Latest Articles
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Arctic Refuge drilling to be attached to defense appropriations bill
Oh crap.
From Congressional Quarterly:
Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ted Stevens said Thursday that House and Senate appropriators have agreed to attach drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to the Defense bill in conference, though it is unclear if he can muster the 60 votes needed to end a filbuster on the legislation that the move would provoke.
"We've agreed to put ANWR on it so we'll just have to wait and see what's going to happen," said Stevens, R-Alaska. "The leaders of the subcommittee on both sides have agreed. They will support it so I think it will pass."
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Stevens, a staunch supporter of energy exploration in ANWR, had outlined a gambit Wednesday to link drilling in the region to hurricane relief aid that also will likely be attached to the Defense spending measure (HR 2863) in the hope that Gulf Coast lawmakers would vote with him. Tying the measure to support for the troops makes voting to sustain a filibuster doubly hard.
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., made it clear to Senate leaders earlier this week that ANWR drilling cannot pass in the House on the budget savings package, and suggested using the Defense Appropriations conference report as the alternate vehicle, according to a Senate GOP aide.
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Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who voted against the Senate budget savings package largely because of his opposition to ANWR drilling, said it would put him in a difficult position if ANWR were attached to the final Defense spending bill.
"I have a clear position on ANWR. I have a clear position on supporting our troops," Coleman said.
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Some Democrats attacked Stevens' plan Thursday.
"Like Ahab, certain Republicans are so dedicated to a lost cause that they have lost their reason in the process," said Rep. Ed J. Markey, D-Mass., in a statement. Markey said adding ANWR to the Defense appropriations bill would slow down the approval of funding for the troops.
"Let us hope that those who captain the Senate will turn this ship around before it founders on a filibuster," Markey said. -
Turn the Meat Around
Conservationists pay to end hunting in western Canada wilderness The Raincoast Conservation Foundation opposes sport hunting, and it’s putting its money where its mouth is: It purchased key hunting rights to a prime wilderness area along the coast of British Columbia, and plans to end sport hunting there for good. In late November, the group […]
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Stickin’ It to the Pan
DuPont to pay $16.5 million for hiding chemical’s risks DuPont will pay $16.5 million in a settlement with the U.S. EPA for failing to report information on health and environmental risks of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), a chemical used to make Teflon and other plastics. Greenies are ticked that the company won’t be forced to admit […]
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The Talk of the Drown
Polar bears drowning as Alaska sea ice disappears OK, we’re trying to keep a positive outlook here, but … drowning polar bears? Seriously? And just when therapy was starting to work. In September 2004 (the year the polar ice cap receded a record 160 miles from Alaska’s north coast), federal researchers doing routine aerial surveys […]
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Stevens
Yesterday I posted some of an article from Congressional Quarterly about the mad rush by some Congressfolk -- particularly Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) -- to get Arctic Refuge drilling passed this year. They sense that this is their last chance.
I really encourage you to go read it if you haven't already. It's quite eye-opening.
Stevens is aiming to put Gulf hurricane relief and refuge drilling together in the same bill (either the budget bill or the defense appropriations bill), so lawmakers have to vote for both or against both.
"It's going to be awfully hard to vote against [hurricane aid]," Stevens said. "If it's in there, maybe people will vote with me on ANWR."
Take a moment and really think that over.
Stevens is talking about holding aid to desperately needy people hostage in order to shove through a drilling provision contrary to the repeatedly expressed preferences of the majority of Americans.
By now this kind of stuff barely raises an eyebrow -- Stevens obviously feels no shame openly discussing it -- but that doesn't make it any less venal.
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Bill Gates bets on ethanol
I don't think Tom Philpott is going to be happy about this. Industrial corn, as far as the eye can see ...
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Polar bears drowning
I thought this new Greenpeace commercial was kind of a cutesy joke. But no: Turns out polar bears really are drowning.
(Yeah, it's subscription only, so there's an excerpt below the fold.)
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Interactive map identifies areas of imminent extinction
Researchers have identified 595 sites for species protection in a new interactive map. Representing more than a dozen major conservation groups, collaborators on the map were able to pinpoint areas where extinction is a question of when, not if. Each spot on the map represents either the only place an endangered species is found or a spot where 95 percent of the species' population is found. Almost 800 endangered species are listed with the map's danger spots, though they include only birds, mammals, amphibians, conifers, and some reptiles, as others have yet to be studied or identified.
The map appears to be the first major project of the Alliance for Zero Extinction, a global coalition of biodiversity-minded organizations.
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Ford kudos
Say what you will about the fuel-efficiency of their vehicle fleet -- it looks like Ford did the right thing this time.
