Climate Politics

Bush plan to overhaul CAFE standards is a mixed bag

Clean up the bus, gus. Photo: NREL. The Bush administration has taken to singing the clean-car gospel lately, but it’s not quite hitting all the notes. Last month, U.S. EPA chief Mike Leavitt joined Detroit kingpins in a splashy D.C. conference to trumpet the arrival of new vehicles and fuels that reduce sulfur emissions — […]

Barton Fink

Big Recipient of Industry Money to Head House Energy Committee With Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) retiring at the end of this year, the plum leadership spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee is poised to go to Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), a true friend of the energy industry if ever there was one. Barton […]

North Dakota “reduces” pollution by measuring it differently

From Badlands to worse. Photo: NPS. To Theodore Roosevelt, a man who battled chronic asthma, the remote Badlands of North Dakota were as beloved for their fresh air as for their dramatic views and big game. “Wildflowers and sagebrush spiced the clean, dry North Dakotan breeze. Roosevelt’s asthmatic lungs rejoiced in this air, as did […]

Science Friction

Top Scientists Accuse Bush Administration of Distorting Science The Bush administration, reeling from a series of unflattering stories and unfavorable poll numbers, took another kick in the pants yesterday when 60 of the world’s most influential scientists — including 20 Nobel laureates and 19 recipients of the National Medal of Science — accused the administration […]

Ethanol and Mirrors

Bush Administration Extends Contentious “Dual-Fuel” Rules In a move that will make it easier for automakers to meet fuel-efficiency standards without actually improving the fuel efficiency of their vehicles, the Bush administration announced yesterday that it will extend for four years a system that gives auto manufacturers credits for producing “dual-fuel” vehicles that can run […]

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

Study Finds MTBE Can Be Absorbed Through Skin A U.S. EPA study released yesterday concludes that the controversial fuel additive MTBE can be absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin, a finding likely to, ahem, fuel calls for further study and regulation. While the EPA was careful to say that the health effects of MTBE […]

Put Down the Drills and Back Away Slowly

Enviro Groups Sue to Stop Alaska Drilling A coalition of seven environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to stop a plan to open 8.8 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to oil and gas development. The groups — including the National Audubon Society, Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Alaska Wilderness […]

The Yellowstone snowmobile controversy gets more convoluted by the minute

The past few days have brought two more odd legal twists and turns to the Yellowstone snowmobile saga, which is becoming more litigiously complex and far-flung than a John Grisham novel. She’s got a ticket to ride. Photo: NPS. The story is essentially a protracted game of legal Ping-Pong: The Clinton administration served the ball […]

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 […]