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Weak energy-efficiency rules flying under the radar
I wish enviros (and, hell, everyone else) would kick up more of a fuss about this kind of stuff. Energy-efficiency measures don't get enough attention, from the PTB or from the green movement.
The Bushies are lowballing these standards because, well, that's what they do: the minimal necessary to keep up appearances and still not bother their industry friends. If they discovered that everyone was watching, and a shitstorm would kick up every time they tried to skirt real, impactful rules on this sort of thing, they'd change their tune. As it is, they get away with it because everybody's attention is elsewhere.
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Diss Me Cate
EPA whistleblower says agency misled on health hazards of 9/11 dust A U.S. EPA whistleblower has gone public with accusations that the agency downplayed the health hazards of dust from the collapsed World Trade Center. EPA senior scientist Cate Jenkins — who has long clashed with her employer — says the agency relied on misleading […]
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Stop Us If You’ve Heard This One
EPA must consult wildlife officials about pesticide use Yesterday a federal judge overturned a two-year-old regulation that allowed the U.S. EPA to approve pesticides without consulting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about toxic impact on rare animals and plants. Ruling in favor of nine environmental groups, U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenor declared that […]
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Shags in the wild
While it is not about a strictly environmental topic, I nonetheless feel duty-bound (and proud) to point out that our very own Sarah van Schagen -- author of the wildly popular Something Fishy column -- has a new piece up on CampusProgress.org. Check it out.
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Non-“environmental” environmental policies
It's funny -- on the way to work today, I was thinking about a post on policies that would help the environment but are not traditionally thought of as "environmental." Then John pops up this morning with something very similar. So I guess it's in the air.
One of the common accusations against the environmental movement in the whole death debate was that enviros conceive of "the environment" too narrowly, and thus conceive of their political mandate too narrowly. They focus on technocratic policies about PPB of contaminants in water or new-source regulations on coal plants, instead of trying to build a broad progressive movement.
So. What are some policies that most people would not label "environmental," but which would benefit the environment? Off the top of my head I'd cite:
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The best ways to “fix” agriculture
Agricultural presents a particularly challenging set of environmental issues because of its complexity and the myriad ways agriculture affects environmental variables; from pesticides to soil erosion to water use, agriculture is by far the greatest human-induced alteration of the natural environment on the planet.
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Komanoff on wind
Don't miss an excellent piece in Orion on the fevered debate over wind power. It's by Charles Komanoff, who you know as a periodic Gristmill contributor.
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To Russia with love, again
Seems another Chinese chemical spill is on its way to the Russian Far East (RFE). ITAR-TASS out of Moscow reported today that "a five kilometre-long benzol slick resulting from another dumping of chemicals into the Sungari river from a plant in the Chinese province of Jilin is expected to reach Russia's city of Khabarovsk on September 7-8." The story goes on to say that the benzol may evaporate before it reaches the Amur River, the same one that was poisoned last winter by a chemical spill from a factory in the same Chinese province.
Not everyone has a China environment guru to consult on such stories, but luckily I do. She is my colleague, Dr. Jennifer Turner, who directs the China Environment Forum here at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Here is an email where she puts the spill in context:
