Climate Politics

The Homeland Is (Cough) Secure (Cough)

Coal and Calculating

Bush Admin. Decision Could Boost Pollution in National Parks In a move that could lead to more pollution in national parks, the Bush administration on Friday said it will permit North Dakota to change the way it estimates air pollution in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Seems like a small thing, but the new estimation formula […]

The Minnow Would Be Lost

Senator’s Plan Would Move Endangered Fish to Wetter Habitat The New Mexico habitat of the silvery minnow, an endangered fish, too often goes dry, so Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) has come up with an unusual plan: relocate the fish to wetter territory. The minnow, which lives primarily in the Rio Grande River south of Albuquerque, […]

With feds slow to tackle mercury pollution, state leaders step up

The Mercury Mutiny is gaining force on the state level, galvanizing some unlikely rebels. Eastern states including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and New York were the first to jump into the fray, launching local efforts to reduce mercury pollution in response to the Bush administration’s widely criticized plan for dealing with mercury. Then last […]

Shape Up or Ship Out

Texas Ship-Inspection Company Implicated in Prestige Tanker Disaster Negligence on the part of the Texas-based American Bureau of Shipping — a company that conducts safety inspections of ships — could be to blame for the notorious Prestige tanker disaster, which spilled millions of gallons of oil off the coast of Spain 15 months ago and […]

An improbable plan would use Arctic Refuge drilling proceeds to fund transportation projects

Beltway insiders waited with bated breath yesterday to see if Sen. Peter Domenici (R-N.M.) would succeed in tacking his stalled-out energy bill onto the huge highway transportation bill now wending its way through Congress. The consensus from his Senate Republican colleagues? No deal. In need of refuge. Photo: FWS. But another cockamamie plan that would […]

Snowmobefuddlement

Judge Issues Yet Another Reversal of Yellowstone Snowmobile Ban An already-confusing winter for tourists and tour operators in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks got more muddled yesterday, when a federal judge overturned severe restrictions on snowmobiling in the parks. For those of you keeping score at home, a quick rundown of the story so […]

Natural Gas, Unnatural Allies

Unlikely Coalition Opposes Bush’s Plan to Drill in New Mexico New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) is leading an improbable coalition of enviros, ranchers, hunters, and property-rights activists in a fight against the Bush administration’s plans to drill for natural gas in the Otero Mesa area of New Mexico, a vast and largely untouched expanse […]

When Irresistible Cuts Meet Immovable Pork

Senate Republicans Flailing as They Try to Push Through Energy Bill Senate Republicans are having a bad week. A proposal to push the energy bill through Congress by attaching it to the more popular and pressing transportation bill was roundly rejected yesterday. President Bush told Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) on Monday that he […]

Bush nominates eco-hostile lobbyist to federal appeals court

My, oh, Myers. Photo: DOI. Environmental advocates are bristling over President Bush’s nomination of William G. Myers III to the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, calling Myers the most anti-environment judicial candidate the president has ever put forward. With rhetoric like that being thrown about, don’t be surprised if Myers becomes the […]