Latest Articles
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Wired: Two top Obama science advisors are tied to Monsanto and Amgen
I hope the executive branch’s "war on science" era ends in January. Heading into a period of climate change, tight fossil energy supplies, growing trouble with food-borne illnesses, declining health metrics, etc, we clearly don’t need a bunch of creationists and climate-change deniers knocking about the White House. At the same time, I hope we […]
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States say Pentagon bullies them into not enforcing toxic cleanups
Environmental regulators from more than a dozen states have accused the U.S. Department of Defense of retaliating against them for attempting to enforce cleanup of contaminated military-owned sites. “In the worst-case scenarios, the Department of Defense is intimidating a state environmental agency into not pursing enforcement,” said Steve Brown of the Environmental Council of States […]
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Chicago unveils detailed climate plan
Chicago unveiled an ambitious climate-change plan on Thursday aimed at cutting its greenhouse-gas emissions 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 as part of its commitment to meeting the goals of the Kyoto Protocol. Along with over 700 other cities and municipalities in the U.S., Chicago signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, committing it […]
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Appeals court rules EPA must protect waterways from construction pollution
The U.S. EPA is required by the Clean Water Act to protect the nation’s waterways and drinking water from construction-industry pollution, and the agency must develop regulations to address construction-site runoff by December 2009, a federal appeals court ruled [PDF] Thursday. Sediment from construction sites, usually washed into rivers and other waterways via storm water, […]
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Democrat Mark Begich looks to unseat indicted Ted Stevens
Sarah Palin isn’t the only Alaskan in a hot race this election season. Enviros are also closely watching the state’s Senate race, which has incumbent Republican Ted Stevens up against Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage. Stevens cruised to an easy victory in the Republican primary last month, winning 63 percent of the vote […]
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House passes minor environment-related bills and works a bit on climate
The House got down to some business on Thursday, working to cross a few things off its list before time runs out on the 110th Congress. It passed the Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act, which would curb speculation in the energy-futures markets. The bill was approved by a vote of 283 to 133, and […]
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New McCain ad repeats discredited claim that Obama will raise taxes on electricity
After releasing an ad earlier this week that contained debunked lies about offshore drilling and gas prices, John McCain unveiled a new ad today, "Dome," that hits on classic conservative fears of "massive government," and both "painful" and "skyrocketing" taxes. The ad’s voiceover specifically stokes fears of "skyrocketing taxes on life savings, electricity, and home […]
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McCain says fish love oil rigs
“And by the way, on that oil rig — and I’m sure you’ve probably heard this story — you look down, and there’s fish everywhere! There’s fish everywhere! Yeah, the fish love to be around those rigs. So not only can it be helpful for energy, it can be helpful for some pretty good meals […]
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Texas Rep. Joe Barton kills effort to clean up power plants
In 2003, a Dallas Morning News editorial dubbed Republican Congressman Joe Barton “Smokey Joe” for his efforts to protect Texas polluters from pollution control requirements. Now Smokey Joe is at it again. He has blocked an attempt in Congress to make at least some progress towards cleaning up coal-fired power plants. The issue involves a […]
