Climate Politics
All Stories
-
Can’t See the Forest for the Stumps
Here’s something you probably weren’t feeling very thankful for on Thursday: The Bush administration issued a proposal last week that would allow managers of the country’s 155 national forests to approve logging and other commercial activities without thoroughly assessing the potential environmental damage that could result. The proposal would radically alter Clinton-era rules that required […]
-
A Hard Rowe to Hoe
Some heavyweight funders have ponied up $10 million to create a National Commission on Energy Policy, pulling together former members of the Bush and Clinton administrations and representatives from industry and environmental groups to recommend a long-range energy plan for the United States. Over the next two years, the commission intends to develop a “centrist […]
-
Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
The Bush administration and environmentalists are at loggerheads over what should happen to national forests burned in last summer’s wildfire season. The administration is pushing for aggressive logging of scorched forests, including older and larger trees; next month, it will propose new rules meant to reduce delays in timber sales due to environmental appeals. Enviros, […]
-
New Source, Same Old Crap
In the most far-reaching move to relax air pollution rules in years, the Bush administration on Friday gave refineries new flexibility to upgrade their facilities without having to reduce emissions. The U.S. EPA also outlined proposals that would give aging coal-fired power plants a similar advantage — allowing them to upgrade and increase energy output […]
-
Like Padre, Like Son
With no public announcement, the Bush administration has given the go-ahead to two new natural gas wells in the Padre Island National Seashore, which boasts the nation’s longest stretch of undeveloped beach and 11 endangered species. Oil and gas drilling have occurred in the Texas park before, but the rate of drilling dropped sharply in […]
-
I’m on the Hunt, I’m After You
Halliburton and Hunt Oil, two Texas energy companies with strong ties to the Bush White House, are requesting hundreds of millions of dollars in public financing for a natural gas project in Peru that will tear through pristine rainforests. The Export-Import Bank of the U.S. and the Inter-American Development Bank are forbidden from funding projects […]
-
It’s time to end the race to the bottom
Here’s a simple game that makes a not-so-simple point. Stand in a line, with several friends. Each of you hold your right index finger out in front of your body. Now place a long stick across all of your fingers, balanced upon them. Your collective goal is to lower the stick to the ground. There […]
-
Life in the Fast Lane
Since early this month, environmental educator John Quigley has spent most of his time perched high in the leafy boughs of a 400-year-old oak tree that developers want removed to expand a local road in Santa Clarita, Calif. The proposed throughway would enable traffic to flow to a suburban community where more than 21,000 new […]
-
Point. Click. Ignore.
One-click activism has been a one-click failure with the Bush administration thus far. The Interior Department, for example, received 360,000 public comments (the huge majority of them sent by email) about the future of snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks; 80 percent of the writers asked that the government ban the snowmobiles. Last […]
-
The Pardners’ Tale
Cowboys and environmentalists unite! The unlikely amigos are banding together to try to keep natural gas drillers away from ranches on public land in the San Juan Basin in northwestern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado. Yesterday morning, they blocked drilling crews from entering four ranches, arguing that drilling leads to erosion, water contamination, and livestock […]
