Climate Politics
All Stories
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Real Bad Estate
Bush Administration Lifts Ban on Selling PCB-Tainted Land In yet another behind-the-scenes weakening of environmental rules, the Bush administration last month quietly ended a ban on the sale of land contaminated with PCBs. The 25-year-old ban was designed to prevent polluted sites from being redeveloped in ways that might expose the public to PCBs, which […]
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Out of State, Not Out of Mind
States, Enviros Move to Sue Over Clean Air Act Changes Within hours after the Bush administration relaxed the federal clean-air rules governing the nation’s power plants, refineries, and other facilities yesterday, environmental organizations and state attorneys general were preparing challenges to the rule change. The Northeast, in particular, was a flurry of legal activity, as […]
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Peruvian Gold
Peruvian Natural Gas Project Denied Funding In a blow for two Texas energy companies, a huge Peruvian natural-gas project was denied funding yesterday because of concerns about the likely impact on a marine preserve, a rainforest, and indigenous people in the Amazon Basin. In a 2-to-1 vote, the U.S. Export-Import Bank rejected a bid for […]
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Relax? Don’t Do It!
Bush Administration Relaxes Clean Air Act Rules In an expected but nonetheless bitter blow to environmentalists, the Bush administration yesterday rolled back the New Source Review rules of the Clean Air Act. Under those rules, utilities were required to install state-of-the-art pollution controls when they upgraded their facilities. Now, those rules will be relaxed for […]
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Skeptic Tanked
Scientific Panel Dismisses Reports from Danish Environmental Skeptic Recent environmental reports produced by Bjorn Lomborg, a Danish environmental skeptic, were found to be unscientific and of dubious value yesterday by a panel of independent Scandinavian scientists. Lomborg created a stir with his controversial book The Skeptical Environmentalist, in which he dismissed a wide range of […]
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To Make a Lung Story Short
Clinton and Lieberman Push for Answers on Post-Sept. 11 Air Quality Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) yesterday demanded answers from President Bush about why New Yorkers were not given full information on air-pollution risks near Ground Zero after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Clinton and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) […]
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Re-sounding Victory
Judge Orders Navy to Curtail Use of Sonar to Protect Marine Life In a victory for ocean advocates, a federal judge in California ruled yesterday that the U.S. Navy can’t globally deploy a new submarine-hunting sonar system because the military neglected to follow federal laws when determining whether the sonar could harm whales and other […]
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Mexican Standoff
Feds Will Study Environmental Impact of Mexican Trucks on U.S. Roads Bowing to a federal court order, the Bush administration announced yesterday that it will study what the environmental impact would be of an increase in Mexican trucks on U.S. roads. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals banned Mexican trucks from the U.S. in […]
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Bill Moyers speaks his mind on Bush-brand environmental destruction and more
Bill Moyers is best known as the broadcast journalist who, for more than 20 years, has brought the public frank, soul-searching, and sometimes frightening examinations of — well, of almost everything under the sun. On air, he’s equally comfortable discussing politics or poetry, scriptures or science. Bill Moyers isn’t pulling punches. Photo: PBS. Born in […]
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The Three Amigos
Three Major Companies Join Fight to Protect Tongass Office supply giant Staples and building companies KB Home and Hayward Lumber have joined with environmentalists in opposing a Bush administration proposal that would allow roads and development in southeast Alaska’s pristine Tongass National Forest. The three companies, all big users of wood products, have been working […]