Climate Politics
All Stories
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Fondest Schregardus
Facing an uphill battle, Donald Schregardus, President Bush’s choice to head the U.S. EPA’s enforcement division, withdrew his name from consideration yesterday. Schregardus told Bush in a letter that it was clear that his “nomination will not be considered by the U.S. Senate in a timely manner.” He was right to think so. Earlier this […]
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Toast of the Town
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) flew right over the cuckoo’s nest and straight into nutville with his widely mocked decision to add “eco-terrorists” to the list of possible suspects responsible for the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Don Young getting restless. For the unlucky few who missed the Alaska congressman’s appalling […]
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The Ohio Player
Drawing unfavorable attention to President Bush’s choice to head the U.S. EPA’s enforcement program, a preliminary report released yesterday by the agency found that Ohio has done a poor job enforcing air-pollution rules. Bush’s nominee, Donald Schregardus, led the Ohio EPA during most the 1990s. The report said that air inspections, investigations of complaints, and […]
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Has Bush done the environment a favor with his extreme agenda?
Oh, it’s getting fun. As Congress prepares to reconvene next week, the question is not whether the White House will adjust its strategy on the environment, but how. When President Bush and his congressional allies went home for vacations this month, the message they heard away from the Beltway was consistent: The administration’s approach on […]
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National Historic Landfill
In what must be a flub, U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton yesterday named a toxic dump in Fresno, Calif., as a national historic landmark. Officials weren’t sure how the landfill was nominated for the prestigious designation. The 145-acre Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill is also listed as a Superfund site, with cleanup costs estimated at $38 […]
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Making Arsenics of Themselves
A new study released yesterday by an advisory panel to the U.S. EPA undercuts one of the Bush administration’s main reasons for revoking a tougher standard for arsenic levels in drinking water. When EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman rejected the standard, she said the Clinton administration hadn’t adequately considered costs when arriving at the standard. […]
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The Kratzer-Jammin' Kid
Two new U.S. government reports raise big concerns about a Bush administration plan to cut federal environmental enforcement staff by 8 percent and shift resources to the states. A report by the U.S. EPA’s inspector general found that states are doing a poor job of monitoring and punishing water polluters. A report by the General […]
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Parris in the Summertime
As a last hurrah, Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening (D) says he will push for new restrictions on development along Maryland’s coastal bays. He says he will introduce a bill to preserve the wetlands and protect water quality in the next legislative session –which will be his final one in office — and he expects the […]
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Holding Schregardus in Low Regardus
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said yesterday he would join with U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to block President Bush’s nomination of Donald Schregardus to be the U.S. EPA’s chief enforcement officer. Schumer said he would use parliamentary tactics to stall the nomination until the Bush administration indicated whether it would withdraw from Clinton-era lawsuits […]
