Latest Articles
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Wind farms: hot or not?
Treehugger has an excellent photo contest running. They want to see both the ugliest and the most attractive ... wind farms. Go check 'em out!
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The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runoff
Cities start getting creative in cleaning up runoff Catalyzed by legal action from enviro groups, the U.S. EPA has started cracking down on an oft-overlooked cause of befouled waterways: polluted runoff. On its journey through urban and suburban streets, rainwater picks up and carries motor oil, antifreeze, pesticides, and other nasties, eventually dumping them in […]
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Highway Just Met a Girl Named Maria
Provision in highway bill would require gas-mileage reality check The U.S. EPA would have to use more realistic conditions when testing new vehicle models for gas-mileage figures under an amendment offered by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), backed by green and consumer groups, and successfully attached to the Senate highway bill. Currently, the agency’s methods include […]
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A Bank Slate
Big banks play growing role in curbing eco-destruction Increasingly, green groups are both protesting against and partnering with major financial institutions that have the power to back — or not — environmentally destructive projects. “The private financial sector more than any other has the ability to begin the ecological U-turn modern society so desperately needs,” […]
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You’re Turning Into a Real Ditch
Panama Canal threatened by denuded forest watershed Here’s how the Panama Canal works: Torrential downpours batter the country’s forests during rainy season; the water is absorbed into the watershed and feeds steadily into massive, human-made Gatun Lake; the lake then feeds water into the canal. The shipping route thus provided is responsible for some 40 […]
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Don’t Get Fresh With Me
Regional FWS director warns employees against using new science The southwestern regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t like his science fresh. He recently issued a memo instructing his staff to disregard any genetic science about an endangered species conducted after the species was listed under the Endangered Species Act (in some […]
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Beleaguered automaker finally starts touting fuel economy
GM -- stung by declining sales of SUVs and subsequently shamed by having its credit ratings lowered to junk status -- is trying a new marketing approach: touting its more fuel-efficient models (such as they are).
A new full-page newspaper ad cries "Meet the 30 and Up Crowd" and showcases "19 cars that have EPA highway estimates of at least 30 miles per gallon."
Too bad it doesn't have a single consumer hybrid model that it can tout on the page. (Its two hybrid trucks top out at 22 mpg.) Sucks to be GM.
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Bush to get roughly half his environmental-nightmare judges through the Senate.
Well, the showdown over the so-called "nuclear option" in the Senate is over, averted by a last-minute compromise. It will be spun every which way, but it looks to me like Democrats managed to pull defeat from the jaws of victory yet again. Republicans promise not to prohibit (by breaking Senate rules) filibusters of judicial candidates -- for now, though Frist says, "all options remain" -- and Dems promise only to filibuster in "extraordinary circumstances" (if these fruitloop judges aren't extraordinary circumstances, what could be?). Democrats will allow Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen, and Bill Pryor to pass through unobstructed.
All these judges should be regarded as nightmarish to anyone fond of the post-1930s federal apparatus, but Pryor in particular is a blow to the environment.
The only bright spot is that William G. Myers III has not been filibuster-proofed. Myers is, as Grist readers know, quite possibly the most anti-environment judge in the nation.
So: the Dems let some truly insane far-right judges through without filibuster. In exchange, they get to keep the theoretical right to filibuster -- in "extraordinary circumstances" -- until Republicans decide to take it away.
The R's held a gun to the D's head and said, "give me all your money." D's gave them half their money and called it a compromise.
It's a grim day for the environment and a grim day for the country.
(Read this story for a full rundown on Bush's judicial nominees, and read this story for a principled argument on why the nuclear option is historically unprecedented and politically disastrous.)
Update [2005-5-23 22:25:0 by Dave Roberts]:: It makes me feel a little better that Mark Schmitt is resigned and James Dobson and Gary Bauer are furious. But only a little.
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Why don’t the big political blogs cover environmental issues?
Jeff is very right about this -- in general, the bigtime political blogosphere neglects environmental issues. This is a lamentable state of affairs. There are probably several factors at work.
First, blogs are very much of the moment. A few, like Mark Schmitt's Decembrist, are more deliberative and slow-moving, but most -- Atrios being the prime example -- are almost literally minute-by-minute affairs. As such, they are somewhat bound to the politicians and "mainstream media" they cover. And those politicians, and that mainstream media, don't cover environmental issues enough. So, the culpability goes upwards.
But still, energy issues come up a lot. Global warming comes up a lot. There's certainly plenty out there to cover if one of these guys -- and really, the big ones are mostly guys -- turned their minds to it. It's a peculiar thing: Even when something notable happens in the political arena, like the strange-bedfellows, bipartisan Energy Future Coalition sending a high-profile letter to President Bush pleading for a saner energy policy, it passes by virtually without note on the big blogs.
Is it just that the particular individuals involved have no interest or background on eco-stuff? Or is there something more systemic at work? Discuss.
