Climate Politics

Wet, Me Worry?

Wetlands protection has gone downhill under Bush administration The Bush administration has radically curtailed protection of wetlands and waterways in the past four years, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. It found that prior to 2001, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asserted its jurisdiction over most waters if migratory birds […]

Senate’s stab at energy legislation may be more moderate than House bill

A refinery at Anacortes, Wash. “Shame, shame, shame, shame!” That’s the furious chant that erupted from the Democratic section of the House of Representatives last Friday after Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) managed to eke out a victory for his Gasoline for America’s Security (GAS) Act, which would loosen environmental laws and boost industry incentives to […]

Hapless Wetlands

Supreme Court will hear two Clean Water Act cases The first U.S. Supreme Court session under Chief Justice John Roberts will feature two cases pitting government regulatory power against private property rights — precisely the area where greens most fear Roberts’ jurisprudence. Both cases originated in Michigan, and ask whether the federal government has jurisdiction […]

Beswitched

Jeb Bush’s switcheroo on drilling causes rift in Florida delegation Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is backing a bill in the House of Representatives that would open some new federal waters, including the eastern Gulf of Mexico, to oil rigs — and in so doing, he’s fractured the state’s long-standing bipartisan political consensus against offshore […]

Why the Bush Administration looks set to jettison the farm-subsidy program, beloved of industry and

Long the bane of environmentalists and sustainable-agriculture proponents, the U.S. agriculture-subsidy system has drawn some unlikely new critics: top Bush administration officials.

Speaking before a food-industry trade group last week, USDA chief Mike Johanns, the reliably pro-Big Ag former governer of subsidy-rich Nebraska, complained that in fiscal year 2005:

92 percent of commodity program spending was paid on five crops -- corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton and rice. The farmers who raise other crops -- two thirds of all farmers -- received little support from current farm programs.

Later, he deplored what he called "trade-distorting subsidies. "

And Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman published an op-ed in the Financial Times offering to slash farm support, so long as Europe and Japan follow suit.

The U.S. subsidy system, rooted in the Great Depression and most recently ratified by the 2002 Farm Bill, rewards gross output. The farms that churn out the most product -- so long as the product in question is one of the Big Five commodities mentioned above by Johanns -- grab the most cash. And from 1995 to 2003, reports the stalwart Environmental Working Group, that cash averaged a cool $14.5 billion per year.

Now, the subsidy system is beloved of politically powerful grain-processing giants like Archer-Daniels Midland, because it pushes down the price of the stuff they buy and then resell at a profit (or "add value" to, as in the case of high-fructose corn syrup). Environmentalists tend to hate the system because (among other evils) it encourages farmers to maximize production through the use of fossil fuel-derived fertilizers, which in turn foul up groundwater. (In his 2004 Harper's essay "The Oil We Eat," Richard Manning elegantly teases out the environmental impact of government-funded industrial agriculture.)

Why, then, is the Bush Administration, generally friend of industry and foe of environmentalists, breaking ranks?

Who Needs Solar Roofs?

Schwarzenegger signs many green bills into law, vetoes a few California reaped a green bonanza last week, as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) signed more than 30 wide-ranging environmental bills into law. One with potential for nationwide impact will mandate that all new cars for sale in California be stickered with information on how many tons […]

Enviros anxious as Senate gears up to reform Endangered Species Act

There’s been much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the environmental community since Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) pushed his overhaul of the Endangered Species Act through the House of Representatives last week. All eyes are now on the Senate to see whether Pombo’s bill — described as “so toxic it’s radioactive” by Jamie Rappaport Clark, […]

A Refine and Pleasant Misery

House energy legislation would undermine parts of Clean Air Act You just can’t keep a bad bill down. Provisions cut from the energy bill that was passed this summer have lurched back to life; they now stumble forward under the banner of the Gasoline for America’s Security (GAS) Act, due for a House vote today. […]

So a Priest Walks Into an Environmental Protest …

Brazilian priest on hunger strike to stop water-diversion scheme Roman Catholic bishop Luiz Flavio Cappio has been fasting for 10 days in a modest chapel 600 feet from Brazil’s Sao Francisco River, aiming to halt a massive water-diversion project. The $1.8 billion government plan involves building hundreds of miles of canals and other infrastructure to […]

Hall and Votes

Choice to head FWS has iffy record on endangered species Dale Hall, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will probably be confirmed today as the agency’s director by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. A full Senate vote on the confirmation is expected soon. Hall’s tenure at FWS seems notable […]