Latest Articles

Federal court reinstates streamlined permitting process for mountaintop mining

Grim news: Mountaintop mining is once again set to go full steam ahead.

In July of last year, a federal judge revoked 11 mountaintop mining permits issued under the Nationwide Permit 21 process by the Army Corps of Engineers. NP21 is a streamlined permitting process meant to govern activities that have minimal environmental impact. Judge Joseph R. Goodwin, being sentient and in possession of his faculties, ruled that mountaintop mining does not fall under that description and that permitting it under NP21 violates the Clean Water Act.

Environmentalists hailed Goodwin's ruling as a landmark victory.

Today, a federal appeals court overturned it.

The three judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit -- widely regarded as the most conservative of the 13 U.S. appellate courts -- unanimously ruled that the Corps had in fact acted in accordance with the Clean Water Act. Here's the ruling as HTML and here it is as a PDF.

Helluva way to head into Thanksgiving.

Biodiversivist

Carnivorous Powelliphanta snails that can grow to the size of a man's fist are being attacked by a coal mining company (note that this article was found in a business journal). What is wrong with letting a company move a colony of endangered snails? Well, first, the odds are very high that the move will fail. Secondly, if you don't draw the line here, what will stop the next person from moving them again when they want to build condos where they have just been moved? Why bother to save a snail species at all?

Green Gauge Report: Bad news

Here we are on the day before a long holiday weekend. A perfect day to bury bad news. So here goes.

The Green Gauge Report is a poll on environmental attitudes, based on 2,000 face-to-face interviews, conducted with a broad cross-section of demographics representative of the U.S. Census, undertaken by an arm of market-research outfit GfK NOP. They do it every year -- though for some reason they skipped 2004.

Joel Makower discusses this year's GGR in a post that tries -- one might say 'strains mightily' -- to put an optimistic spin on the results. But from what I've seen (and I've exchanged a few emails with Bob Pares, the guy who ran it), the results are almost uniformly discouraging. Consider this, from Joel's post:

Here's a breakdown of the study's five market segmentations for 2005 and 1995 (the numbers don't add up to 100 due to rounding):

• True-Blue Greens -- the most environmentally active segment of society: 11% of the U.S. population in 1995, 11% in 2005.
• Greenback Greens -- those most willing to pay the highest premium for green products: 7% in 1995, 8% in 2005.
• Sprouts -- fence-sitters who have embraced environmentalism more slowly: 31% in 1995, 33% in 2005.
• Grousers -- uninvolved or disinterested in environmental issues, who feel the issues are too big for them to solve: 14% in 1999, 14% in 2005.
• Apathetics -- the least engaged group who believe that environmental indifference is mainstream (referred to as "Basic Browns" in earlier Roper polls): 35% in 1995, 33% in 2005.

So: basically no change in the last decade in the number of folks genuinely concerned and engaged with environmental problems.

Obama and a bipartisan crew of colleagues unveil eco-friendly bills on energy

Caterwauling over the Iraq War last week brought Congress to a rancorous new low, drowning out calls from both sides of the aisle for a clean and sane energy future. A handful of senators and reps unveiled proposals pressing for the Bush administration and automakers to shrink America’s outsized energy demands and tackle the climate […]

Syriana and Gaghan: Two steps forward, one back

There's a short piece in the current Rolling Stone called "Hollywood vs. Big Oil" -- the piece isn't online, though a very positive review is -- about the movie Syriana. It's got some interesting background details, including a few about the financing from eBay billionaire Jeff Skoll's Participant Productions.

I'm seeing it on Friday, and I fully expect it to kick ass.

And I respect Stephen Gaghan for making it. It's a real public service. But dude ...

Despite immersing himself in the evils of the oil industry, Gaghan is not a purist. In fact, he has a confession to make. "I have to get a second car," he says quietly. "You know something? I don't like hybrids."

Look, I get that for some reason every mainstream media story about environmental issues has to include some kind of poke at the eco-messengers and how hypocritical they are for not living in huts in the woods. This is what the green movement gets for making personal environmental virtue such an obsessive focus.

But why does Gaghan have to play the game? And why a potshot at hybrids, which unlike, say, composting toilets, are perfectly accessible and practical? These little signals matter.

I'll try to get some kind of review of Syriana up over the weekend.

Update [2005-11-22 12:16:37 by David Roberts]: Well, it appears I was misled (by my own wife!). The opening this Friday is limited -- Dallas and New York, as far as I can tell (Seattle gets no love). It doesn't open wide until Dec. 9. So I guess I'll go see it then. Sigh.

A green gift-giving guide for all the folks on your holiday list

Are you the type who puts off holiday shopping until the last minute, makes a guilt-ridden and miserable foray to the mega-mall, and comes home with bags full of junk that nobody wants? Well, this year, turn over a new bough. We’ve got suggestions of eco-gewgaws for everyone on your list. The Trendy Clotheshorse Eco […]

New Wal-Mart documentary may be a sign of upheavals to come

Last week’s release of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price — not, for the most part, in movie theaters, but rather in “churches, family businesses, schools, living rooms, community centers, and parking lots,” as the film’s website puts it — marks a high-water moment in leftist media-based organizing. Image: walmartmovie.com. Director/producer Robert Greenwald adopted […]

Good Bite, and Good Luck

Grist taking a little Thanksgiving break We Gristers are taking a few days off to stuff ourselves silly and give thanks for our many devoted readers. Happy Thanksgiving! See you on Monday.

Chelsea Glintin’

Green amenities catching on in new housing complexes In Chelsea, Mass., new condos in the Forbes Park development come with access to a fleet of DaimlerChrysler Smart cars — two-seater mini-mobiles that get great mileage. Every unit at Buzz, a Dallas loft project, will include an eGo electric moped. They’re more useful than the traditional […]

At Least He Can Pronounce “Nuclear”

Blair softens on mandatory emissions targets and warms to nuclear power British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s shifting approach to climate change has environmentalists in a stormy mood. Earlier this fall, he hinted publicly that he was cooling his support for extending the Kyoto Protocol’s mandatory greenhouse-gas reduction targets beyond the treaty’s conclusion in 2012. Now […]