Climate Politics
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Judge to Bush: Are You Yellowstoned?
Federal Judge Reinstates Clinton Snowmobile Ban in Yellowstone In a sharply worded ruling issued just hours before the start of the winter snowmobiling season in Yellowstone National Park, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan nixed the Bush administration’s plans to allow nearly 1,000 snowmobiles in the park every day. The 49-page ruling pointed out that a […]
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May the Enforcement Be With You
EPA Enforcement Officials Removed From Homeland Security Duty But wait, there’s more! The Bush administration abruptly changed tack on yet another issue this week, when it announced that it will stop diverting federal environmental enforcement officials from pollution investigations to homeland security matters. The U.S. EPA will also stop using enforcement officials as bodyguards, chauffeurs, […]
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The Supreme Court may alleviate Cheney’s energy task force troubles
On Monday, the Supreme Court offered Vice President Dick Cheney a possible escape hatch from the great energy task force imbroglio. The high court agreed to hear an appeal from Cheney, who for more than a year has been defying a federal judge’s order to pony up documents about his infamous 2001 task force. Those […]
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The Weak in Review
Bush’s Mercury Plan Was Rejected by Clinton EPA as Too Weak The Bush administration’s new plan for regulating mercury emissions from power plants is virtually the same as one that the Clinton administration considered and dismissed because it appeared to violate the federal Clean Air Act, former U.S. EPA officials said yesterday. The Bush proposal […]
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NPR: One Thing Considered
Pristine Petroleum Reserve in Alaska Opened to Oil Drilling Try as it might, the Bush administration hasn’t been able to get its hands on oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Perhaps to make itself feel better, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is forging ahead with plans to permit aggressive oil drilling in large […]
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Deck the Hauls
U.S. High Court Will Hear Mexican Truck Pollution Case The U.S. Supreme Court announced yesterday that it will wade into a dispute over whether tens of thousands of highly polluting Mexican trucks should be allowed to cross the border and deliver goods throughout the U.S. The Bush administration, arguing the free-trade point of view, welcomes […]
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Let ’em Snowmobile, Let ’em Snowmobile, Let ’em Snowmobile
Bush Administration Will Allow Snowmobiles in Yellowstone Snowmobiles will be welcome to keep zooming through Yellowstone National Park, the Bush administration announced yesterday, despite tens of thousands of public comments calling for the vehicles to be phased out from the oldest national park in the U.S. Final rules released yesterday on the issue will place […]
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Inuit and Out
Inuit Plan to Launch Human-Rights Case Against U.S. Over Climate Change Saying global climate change threatens them with extinction, the world’s Inuit people yesterday announced plans to launch a human-rights case against the United States, which has repeatedly reiterated that it will take no decisive action on the issue. The Inuit Circumpolar Conference represents 155,000 […]
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It Doesn’t Look a Day Over 29
Taking Stock of the Endangered Species Act at Age 30 Who knew the Endangered Species Act was a Sagittarius? That’s right, this month the act will turn 30. Signed into law by President Nixon in 1973, the ESA aimed to prevent extinctions, bring imperiled species back to viable population levels, and protect the natural habitat […]
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Bush’s latest clean-air proposals are better than nothing, but how much better?
Who let the smog out? Photo: EPA “I hate it that we’re always complaining,” said Eric Schaeffer, a former senior enforcement official at the U.S. EPA who resigned in 2002 to protest the Bush administration’s poor record on nabbing polluters. “So, looking on the bright side, I suppose you could call this better than nothing.” […]
