Uncategorized

Mutts and Jeffords

We hate to be the bearer of still more bad tidings, but what can we say? It’s been a rough week for the environment on Capitol Hill. One day after declining to support tougher fuel-efficiency standards, the Senate yesterday voted down a measure that would have required 20 percent of the nation’s electricity to be […]

Military Unintelligence

The House Subcommittee on Military Readiness held a hearing yesterday to discuss whether environmental regulations are impeding the full functioning of the U.S. military. Subcommittee Chair Joel Hefley (R-Colo.) said his goal was to “find a balance between the need to protect national security and the environment.” He then proceeded to criticize “ever-increasing limitations and […]

Beating Bushes and Dead Horses

Responding to Mathew Gross’ piece, Grist readers did anything but beat around the bush. Gross argued that Bush’s abysmal environmental record proved that Gore would have been a far different — and better — president, notwithstanding the claims of the Naderites. That charge clearly touched a nerve with our readers. From eulogies to Rush Limbaugh […]

Boy Oh Boise

The timber and paper giant Boise Cascade agreed yesterday to settle a federal lawsuit, filed by the U.S. EPA and the Department of Justice, accusing the company of violating the New Source Review regulations of the Clean Air Act. The regulations require companies to install state-of-the-art pollution controls when upgrading facilities; the suit alleged that […]

New District in Colombia

In what conservationists hope will serve as a model for future projects, Colombia has set aside a 167,960-acre park in the Amazon basin and granted the indigenous people who live there control over its management. Formally established late last month after years of negotiations between the government, indigenous people, and environmental groups, Indiwasi National Park […]

They’re Driving Us Crazy

A proposal to increase Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency standards for vehicles by 50 percent over the next 13 years was effectively voted down 62 to 38 in the Senate yesterday, to the delight of automakers and dismay of environmentalists. The Senate instead approved an industry-backed measure that would give the Bush administration two more years […]

Superadobe, Super Abode

If the president of Senegal has his way, the West African nation could one day be home to a model eco-town that mitigates the problems caused by both poverty and environmental degradation. The project is the brainchild of architect Nader Khalili, who pioneered a construction method known as “Superadobe,” in which sand and barbed wire […]

Babbittry

Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt announced today that he will become the chair of a company that plans to develop massive water projects in the Middle East. Babbitt, a lawyer who headed up the Interior Department during the Clinton administration, has since earned the ire of environmentalists by advising two companies seeking to develop parts […]

Fewer Living Through Chemistry?

Much of the post-Sept. 11 anxiety about future acts of terrorism has focused on the threat of biological or nuclear disaster — but an attack on a U.S. chemical plant could do as much or more harm, killing or injuring as many as 2.4 million people. That figure, which comes from a report by the […]

Home Builders, Habitat Wreckers

In what appears to be yet another triumph of industry over everything else, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service announced this week that it would temporarily revoke habitat protection for salmon and steelhead in 150 watersheds, river areas, bays, and estuaries in four western states. The changes, which are part of a series of recent […]