Climate Politics
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The Bush administration is jettisoning real scientists in favor of yes-men
Craig Manson. Photo: USFWS. In the final days of October, Craig Manson, assistant Interior secretary for fish and wildlife and parks, dealt a “Godfather”-style blow to a team of government biologists that was about to release a final report with flow recommendations for the Missouri River — a blow that could have a sizable ripple […]
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Strawberry Yields Forever
U.S. Could Endanger Ozone Layer with Push for Pesticide Use In pushing for continued use of a controversial pesticide, the Bush administration could undermine international efforts to protect the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol, a 1987 treaty ratified by the U.S. and other industrialized nations, calls for phasing out the ozone-depleting pesticide methyl bromide by […]
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He’s Crafty, He Gets Around
Anti-Environmental Riders Popping Up on Spending Bills With a raft of must-pass spending bills making their way through Congress this month, a handful of crafty lawmakers are tacking on unrelated anti-environmental provisions, or “riders,” in hopes of circumventing the usual legislative process. Perhaps the craftiest of all is Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), head of the […]
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Drop and Give Me 50
States Fight Back Against EPA Decision to Drop Power Plant Cases It didn’t take long for the backlash to set in against the U.S. EPA’s decision, announced Wednesday, to abandon its investigations into 50 polluting power plants in the face of the Bush administration’s rollback of the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review rules. One […]
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Leavitt to Busy Beaver
Leavitt Sworn in as New EPA Chief Former Republican Gov. Mike Leavitt zipped from his home state of Utah to the nation’s capital this week, but he didn’t get to go for a leisurely stroll along the Mall or take advantage of the free museum access. Instead, after a hasty swearing-in as the 10th administrator […]
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Promises, Promises, You Knew You’d Never Keep
Breaking Promise, EPA Will Drop Cases Against Polluting Power Plants The U.S. EPA announced yesterday that it will drop investigations into 50 power plants accused of violating the federal Clean Air Act. Enviros and agency watchdogs warned about the possibility of such a shift when the Bush administration rolled back the act’s New Source Review […]
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Missouri Compromised
Bush Administration Boots Scientists Studying Missouri River Just weeks before producing its final report on the ecosystem of the Missouri River, a team of government scientists was yanked off the job by the Bush administration. The scientists had been at work for years and had recommended, among other things, changes to the river’s flow to […]
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A breakdown of the Senate vote on the Climate Stewardship Act
On Thursday, Oct. 30, the Senate voted on Senate Bill 139, better known as the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act, which aimed to cap industrial greenhouse gas emissions and establish a system for swapping emissions credits. The legislation represented the first serious congressional attempt to rein in global warming. It lost by a vote of 55 […]
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Sprawl in a Day’s Work
Slow Growth Sees Rapid Setback in Virginia County The vote took place yesterday in Loudoun County, Va., but the outcome was a blow to smart-growth advocates around the nation. Four years ago, voters propelled slow-growth advocates into eight out of nine county board positions, turning Loudoun into a national model of environmentally friendly urban planning. […]
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Board of Miseducation
Environmental Textbook Author Sues Texas Over Alleged Censorship When it comes to textbook publishing, Texas calls the shots across the nation, by virtue of being big enough to need a whole heck of a lot of books. In the past, the Lone Star State has grabbed headlines for refusing to use science texts that teach […]
