Climate Politics
All Stories
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Sprawl in a Day’s Work
Slow Growth Sees Rapid Setback in Virginia County The vote took place yesterday in Loudoun County, Va., but the outcome was a blow to smart-growth advocates around the nation. Four years ago, voters propelled slow-growth advocates into eight out of nine county board positions, turning Loudoun into a national model of environmentally friendly urban planning. […]
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Board of Miseducation
Environmental Textbook Author Sues Texas Over Alleged Censorship When it comes to textbook publishing, Texas calls the shots across the nation, by virtue of being big enough to need a whole heck of a lot of books. In the past, the Lone Star State has grabbed headlines for refusing to use science texts that teach […]
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Terry Good News
Schwarzenegger Names Conservationist to Head Cal/EPA To the delight of environmentalists, California Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger has chosen Terry Tamminen to head the state’s Environmental Protection Agency. Tamminen helped start the Santa Monica environmental organization BayKeeper, then went to work for another green group, Environment Now. He was one of the drafters of Schwarzenegger’s environmental platform, […]
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The climate bill lost out, but the environment may yet prove the winner
“We were nervous as hell,” said Kevin Curtis, vice president of National Environmental Trust, describing the sentiment leading up to last Thursday’s Senate vote that defeated the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act, 43 to 55. “But it’s a great start. This may seem to be a defeat now, but in the end, it’s a victory.” Lieberman […]
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I’m on the Hunt, I’m After You
Bush Angers Hunters and Anglers by Promoting Resource Extraction The Bush administration is ticking off many traditionally Republican hunters and anglers with its plans to encourage logging and oil and gas drilling in natural areas throughout the Western U.S. Last week, 450 U.S. gun clubs sent a petition to the U.S. Forest Service objecting to […]
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Hollow Weenies
EPA Won’t Restrict Use of Potentially Harmful Weed Killer Talk about scary stuff: On Oct. 31, as people across the U.S. were getting ready to don costumes and pass out Halloween candy, the Bush administration announced that it would not impose new restrictions on the commonly used herbicide atrazine, which has been associated with low […]
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Every Which Way but Loose
Bush Administration Plans to Ease Sewage-Treatment Rules More disease-carrying microbes from doo-doo could contaminate U.S. waterways, lakes, and coastlines if the Bush administration proceeds with plans to loosen sewage-treatment requirements. This week, the U.S. EPA intends to unveil a proposed rule change that would let many communities skip a sewage-treatment step after storms cause an […]
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The Ghost of Climate Change Future
Defeat on Climate Change Bill Masks Subtle Victory, Supporters Say As expected, a proposal to establish mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions was rejected yesterday by the U.S. Senate in a 55-43 vote. Still, supporters of the bill, which was sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), were generally pleased with the […]
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Senate Chainsaw Massacre
Senate Passes Healthy Forests Initiative Meanwhile, forest management in the rest of the U.S. is set to change, too, with yesterday’s 80-14 Senate vote in favor of a compromise version of President Bush’s Healthy Forests initiative. Although the vote was somewhat influenced by the fires in California, its effect will be felt well beyond the […]
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Green Gobblin’
California Fires Could Trigger Massive Changes in Forest Management The devastating forest fires raging across Southern California this week could initiate a change in environmental policy as sweeping — but probably not as desirable — as those ushered in by the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster. Forest-management experts say […]
