Articles by David Roberts

GM fights back via … Google?

Tucked away in this little USA Today story on the resurgence of electric cars is this interesting tidbit, about GM's reaction to Who Killed the Electric Car?:

Inhofe chides EPA investigators for investigating

Smog is bad in Denver in these dog days of summer -- not an unusual situation for the city.

Recently, EPA investigators took a tour of oil and gas facilities northeast of Denver armed with infrared cameras, which can record smog-forming emissions that are invisible to the naked eye.

Aiming the camera at pipelines, valves and hatches atop storage tanks, the EPA regulators found numerous sources of "fugitive emissions" -- those leaking from various areas of the facility -- during a two-hour drive-by of the region last week.

Nice job, EPA investigators! I mean, right? Seeking out sources of pollution? Enforcing laws? Yippee?

Turns out not everyone approves:

Small-mart

For all you die-hard Wal-Mart haters nauseated by my earlier post, check out Joel Makower's review of Michael Shuman's new book, The Small-Mart Revolution. Shuman, says Makower ...

... paints a compelling portrait of how small, local business networks can work and succeed. In Shuman's Small-Mart Nation, many of your neighbors run their own businesses, you spend more of your money on locally produced, high-quality goods and services, some of your savings sit in a local bank or credit union, and communities don't bend over backwards -- financially or otherwise -- to lure global companies to set up shop nearby. It's not that they don't want automobile factories, big-box stores, and other manifestations of globalization in the 'hood. It's just that these entities will have to compete on a level playing field when it comes to zoning, taxes, schools, policing, and other government services. If they succeed, they're welcome.

Sounds good to me.

Bob Edwards special on mountaintop removal mining

Tomorrow, beloved ex-NPR host Bob Edwards -- who now has a show on XM satellite radio -- will be doing an hour-long special on mountaintop removal mining. (A weekend version is also distributed by PRI, so check your local public-radio listings.)

I chatted with Mr. Edwards about the program yesterday, and asked him what drew him to the subject. He said: