Climate Politics
All Stories
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Through Sick and Thin
“Healthy Forests” Becomes Law While Endangered Species Rules Are Relaxed President Bush signed his “Healthy Forests” initiative into law yesterday, a move that, never mind the name, left many environmentalists feeling sick. The Bush administration says the law will prevent fires by increasing the amount of logging permissible in forests, especially near populated areas, but […]
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Anglers Not Obtuse
Dismayed by Enviro Policies, Some Anglers and Fishers Turn Against Bush Put President Bush in waders or camouflage and, what with his cowboy hat and rugged Western looks, he could easily grace the cover of Field & Stream. Yet the hunt-and-fish crowd, normally a loyal constituency of the Republican Party, is increasingly unhappy with the […]
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Climate talks are on the rocks, but not dead yet
The hippest catwalk in Milan this week. Photo: IISD. Milan is famous for opera and fashion, so perhaps it’s appropriate that the United Nations’ Kyoto Protocol conference, being held in the Italian city this week and next, has so far been characterized by high drama and public spectacle. Some 180 negotiators from around the world […]
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The Kindest Cut
Companies Show that Cutting Emissions Can Improve Performance President Bush and many Republicans in Congress complain that restricting emissions of carbon dioxide would hobble the U.S. economy, but a growing number of companies are showing that cutting emissions can help the bottom line and they are pursuing reductions far greater than the voluntary ones proposed […]
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Meeting His Waterloo?
House Tells Bush to Leave Clean Water Act Rules Alone More than half of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives last week told President Bush to back off from proposed changes that would reduce protections for wetlands and streams under the Clean Water Act. In a letter sent to Bush, 218 representatives, including […]
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I’m Just a Bill, and I’m Still Sitting Here on Capitol Hill
Energy Bill Is Doomed for This Year Republican Senate leaders threw in the towel on the big energy bill last night, admitting that they couldn’t muster the two additional votes needed to pass the controversial legislative package before Congress takes its holiday recess. The failure to pass the bill this year represents a stinging defeat […]
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The Few, the Proud, the Exempt
Defense Bill Will Exempt Military from Species-Protection Laws The U.S. military may be having trouble achieving its goals in Iraq, but at least it’s getting what it wants on Capitol Hill: exemptions from key environmental laws. President Bush today is scheduled to sign a $401 billion defense authorization bill that includes provisions exempting the military […]
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Stall’s Well That Ends Well
Opponents Block Vote on Energy Bill in Senate A massive and highly controversial energy bill stalled out in the Senate this morning, when its supporters fell two short of the necessary 60 votes to end debate on the legislation. Those in favor of the bill, which has already been passed by the House, argue that […]
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Slope on a Rope
Bush Administration Opens Alaskan Land to Drilling Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge isn’t on the oil-and-gas chopping block under the terms of the current behemoth energy bill, but the rest of the state isn’t quite as lucky: The Bush administration will announce today that it plans to open 8.8 million acres of Alaska’s North Slope […]
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A breakdown of the Senate vote to end debate on the energy bill
A massive energy bill backed by the Bush administration stalled out in the Senate this morning, when its supporters failed to garner the necessary 60 votes to end debate on the legislation. Only 57 senators voted to halt debate; 40 voted to keep it going. Those in favor of the bill, which has already been […]
