Climate Politics

Missouri River management plan to be election-year hot potato

Basically, the Army Corps has flipped us the bird — at a time when it’s supposed to be saving the birds.” Hello, Big Muddy. Photo: FWS. That’s how Eric Eckl, spokesperson for American Rivers, sums up the Army Corps of Engineers‘ new plan to manage the Missouri River, released on Friday to blistering protest and […]

Split-Level Nuclear Waste

The Bush administration’s scientific distortions threaten the environment

In late February, after a star-studded, bipartisan lineup of Nobel laureates and leading American scientists accused the Bush administration of misusing and distorting science to serve political ends, the initial response from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. was flat-out denial. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy chief John Marburger dismissed the scientists’ complaints as a […]

Immigration controversy engulfs Sierra Club board election

If the Democratic primaries have proven a little prim and polite for your taste, there’s another upcoming election that may pique your interest. This one is loaded with bitter controversy, nasty accusations, and emotional appeals to democracy and fairness. Its major players have even taken their grievances to court — all before the nearly three-quarters […]

Huge Tracts of Land

Bush Administration Accelerates Oil and Gas Leasing in Rockies The Bush administration, as part of its broader effort to accelerate oil and gas development on the Rocky Mountain front, is moving ahead with plans to lease large tracts of environmentally sensitive land in Utah and southwestern Wyoming. This has prompted protests from varied quarters, including […]

A veteran enviro leader answers questions

What organization are you affiliated with? What does it do? I’m the dean at the Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. The school is working to become “a truly global school of the environment.” We have around 235 students in our professional master’s degree programs in environmental management, forestry, and environmental science. Our […]

Federal agencies at odds over salvage-logging proposal in Oregon

Siskiyou-hoo! Photo: BLM. A U.S. Forest Service proposal to conduct a massive salvage-logging operation in Oregon’s Siskiyou National Forest has come up against a surprising critic — the U.S. EPA. While the Bush administration has advertised the plan as a necessary measure to protect the future health of the forest — which was hit by […]

Apocalyptic Pentagon report on global warming could spur action on Capitol Hill

We’re having a heat wave … Image: NOAA. A hair-raising Pentagon report [PDF] on the potentially imminent and colossal national security threat posed by climate change has been making its way around the Internet since its release in late January, and this week it picked up considerable speed. Fortune magazine was the first major news […]

Garbage Cans and Garbage Can’ts

Federal Court Rules EPA Incineration Emission Standards Insufficient Federal standards governing emissions from garbage incinerators are inadequate and must be rewritten by the U.S. EPA, ruled the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., yesterday. The controversy over incineration emissions began in the 1980s, when garbage incinerators became common nationwide. The EPA issued a set […]

Nader’s presidential bid is eliciting heated rhetoric from enviros

See Ralph run. Ralph Nader — that alternately beloved and begrudged gadfly — buzzed back onto the political scene Sunday with an announcement that he intends to mount yet another presidential campaign. Mainstream environmentalists, among others desperate to oust President Bush, were not amused. Speaking on Meet the Press, Nader sounded a familiar battle cry […]