Climate Politics

That Sinking Feeling

In other scientific news of the day, trees might not be a climate change magic bullet after all, according to a study published in today’s edition of Nature. Trees and shrubs have been regarded as an ideal carbon sink (meaning they absorb excess carbon dioxide, reducing the concentration of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere) […]

Watered Down

Nearly a third of all major industrial facilities and state-operated sewage-treatment plants in the U.S. have significantly violated clean water regulations in the last two years, and one out of four operated on an expired pollution permit last year, according to a recent report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Moreover, relatively few of […]

Everyone’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Task Force

The Bush administration has 30 days to turn over more documents related to Vice President Dick Cheney’s National Energy Policy Development Group, a federal judge ordered late last week. A number of other federal agencies involved in the secretive energy task force have already turned over thousands of pages of related documents, but the Bush […]

Cut the Crop

Concerned that experimental genetically modified (GM) crops could contaminate their unaltered counterparts and creep into the nation’s food supply, the White House has drafted new rules to protect consumers and avoid costly and disruptive food recalls. The rules, which were written by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, propose preliminary crop-safety assessments before beginning […]

Two Green Peas in a Pod

It’s a rare day when Greenpeace and the Bush administration see eye to eye, but the environmental organization is siding with the White House in a fight against mahogany importers. Seven such importers have sued the administration for holding up 12 shipments of Brazilian mahogany, which have been stranded on U.S. docks since last winter […]

Signing of the Times

In a sign of the increasing political importance of environmental issues, close to half of the U.S. Senate called on the Bush administration yesterday to postpone implementing proposed changes to the New Source Review rules under the Clean Air Act, pending a complete analysis of the potential impact on air quality and public health. A […]

The White House Effect

Beltway green groups need to turn up the heat

Inside the Beltway, the climate movement is comatose. During the Clinton-Gore years, while the U.S. dragged its feet in international climate negotiations, the major national environmental groups allowed themselves to be used by the administration. Seduced by the former vice president’s rhetoric, the groups watched their issue disappear from the political arena when Al Gore […]

Tackling climate change at the local level

Sister Evelyn Mattern had two goals in mind as she stood vigil recently with a Protestant colleague in a gas mask, singing, “This Air is My Air!” at the North Carolina statehouse. Her short-term aim was to lend support to stricter regulations for the state’s coal-fired power plants. Yet she also had a loftier, long-range […]

Wheezy Riders

Motorcycles and gas-powered recreational boats could become substantially cleaner if emissions cuts proposed by the Bush administration late last week are enacted. The proposals call for halving emissions from motorcycles (which are, on average, 20 times more polluting per mile than a new car) and reducing boat emissions by 80 percent. The new standards would […]