Climate Politics
All Stories
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Money Shaving Steps
Many enviros have suspected for a while that the deregulation of electricity markets is bad for the environment. Now here’s some proof: Spending on energy efficiency programs by North American power companies — the biggest polluters on the continent — dropped by 42 percent between 1995 and 1999, largely because of deregulation. The findings were […]
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Texas Toast
Like John and Yoko, industry and politics in the U.S. have climbed into bed together and just refuse to get out. Nowhere is that more evident than in Texas, homeland of the Bush clan and the most polluted state in the country. Let’s spell it out: Texas is the number one spewer of toxic chemicals […]
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High-tailing it out of there
The Colorado River — the water source for 25 million Americans — is almost certainly on a collision course with a massive pile of uranium slag, according to a report released yesterday by the Department of Energy’s National Research Council. The 12 million tons of tailings, located near Moab, Utah, are left over from a […]
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New Snooze Review
A proposal to alter the New Source Review rule of the Clean Air Act will be announced today, according to the U.S. EPA. The rule requires companies to install state-of-the-art pollution-control equipment when upgrading aging power plants. The utility industry has lobbied intensely against New Source Review, saying it should apply only to extensive, non-routine […]
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When it comes to renewable energy, the DOE is DOA
The question isn’t whether the Bush administration is in bed with the old-school energy industry; most of us have pretty much accepted that Big Oil and King Coal are the current sexy interns in the White House. Nor is the question whether we should be bracing for another oil shock; given the Iraqi oil boycott […]
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Dozing Off
More than 8,500 premature deaths are caused every year by pollution from off-road diesel-fueled equipment not regulated by the federal government, according to a new study by state air pollution control officials. Earthmovers, bulldozers, agricultural equipment, and other such vehicles emit extraordinarily high levels of pollution that have been linked to heart illnesses, asthma attacks, […]
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Boxer Rebellion
President Bush scored a victory yesterday when the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved his plan to store highly radioactive nuclear waste beneath Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, but he was challenged by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on other environmental issues. Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) and Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) introduced legislation supported by […]
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Classless Dismissal
Seeking a comfortable position between environmentalists on the one hand and industry buddies on the other, President Bush let his administration release a report last week acknowledging for the first time that human-caused climate change would substantially change the U.S. environment — but then distanced himself from the report’s conclusions during a press conference yesterday. […]
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Truth Without Consequences
For the first time, the Bush administration has acknowledged, in a report to the U.N., that climate change is most likely caused by human activity and will have far-reaching effects on the American environment. Although the report marks a significant shift in the administration’s rhetoric — Bushies had heretofore maintained the need for more research […]
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Quitting Time
Back in March, Eric Schaeffer made a big media splash by resigning after years as head of enforcement at the U.S. EPA over differences with the Bush administration’s environmental policies. But the truth is that Schaeffer was just the tip of the iceberg. From senior career administrators to lawyers to leading scientists, a number of […]
