Skip to content
Grist home
All donations DOUBLED

Climate Politics

All Stories

  • The real dimensions of $87 billion

    Add enough zeros to the end of any number — say, 87 — and it quickly becomes an abstraction. I can imagine 87 years (my grandmother’s age), or 87 miles (about the distance from my home in Brooklyn to outer Long Island), or $87 (which wouldn’t go far out there in the hoity-toity Hamptons). But […]

  • Bush pushes his Clear Skies plan — and his electoral prospects — at a notoriously dirty power plan

    Bush talks to the masses in Michigan. Photo: White House. When President Bush set out on Monday to defend his recent New Source Review rollback and promote his energy bill and Clear Skies program, it was hard not to notice the peculiar setting he chose. Wearing a hardhat and safety glasses, the commander in chief […]

  • The Ties That Blind

    Ties to Polluters Could Compromise Leavitt at EPA, Say Critics Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R), President Bush’s nominee to head the U.S. EPA, has strong financial ties to polluters, which critics say cast doubt on his ability to do the job fairly and effectively. Nearly 10 percent of the campaign funds Leavitt raised over the […]

  • Rocky Roadless

    Bush Administration Refuses to Defend Roadless Rule In what may be a final blow to the Clinton-era roadless policy, the Bush administration refused to appeal a federal court injunction against the rule by the deadline for doing so last Friday. Enviros are hopping mad that the administration didn’t defend the policy, which aimed to prevent […]

  • Block Party

    Edwards Will Block Bush’s Choice to Head EPA North Carolina Sen. John Edwards (D), a presidential contender, is now the third senator threatening to hold up the nomination of President Bush’s choice to head the U.S. EPA, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R). “The nomination will not go forward until this administration commits to giving us […]

  • Twisting Their Farms

    California Bills Would Crack Down on Air Pollution from Farms For the first time, California farmers would have to do their part to curb air pollution, under a series of controversial bills approved last week by the state legislature. The state’s agriculture industry has long enjoyed an exemption from the federal Clean Air Act, even […]

  • The Coast in the Machine

    Bush Pushes for Offshore Oil Drilling in Alaska The Bush administration is moving aggressively to open Alaska’s coastal waters to oil exploration — a campaign that is not getting nearly as much public scrutiny as efforts to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The administration plans to offer eight oil and gas lease sales […]

  • Foam Call

    Canadian Tribes Fight Big Fish Farms in Court Fish farms off Canada’s west coast are under fire from native tribes that claim the big aquaculture operations are devastating the natural environment. Four tribes living in the Broughton Archipelago, off the coast of British Columbia north of Vancouver Island, are going to court to curb the […]

  • Cheney Reaction

    Appeals Court Rejects Bush Attempt to Withhold Energy Documents A federal appeals court yesterday rejected the Bush administration’s argument that it should not have to release documents related to Vice President Dick Cheney’s Energy Task Force, marking the fourth — yes, fourth — time the judiciary has told the White House the information must be […]

  • Hillary Clinton threatens to block Bush’s EPA nominee

    As the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks looms, the Bush administration is facing opprobrium for having deceived the American public about possible air-quality concerns at Ground Zero. Behind the scenes, the issue has become somewhat bizarrely entwined with another hot topic: the confirmation of Republican Gov. Michael Leavitt of Utah as the […]