Climate Politics
All Stories
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Montreal Expose
The Montreal Protocol, the international treaty to protect the ozone layer, has been hailed as the most effective environmental agreement ever signed. Now, though, it’s efficacy could be jeopardized, because the Bush administration is calling for some exemptions to a part of the treaty that calls for a global ban on the pesticide methyl bromide […]
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Haden Go Seek
In a blow to environmentalists, a federal appeals court has overturned a ruling preventing the U.S. government from issuing permits to mountaintop-mining operations. The operations access coal seams by shearing off huge slabs of mountains; the increasingly common process has resulted in tons of rock and dirt being dumped into valleys and streams. Last year, […]
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Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydrogen
In his State of the Union address, President Bush outlined a vision of nonpolluting, hydrogen-powered fuel-cell cars and promised to pony up $1.5 billion over five years to make that vision a reality. Almost everyone, from environmentalists to automakers, agrees that the transition toward hydrogen is a good thing, at least in theory: It is […]
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Penn Is Mightier Than the Sword
Following in the footsteps of nine other northeastern states, Pennsylvania went to court yesterday to block new, less stringent federal air-pollution regulations from taking effect. The Pennsylvania case is separate from one filed by the other states, but the issue is the same: the New Source Review rules of the Clean Air Act, which once […]
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Order in the Court
With a staunchly anti-environmental White House and a Republican-dominated Congress, environmentalists are turning to the third branch of government to fight their cause. Happily, the courts have presented a relatively safe haven for greens, upholding strict clean air standards the Bush administration sought to water down, blocking oil and gas exploration in the West, limiting […]
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Ready, Aim, Fire
The Bush administration, U.S. troops, and Iraqi citizens aren’t the only people preparing for war: Employees of American companies that specialize in extinguishing fires from oil wells are also readying themselves for what’s to come. Iraq’s economy, Middle Eastern political stability, and U.S. interests all dictate that the oil industry cannot be a casualty of […]
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New Review Zoo
In a blow to environmentalists, a Democratic effort to delay President Bush’s plan to relax the New Source Review regulations of the federal Clean Air Act was struck down by the Senate yesterday in a 50-46 vote. The postponement effort had been led by Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who wanted to give scientists six months […]
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I Think That I Shall Never See, a Poem As Lovely As a Job?
Nearly half of the Canadian province of British Columbia could be opened to logging and other commercial interests if the provincial government has its way. In an effort to encourage business and stabilize B.C.’s economic base, the government is proposing to set aside 48 percent of the province, or some 45 million hectares, as a […]
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Grime Doesn’t Pay
Tiny Delaware is getting tough on crime — environmental crime, that is. Gov. Ruth Ann Minner (D) and several state legislators want corporate leaders to sign annual sworn statements declaring that their companies are complying with environmental laws; if a company is then found to be in serious violation of such laws, its top management […]
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Black Labs
Private laboratories have been caught faking environmental test results, according to officials in the U.S. EPA and the Justice Department. Companies often use private laboratories to test air, water, soil, petroleum, underground tanks, and other products and indicators; a clean tests yields a certificate of compliance with environmental regulations. David Uhlmann, who heads the Justice […]
