Climate Politics
All Stories
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Going With the Grain
In a closely contested vote yesterday, the U.S. House defeated an amendment to a massive farm bill that would have shifted $19 billion from crop subsidies to conservation efforts. The defeat, which was engineered largely by lawmakers from traditional farming states, paves the way for approval of a 10-year, $171 billion farm bill that would […]
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Green Camouflage
The Pentagon spends about $5 billion a year on its “environmental security program,” trying to reduce the environmental impact of the armed services. But many greenies think that’s not enough, and up until the terrorist attacks, the military was facing growing pressure to take the environment more seriously. A proposal in Congress would require the […]
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Precedent of the United States
A federal judge dismissed an effort by the timber industry and users of off-road vehicles (ORVs) to overturn former President Clinton’s order to designate 328,000 acres of federal land in California’s Sierra Nevada as Giant Sequoia National Monument. The plaintiffs challenged the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the president the authority to establish monuments. They […]
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Not Sitting on Defense
The U.S. Senate yesterday voted 99-0 to approve a $345 billion anti-terrorism defense bill, after voting 100-0 not to get sidetracked by amendments like one that would have opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) had proposed to add the entire GOP energy bill […]
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Cemental Case
A cement plant in Camden, N.J., shouldn’t be allowed to operate because it may be imposing an unfair pollution burden on a poor, minority neighborhood, a South Camden citizens group argued before a federal appeals court on Tuesday. A lawyer for the group told a three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals […]
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First Contami-Nations
Navajo activists plan to rally today and tomorrow against an energy bill before the U.S. Senate that would give $30 million to fund uranium mining on Navajo Nation lands in New Mexico. They say the mining would contaminate the drinking water of more than 15,000 people. Lori Goodman, spokesperson for Dine Citizens Against Ruining Our […]
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They Have Found What They're Looking for
Following a negative environmental report from the California Energy Commission, a major energy firm has ended its plans to build a big power plant seven miles from Joshua Tree National Park. Environmentalists had feared that a new state law to speed power-plant approval, which was created in the wake of California’s energy "crisis" this spring, […]
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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 […]
