Latest Articles

School board official defends the decision

Remember the story about how the Federal Way school board put a "moratorium" on showings of An Inconvenient Truth? David Larsen, the now-extremely-embattled vice president of the Federal Way school board, has a piece in the Seattle Times today, explaining what the school board really did and why they did it. First, I should say […]

An account of one scientist’s testimony

On Friday, I participated in a briefing on Capitol Hill on the use of science in policy debates. Other panelists were Don Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Science magazine, Juliet Eilperin, environment reporter for the Washington Post, and David Goldston, formerly chief of staff of the House Science Committee and now a lecturer at Princeton.

In my presentation, I made two points that will not surprise long-time readers.

Bush knocks down rumors of climate shift

Lest there remain any hope smoldering in wannabe-centrist hearts about Bush’s change of course on global warming, White House press flack Tony Snow put it decisively to rest yesterday, saying: "I want to walk you back from the whole carbon cap story … The carbon cap stuff is not accurate. It’s wrong." And again: "If […]

Embrace Me, You Irreplaceable You

Unions, conservationists join forces to protect sporting rights Need more proof that green is gaining steam? Voila: a brand-new partnership between a Republican-leaning conservation group and 20 labor unions that represent nearly 5 million people. Worried that hunters and anglers are being barred from prime playgrounds, the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance will push for increased federal […]

That Doesn’t Even Make Fence

Border fence construction may bypass environmental laws It’s hard to think of a worse idea than building a 700-mile border fence between the U.S. and Mexico, but here’s a shot: building a border fence without abiding by the Endangered Species Act, Federal Water Pollution Control Act, or National Environmental Policy Act. Yet on Monday, Homeland […]

No One Anticipated the Breach of the Royalties

U.S. Interior Department knew about drilling loophole for years We’re beginning to detect a pattern among Bush administration responses to huge fusterclucks. It seems U.S. Interior Department officials who said they’d learned only last year that oil companies were avoiding billions of dollars in royalty payments have (surprise!) known about the problem for a while. […]

Rising tortilla prices in Mexico point to a usual suspect

For decades, the price of corn tortillas -- a staple for many families -- was subsidized by the Mexican government. The tortilla subsidy was eliminated in 1999, just as cheap, subsidized corn imported from the U.S. started to flood into Mexico, putting downward pressure on Mexican prices for the grain. Consumers continued to enjoy low prices for tortillas, but Mexican farmers struggled to compete.

That situation has changed dramatically over the last several months. According to an article by Marla Dickerson in the L.A. Times, prices for tortillas have risen by more than 60% in some parts of Mexico in recent weeks. Several factors appear to be responsible for the price rise -- including, allegedly, price gouging by the food giant GRUMA, which commands an estimated 70% share of the market for tortillas and cornmeal in Mexico. But rising demand for yellow corn from U.S. ethanol plants has also been blamed, even though a different (white) variety of corn is used for making tortillas. The following day, in another L.A. Times article, Dickerson reported that Mexican corn produces are rejoicing at the high prices they now receive for their product.

A special series on the biz angles

Reuters is pumping out stories from its "biofuels summit," looking into all the biz angles of the story from the U.S., Asia, and Europe. In a previous life, I woulda been editing this stuff ... and Tom Philpott reporting it. It's straight news, so I leave the sage commentary to you Gristies.

Biofuel processing? Part 2: methanol

As a method of processing biomass into liquid fuel, methanol tends to be less discussed than its more glamorous cousin ethanol. But it is much more efficient, and can accept just about any biological input besides.

There are some good ones

DR: Let’s talk legal issues. I can see the analogy between cigarettes causing lung cancer and burning oil causing asthma. You have a reasonably distinct causal chain. You can reasonably point to knowledge on the part of the oil companies. But when it comes to global warming, you have a long and tenuous causal chain, […]