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Bushies restore forest research funding

Man, journalism is hard! America is addicted to oil -- oh wait, no it isn't. Evangelicals aren't fighting global warming -- oh wait, yes they are. (And by the way, hallelujah!) The Bush administration has suspended funding for forest research that contradicts timber policy -- oh wait, no they haven't.

A federal agency restored funding Wednesday for a study that has provided evidence for conservationists opposing the Bush administration's policy of logging after wildfires.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's decision to lift its suspension of the final year of a three-year grant to Oregon State University came a day after a congressman called for an investigation of the funding cutoff.

Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., had asked the Interior Department's inspector general to examine whether the bureau was punishing the researchers for their findings.

Hey, I'm not complaining. Keep the good news rolling in. I'm still waiting for the front-page headline "Climate Change Not Actually a Problem After All." Maybe tomorrow? Maybe The Day After Tomorrow?

Palm oil, that is

Any environmentalists out there who think biofuels cannot follow the same path as the petrochemical industry are deluding themselves. Biofuels have just as much, possibly more, potential to destroy our ecosytems than today's oil industry. A large percentage of biofuels being produced today are being grown on lands (the Amazon, Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia) that were rainforest carbon sinks just a few decades ago. In contrast, petroleum is pumped out of holes in the ground. The ecological damage caused by oil spills, and of course global warming, are well documented, and finding ways to stop pumping greenhouse gases into the air have to be found, but think a minute.

Exactly what is Kyoto trying to do? Is it trying to stop global warming or is it trying to stop ecological devastation? To be precise: It is trying to stop ecological devastation by stopping global warming. So, logically, any scheme to reduce CO2 that causes ecological degradation is self-defeating and should be made illegal. From the Epoch Times:

In the dim yet recent past Malaysia and Indonesia joined the Kyoto Protocol buoyed by their massive carbon credits in lieu of rainforest. The special waiver in the deal is that if palm oil forests replace rainforest, their Kyoto obligations remain the same.

In other words, it is acceptable under Kyoto to destroy rainforests to grow biofuels.

Two new photo books focus on food

In the valuable new book Fields of Plenty: A Farmer’s Journey in Search of Real Food and the People Who Grow It, author Michael Ableman rambles across the country in a VW van, visiting small-scale farmers to talk with them at the table and in the field. Vine and dandy. Photo: Chrissi Nerantzi. Not surprisingly, […]

Derrick Cheater

Bush admin proposes drilling off Florida, Virginia, Alaska coasts When President Bush said “America is addicted to oil,” we thought … wait, did we say this already? Yesterday, the administration proposed new oil and gas drilling off the coasts of Florida, Virginia, and Alaska — including areas covered by a long-standing moratorium on offshore energy […]

The Sweden Hereafter

Sweden aims to be oil-free in 15 years It’s official: Sweden is the coolest … country … evar. Already widely admired for meatballs, Ikea, and, um, other Swedish stuff, the country has now announced its aim to have an oil-free economy by 2020. The Swedes cut the percentage of their energy coming from oil from […]

A Woman Needs a Fish Like a Bicycle Needs … Oh, Never Mind

One in five U.S. women have high mercury levels, suggests new report You weren’t thinking of having children, were you? Good: One in five American women of childbearing age may have unsafe levels of mercury in their bodies, according to a new report by the Environmental Quality Institute at University of North Carolina-Asheville. In the […]

Less Money, Mo’ Problems

Bush’s 2007 budget slashes funding for energy conservation When President Bush said “America is addicted to oil,” we thought he meant that was a bad thing. Apparently not: Bush’s proposed 2007 budget increases funding for oil and gas drilling on public lands and slashes $100 million from some of the Energy Department’s most effective conservation […]

Gristmill exclusive!!!!!

Breaking news!

At my breakfast this morning with Lester Brown, the man ordered a ham and cheese omelet.

That's right. This alleged "environmentalist" is not ... a ... vegetarian.

Press inquiries may be directed to me.

Developing ...

Coal companies sue feds for letting them slack on safety

After the Sago coal mine disaster killed 12 West Virginia miners last month, the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) came under widespread criticism for failing to adequately regulate the coal industry and protect mine workers. Critics blamed the Bush administration for stocking the agency with coal industry cronies who wanted a more "cooperative" approach to safety regulations rather than serious enforcement. Now, one more group has joined the chorus of MSHA critics: the very coal companies that worked to gut the agency in the first place.

Read the rest of this weird, wacky tale.

It sucks

Sigh:

President Bush's latest spending plan is unlikely to substantially reduce US oil consumption in the short term because it slashes $100 million from federal programs promoting conservation and falls short of the commitment in last year's energy bill to make vast new investments in renewable and emerging technologies, like hydrogen fuel and solar power.

I can hardly bear to discuss the rest of this story -- though it is an excellent piece of reporting. You should read it.

To summarize: Bush's budget is de-funding and de-emphasizing energy conservation, very much deliberately ("Craig Stevens, a Department of Energy spokesman, said the White House's emphasis on new energy sources over conservation reflects the department's current priorities."). Renewables are getting less money even than they were promised in last year's energy bill. Most of the money for renewables is devoted to nuclear, specifically a "$250 million Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, designed in part to encourage developing nations to build nuclear power plants." He's increasing the Interior Department's budget for oil drilling, and assuming revenues from drilling in the Arctic Refuge. And on and on.

Everything Bush said about energy in the SOTU was a farce. Nothing has changed.