition from President Bush and from Sen. James …

In a lawsuit made public late last week, Earth Island Institute and other environmental organizations have sued the U.S. government for relaxing labeling standards for "dolphin-safe" tuna. The suit stems from a decision by the U.S. Commerce Department to classify as dolphin-safe a previously prohibited method of fishing -- in which dolphins are encircled with nets to trap tuna swimming below -- so long as an onboard observer certified that no dolphins were killed or injured in the process. The change in classification would primarily affect Mexico, which has been excluded from the U.S. market for more than a decade …

The Bush administration released yesterday a list of more than 300 federal regulations that could be altered or scrapped in the coming year, including many pertaining to the environment. The list grew out of an announcement made by President Bush in March, when he urged companies to contact the administration "[if] there are nettlesome regulations which are costly for you to operate your business that you don't think make any sense." That was the second time the administration has put out such a call; last year, it received 71 proposals and took action on many of them, including lowering energy-efficiency …

Here's a tidbit of holiday cheer: Massachusetts Gov.-elect Mitt Romney (R) has picked Douglas Foy to fill a key position in his administration, and environmentalists couldn't be more delighted with the choice. As president of the Conservation Law Foundation since 1977, Foy has been an outspoken advocate of environmentally friendly urban planning. (He's also made it a habit of riding his bike to work from his home 20 miles away.) At CLF, he helped force the cleanup of Boston Harbor, halted oil and gas drilling on Georges Bank, demanded cleaner power plants, and improved or halted dozens of major development …