Climate Politics
All Stories
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You’re in the Army Now
Environmentalists and the Pentagon have never been the best of friends — in fact, the folks at the Department of Defense are currently trying to wiggle out of complying with as many environmental regulations as possible in the name of national security — but it would seem that military leaders can think green when it […]
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Mexico City’s mayor plans to reduce pollution by building more roads
Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has come a long way in the last decade — too far, some environmentalists would argue. O, brador. Photo: Gobierno del Distrito Federal. In February 1996, AMLO (as the Mexican press calls him) was arguably the country’s most prominent environmentalist, organizing a string of high-profile protests in his […]
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Park and Writhe
The National Parks Conservation Association has released its annual list of endangered parks — and, sadly, it includes some of the most treasured wild areas in the U.S.: Yellowstone, Denali, and the Great Smoky Mountains, among others. The unlucky parks made the list because they are plagued by problems such as air pollution, excessive motor […]
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The Gas They Pass
In other news from the Golden State, California’s two Democratic senators, Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, have introduced legislation that would prevent energy companies in Mexico from using Californian natural gas in their plants near the California-Mexico border unless those plants complied with the state’s strict air-quality standards. The legislation would apply to natural-gas-powered generators […]
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Wet ‘n’ Not-so-wild
New guidelines unveiled by the Bush administration on Friday could spell trouble for 20 million acres of wetlands across the United States. The guidelines were prompted by a 2001 Supreme Court decision that found that isolated, non-navigable ponds and wetlands in Illinois did not merit protection under the Clean Water Act. Environmentalists say that narrow […]
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Big Ban Boom
Robert Zoellick, the Bush administration’s chief trade official, is calling on the U.S. to challenge the European Union’s ban on genetically modified food. Zoellick claims the ban is both scientifically backward and “immoral,” arguing that it deprives starving people in the developing world of food. The U.S. and the E.U. have adopted polar positions when […]
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Pombo and (Unfortunate) Circumstance
U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) was chosen this week to lead the House Resources Committee, much to the dismay of environmentalists. As head of the committee, Pombo, who earned only a 9 percent approval rating from the League of Conservation Voters in the last session of Congress, will have significant say in shaping federal legislation […]
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Tuna Sandwiched
Two former government scientists say their superiors shot down years’ worth of research on the effects of tuna fishing on dolphin populations because the findings clashed with the policy aims of the Clinton and Bush administrations. Separate research conducted by Albert Myrick and Sarka Southern indicated that dolphins are exposed to dangerous levels of stress […]
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Glowing Report
The top dogs at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission say they are fully committed to safety — but their own employees are not so sure. One-third of NRC workers question its commitment to public safety, and nearly half would not be comfortable raising safety concerns within the agency, according to a survey conducted by a private […]
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Green groups work together to counter the Bush attack on the environment
It’s been nine weeks since voters turned the national government over to Republican lawmakers, many of whom explicitly vowed to help President Bush and his industrial allies complete what former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) failed to do in 1995: dismantle the nation’s basic protections for water, air, wild lands, forests, and public health. […]
