Climate Politics
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A Grist interview with Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean
With George W. Bush boasting perhaps the worst environmental record of any president in U.S. history, it almost goes without saying that any contender in the 2004 election will appear to be an environmentalist nonpareil by comparison. Indeed, nearly every Democrat running for president is advertising himself as just that, and former Vermont Gov. Howard […]
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Whittled Away
U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman handed President Bush her letter of resignation yesterday, citing the desire to spend more time with her family. Whitman, who was frequently at odds with the Bush administration and constantly under fire from conservationists and industry leaders alike, did not mention political differences as a factor in her decision to […]
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Read U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman’s letter of resignation
Christine Todd Whitman sent the following communication to all U.S. EPA employees on May 21, 2003, the day after she resigned her post as EPA administrator. The communication includes her letter of resignation to President Bush, dated May 20, 2003. To All EPA Employees: Yesterday afternoon, I met with President Bush at the White House […]
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Forests Fired
The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday passed President Bush’s “Healthy Forests” initiative, which would limit environmental and judicial reviews of proposed tree-cutting projects in the name of preventing forest fires. Approval of the initiative came despite a report released last week by the General Accounting Office that found that, contrary to White House allegations, very […]
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Neverglades
In more bad news for the environment, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) yesterday signed into law a highly controversial plan that will delay cleanup of phosphorus from the Everglades by a decade and, critics say, potentially result in the loss of $4 billion in federal funding for the massive restoration project. Bush — who said […]
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Growl
Along with whales and pandas, grizzly bears are among the most famous and most beloved poster children of the environmental movement. But that hasn’t deterred the Bush administration from consistently making land-use decisions that environmental activists say threaten the animals. The administration’s actions — most notably, the halting of a hard-won, Clinton-era plan to reintroduce […]
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The Evidence Is Thin
A new report by the federal government has found that very few forest-thinning projects have been stalled by appeals from environmentalists, giving the lie to allegations to the contrary by the Bush administration. The General Accounting Office reported yesterday that the U.S. Forest Service was able to proceed with 95 percent of thinning projects within […]
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Ban Rollover
Starting up what’s likely to be an ugly trade tussle, the Bush administration yesterday filed suit at the World Trade Organization against the European Union, challenging E.U. policies that severely restrict the import of genetically modified (GM) crops. U.S. trade representative Robert Zoellick contends that the E.U. has in effect instituted a ban on GM […]
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Republicans for Environmental Protection need not be an oxymoron
In the seven years since I cofounded Republicans for Environmental Protection, officially known as REP America, I have answered two questions more often than any others: “Isn’t Republicans for Environmental Protection an oxymoron?” And, “If you care so much about conservation and environmental protection, why don’t you become a Democrat?” The first one is easy […]
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Sonic Doom
At least half a dozen dead porpoises have washed up on beaches in Washington state and British Columbia in the last week, spurring speculation that they were killed when the USS Shoup, a Navy destroyer, used its high-intensity sonar last Monday as it traveled near the San Juan Islands off the Washington coast. Observers reported […]
