Climate Politics
All Stories
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Bush’s mercury proposal draws heat from both sides of the aisle
The Capitol is heating up over mercury. Photo: NIH. A handful of Beltway wags are contending that mercury is the new arsenic, the latest symbol of official disregard for environmental health. Their claim is lent credence by an ongoing flurry of controversies surrounding the Bush administration’s plan for dealing with the toxic pollutant. A revealing […]
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Free trade agreement threatens Costa Rican environmental protections
Insert oil rig here? When most people think of Costa Rica, they don’t imagine oil rigs stationed off the pristine beaches. Nor do they envision pit mines cutting into the cloud-forested mountains. But, despite the country’s noteworthy conservation efforts, its scenic vistas and extraordinary biodiversity face ongoing threats from extractive industries — and from international […]
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GOP pollster says voters want action on clean water
Some like it clean. Polling guru and GOP spinmeister Frank Luntz has uncovered a fact likely to rattle and bewilder some Republicans in Congress: Americans prefer clean water. An emphatic memo [PDF] sent out by the Luntz Research Companies in February spotlighted Americans’ intense feelings on the subject: Young and old, Democrat AND Republican, the […]
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Scalia denies bias in Cheney case, but enviros say he looks as guilty as ever
Back on the Cheney gang. According to Sierra Club lawyers, Vice President Dick Cheney has been exceeding the recommended dosage of political Viagra. Last year, they sued him for metaphorically bedding the energy executives whom critics charge all but wrote the Bush administration’s energy policy. Now they say he’s been romancing Supreme Court Justice Antonin […]
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Biotech Dot Con
U.S. Government Funds Biotech-Boosting Website The U.S. government has launched a new website that trumpets the benefits of genetically modified foods — paid for with taxpayer dollars. It’s part of a larger State Department effort to “encourage broader adoption and acceptance of biotechnology in the developing world,” said department official Deborah Malac; the program got […]
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EPA exaggerated claims about clean drinking water
That sinking feeling. The U.S. EPA claims it is successfully protecting the nation’s drinking-water supplies — but that claim seems to have sprung a leak. Earlier this month, the EPA’s Office of the Inspector General accused officials in the agency of consistently making bogus statements about improvements in the quality of America’s tap water. The […]
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EPA and BLM fight over how to protect groundwater from massive Nevada mine
In an age when corporate America can’t see past its quarterly results, it’s hard to imagine how the world’s largest gold producer is going to manage the environmental damage caused by one of its mines hundreds or even thousands of years into the future. Future site of the Phoenix mine. Photo: Lighthawk, Great Basin Mine […]
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Bush drilling plan ticks off many New Mexicans and tickles GOP donors pink
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) is facing off against the Department of Interior and its Bureau of Land Management over a plan to allow oil and gas drilling on his state’s pristine Otero Mesa — an expanse of desert grassland which the governor, with a touch of dramatic flair, has called “the West’s ANWR.” […]
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Energy bill may be gaining ground, but prospects are still dicey
It’s a gas, gas, gas. U.S. oil prices jumped to their highest levels since the Iraq war this week, hitting $37.51 a barrel, for an average of about $1.74 a gallon — unwelcome news for those feeling the pinch at the pump, but great news for supporters of the newly overhauled but still-stalled energy bill. […]
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To the Victor Goes the Right to Spoil
How the Energy Industry Won the Battle for Influence in the Bush Admin. It’s a fable for our times: When the Bush administration took office in 2001, a battle over energy policy began. On one side was the U.S. EPA, with its team of long-time career employees and its moderate new head Christie Whitman. On […]
