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Which parts of the U.S. have put themselves in nature’s way?

It's easy to see in hindsight. Yes, Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster, but it was aided by some very unnatural factors -- developed wetlands and neglected levees, to name two. Figuring there must be other parts of the U.S. in human-made peril, we talked with experts to learn where we've made ourselves most vulnerable, and what -- in lieu of scrapping the whole country and starting over -- is being done to help.

All That’s Gold Does Not Glitter

Indonesian judge tosses out pollution suit against mining giant Newmont This week, an Indonesian judge threw out a $133 million civil suit against Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corp., the world’s largest gold miner. Indonesia Environment Minister Rachmat Witular filed the lawsuit in April, charging that a now-closed Newmont gold operation dumped mercury- and arsenic-laden waste into […]

Stuck with a gas guzzler? Just burn it.

Here's an amusing little story, though I don't know how much of it is local-news hype: Apparently, insurance fraud by SUV owners in California is on the rise. Gas prices are so high some folks are desperate to shed their gas guzzlers. So they torch 'em and report 'em stolen.

It's auto-eco-terrorism!

(Hat tip: reader B.T.)

But House version doesn’t call for drilling in Arctic Refuge or offshore areas

Early this morning, the House passed a highly contentious budget reconciliation bill; it remained stripped of provisions that would allow drilling in the Arctic Refuge and new oil exploration in offshore areas, but it still contained the much-fretted-over "mining reform" provision that would sell off millions of acres of public land at fire-sale prices, as described in detail by Amanda Griscom Little yesterday.

The Senate passed its version of the bill earlier this month -- it does call for drilling the refuge and offshore areas, but doesn't call for a sell-off of mining lands.

Now we'll have to wait and see how a compromise version shakes out during negotiations in House-Senate conference committee. Bets, anyone?

Sharp donates solar panels to popular ABC show

Sharp Electronics Company has donated a solar energy system to ABC's hit show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. According to the Sharp press release [PDF], the episode is scheduled to air in January 2006.

(Via TH)

Republican meltdown

So you know that massive Republican budget-cutting bill that was pulled from the floor last week for lack of votes? The one that may or may not include drilling the the Arctic Refuge and a massive giveaway of public lands?

Its prospects are not looking good. The legendary Republican discipline and unity were already looking shaky last week. But earlier today, a massive Labor-HHS spending bill (with its attendant huge cuts in education and home-heating assistance) was voted down on the floor of the House. Not pulled off the floor for lack of votes, mind you, but voted down. The vote was even held open for a half hour (an odious and increasingly common tactic for R leadership) and they still couldn't wrangle the votes.

The is the first floor vote the R's have flat out lost in a long, long time. It's a big deal. It demonstrates the ongoing breakdown of the Republican coalition.

And it makes the prospects for an extremely contentious budget-cutting bill (later this week!) quite dim. Good news for those concerned for environmental protection.

There's more on the Republican meltdown on The New Republic's new(ish) blog The Plank here and here.

Update [2005-11-18 8:24:48 by David Roberts]: Well, that will teach me to prognosticate. The House passed the bill this morning. Sounds like it was a barrel of fun, too.

The budget debate was marked by acrimony and personal attacks. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) mocked the deficit-minded "Blue Dog" Democrats, calling them "lap dogs." Rep. Marion Berry (D-Ark.) called the youthful, redheaded Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) a "Howdy Doody-looking nimrod."

Now we'll have to see how things play out in the House-Senate committee.

We watch and cringe

Right now a massive $70 billion tax-cut bill is working its way through the Senate.

(You will recall that Congressional Republicans split the budget bill in two, so the first bill would be pure spending cuts -- thus getting them coverage in the press for "courageously" cutting spending to rein in the deficit -- and the second pure tax cuts, to please all their normal constituencies. The latter being much larger than the former, the net result is a massive expansion of the deficit.)

Energy prices being what they are, Congresscritters feel pressured to Do Something. Rather than any substantive changes in energy policy -- kind of blew that chance with the grotesque energy bill -- they're settling for symbolic smacks to the wrist of Big Oil.

I won't get too far into the weeds of various proposals, since none of them will survive House-Senate conference committee and none would make a very big difference if it did. I'll just do the bloggy thing and extract a few absurdities from the press coverage.

Here's one from The Wall Street Journal:

Manson retires

Assistant secretary of the interior for fish and wildlife and parks Craig Manson, whose memorable interview with Grist put our readers in full frosh, has resigned. Lord only knows how they'll be able to replace him.

REACHy Keen

European Parliament passes major chemical registration and testing law The European Parliament has passed the landmark Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals legislation, widely known to wonks as REACH. If approved by the national governments of the European Union, it will turn traditional regulation on its head, putting the burden of proof on manufacturers — […]

Bisons to Kill

Bison reintroduced to Montana prairie, and hunted near Yellowstone Oh give us a home where the buffalo rooooaaam … Forgive us, we’re inspired: Even as we sing, 16 bison are being released onto about 30,000 acres of their ancestral Montana prairie in an attempt to reintroduce the species in the wild there. It’s just one […]