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Who You Gonna Believe, Us or Some “Inspector”?

EPA inspector general blasts Bush admin’s power-plant rules The U.S. EPA came under harsh criticism yesterday from environmental fringe extremists … oh, wait, no … actually, from its own top investigative official. The agency’s inspector general issued a scathing report saying that enforcement of clean-air laws has been crippled by the Bush administration’s decision to […]

The environment and foreign policy

No presidential debate has ever provided much succor for environmentalists, but last night's was literally devoid of any mention of environmental issues, save one:  In a discussion of Bush's tendency to be "certain but wrong," Kerry wedged "global warming" into a list of subjects about which the president is ignoring facts.

What's significant is not just that green issues were passed over, but that they were passed over in a debate focused on foreign policy.  In the U.S., environmentalism is still considered a matter of domestic politics, a "special interest."  It is frequently portrayed as a lifestyle quirk, a preoccupation of the leisure class -- as when Dick Cheney notoriously dismissed energy conservation as a "sign of personal virtue."

But in years to come, environmental problems will likely manifest primarily as foreign policy issues.  Sir David King, Tony Blair's chief science advisor, got an avalanche of press recently for baldly asserting that climate change is a greater danger to the world than terrorism.  

It was an artless way of making a perfectly legitimate point.

Please Hold for the Next Available Wildlife Protection

Bush administration puts Forest Service wildlife protections on hold The Bush administration issued a temporary rule yesterday suspending strict wildlife protections used by national forest managers since 1982. That year, the Reagan administration instructed forest managers in the U.S. Forest Service to maintain “viable populations” of fish and wildlife. Since then, the viability rule has […]

Pop Goes the Diesel

Partnership formed to fight diesel fumes The U.S. EPA this week announced the formation of a partnership to undertake voluntary, cooperative measures to reduce the impact of diesel fumes on Western states. (Diesel fumes, for those of you tuning in late, kill people. Lots of people.) Most of the money funding the measures will come […]

Fish Wrap

Kerry’s struggle with fishery policy illustrates his strengths and weaknesses The Seattle Times wraps up its excellent week-long series on the presidential candidates’ environmental stances with a story on John Kerry’s long struggle with fishery policy in the senator’s home state, Massachusetts. It’s a revealing case study of the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. On the […]

Da!

Russian government approves Kyoto; treaty now likely to go into effect After years of mixed messages, coy feints, and internal drama, the Russian government at last approved the Kyoto Protocol today, virtually ensuring that the treaty will go into force worldwide by the end of the year. After the U.S. (responsible for 25 percent of […]

Umbra on our “throw it away” culture

Dear Umbra, I hope I am not the only person who is disgusted with and frustrated by the current “throw it away” philosophy that so many large companies are pushing. Everything from window cleaner to facial wipes is being sold in single-use packages. Why? Don’t these companies and consumers realize that, for one thing, landfill […]

Reagan enviro official still running afoul of the law

Rita Lavelle, who ran the Superfund program during the Reagan years and was locked up for lying to Congress about it, may be headed to the slammer once again. On Monday, a federal jury convicted her of scheming to defraud a client who hired her consulting firm to clean up a toxic work site in Los Angeles, the L.A. Times reports. She faces 15-24 months in the clink. Old habits die hard, it seems.  

(Feeling nostalgic? Check out a fun recap of enviro doings during the Gipper's reign.)

Living for the City

San Francisco unveils plan to fight global warming Saying that global warming “is a real and looming threat to our economy, our public health, and our environment” to which the Bush administration “is not paying attention,” San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (D) this week unveiled a plan to reduce the city’s greenhouse-gas emissions to 20 […]

Formaldehyde and Seek

Enviro groups appeal lax EPA regs on formaldehyde In an era of serial outrages, even the most battle-hardened enviros were astonished by a U.S. EPA rule issued last spring: The rule exempted so-called low-risk wood-product factories from strict pollution controls, ignoring federal and independent health data on the dangers of formaldehyde — emitted during manufacture […]