Climate Politics

A gas tax might make good sense, but Dems don’t want to touch it

Who would have thought the day would come when environmentalists would want to high-five Gregg Easterbrook? Yes, the same Gregg Easterbrook who memorably dismissed widespread criticisms of the Bush administration’s environmental record as “baloney — baloney being rolled and deep-fried with cheese for purposes of partisan political bashing and fund-raising” in a Los Angeles Times […]

Pryor Restraint

Their plights gave new meaning to the phrase “appointed to the bench”: Miguel Estrada, William Myers III, and Janice Rogers Brown were among half a dozen right-wing judicial nominees that President Bush tried — and failed — to install as federal court judges. Stonewalling and filibusters by Senate Democrats consigned them to the dugout bench. […]

Organics program weakened under Bush administration changes, activists say

The Bush administration is giving Americans new reason to watch what they eat — and it’s got nothing to do with carbs. Sealed with a hiss? Over the course of 10 days in mid-April, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued three “guidances” and one directive — all legally binding interpretations of law — that threaten […]

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Bush’s much-praised new diesel rules

Yes, dear skeptics, you heard correctly: The Bush administration done good this week. Digging these new rules. Landmark controls on diesel emissions, finalized Tuesday by the U.S. EPA, are expected to prevent 12,000 premature deaths and 15,000 heart attacks each year. And these were no warmed-over regs from the Clinton era, passed off as the […]

National Park Service employees muzzled on budget shortfalls and other problems

Bush addresses NPS employees in Sequoia National Park. Photo: NPS. It’s the reverse of the Midas touch — instead of turning to gold, everything they touch turns to shit.” That’s how Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, explained the recent activities of the Bush administration’s National Park Service to Muckraker. “Parks […]

Two Environmentalists Walk into a Bar

Jim Jeffords gets riled up about the environment in a Grist interview

Jim Jeffords. Photo: U.S. Senate. If an environmental action-hero figure is ever made of Jim Jeffords — and if the Independent Vermont senator is willing to be immortalized not only in plastic but also in drag — it will have to be called “Cassandra.” Like Cassandra, Jeffords has a gift for prophecy. Only four months […]

Superfund could be weakened by recommendations from EPA subcommittee

Arsenic in water, mercury emissions, new-source review, Dick Cheney’s energy task force — these are the issues that have elicited the loudest howls of protest about the Bush administration’s environmental record during the past three years. By comparison, the grumbling over Superfund has been remarkably muted. Mountains of toxic waste dot the horizon around Tar […]

Schwarzenegger’s “Green Hummer” plan sparks cultish following

Does this look green to you? The Hummer has come to be associated with a number of things — steroid-addled egomaniacs, over-compensating suburban dads, the highway to global-warming hell, even Monica Lewinsky’s antics in the Oval Office … But eco-friendly driving isn’t one of them. Unless, of course, you travel in the “Green Hummer” underground, […]

Christian leaders challenge Bush’s environmental policy

Almighty God, your word of creation caused the water to be filled with many kinds of living beings and the air to be filled with birds … Thank you for seeds and soil, green stem and air. For fruit on the vine, then falling fruit rotting on the moist ground, then new seed again … […]