Fresh Stuff

Trying to get things moving again.  Heard this one today and felt my blood pressure rise, just a bit.

Cheney’s office ‘fixed’ EPA testimony on global warming

You may recall a story from October, when Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified before a Senate panel on the impact of climate change on public health. Before Gerberding could talk to lawmakers, however, the White House altered her testimony. References to potential health risks were removed — [...]

Technorati Tags: Cheney,FDA,Global Warming

McCain: Friend or Foe?

We’re talking about the environment. McCain’s trying to do some silly little tap dance around one part of the issue.

Despite Claims Of Being A ‘Leader’ On The Issue, McCain Plans To Skip Vote On Landmark Climate Change Bill

Earlier this month, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) sought to distance himself from President Bush by calling for a mandatory limit on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. “I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears,” McCain said in a speech at a wind power company. On his campaign website, McCain (R-AZ) calls himself [...]

Technorati Tags: John McCain, Environment, Climate Change

Toxins In Our Life

Toxins, it seems, are everywhere.  Sure, a lot of them have been around for decades, but we seem to be forcing them on people more than ever.

Piling it High

Nancy Holt, a retired nurse from Mebane, N.C., is beset by mysterious neurological problems. She blames the cause of her illness on the multiple unknown toxicities of the sewage sludge that has been spread since 1991 on the fields across from her house as “fertilizer.” And Holt says she isn’t alone. People in her neighborhood have a high incidence of cancer and thyroid problems. Local creeks are [...]

Technorati Tags: Toxic Waste, Sludge, Cancer

Late Night Worries

Oh, this is not good!

EPA testing air after twister in toxic Oklahoma town

The Environmental Protection Agency planned to check for high lead levels Monday after a deadly tornado blew through a town so polluted with lead-filled mining waste that it’s a Superfund site [...]

Technorati Tags: Lead Levels, EPA, Tornado, Oklahoma

How’s It Going?

If you live north of Baghdad, in Iraq, not very well at all.

Running Out of Water in Rising Heat

Water supply is drying out in what was once the agriculturally rich Diyala province north of Baghdad. Baquba, the capital city of Diyala, is now running out of water both for drinking and for irrigation. Water supply has been hit by [...]

Technorati Tags: Iraq, Water Supplies, Water Shortages

Senatorial Smackdown

Oh, man.   It was one long day for the EPA’s Stephen Johnson.

Dem Senators Berate EPA Official

It’s gotten to be pretty routine. An EPA official goes up to Capitol Hill and straight-facedly insists that the agency is all about transparency and science, and Democratic senators respond by calling it a lie. But this morning, it wasn’t [...]

Technorati Tags: EPA, Stephen Johnson

More Of The Same

The firings continue.  Another day.  Another chapter.

Whitehouse: EPA Regulator Firing Resembles U.S. Attorney Firings

It’s not the first time that the politicization of the Environmental Protection Agency has forced comparisons to Alberto Gonzales’ Justice Department, and it surely won’t be the last. On the Senate floor this afternoon, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who sits [...]

Technorati Tags: EPA Regulator Firing

A Powerless EPA

Thanks to tons of political arm-twisting.  It’s just so wrong. Kudos to Waxman for stepping and stepping up.  It’s our environment, after all.

Survey: Half of EPA Scientists Complain of Political Interference, Waxman to Investigate

From the AP: “The Union of Concerned Scientists said that more than half of the nearly 1,600 EPA staff scientists who responded online to a detailed questionnaire reported they had experienced incidents of political interference in their work…. Nearly 400 [...]

Technorati Tags: EPA, Environment, Waxman

Global Warming and the Bush Administration

Don’t let the headlines bolster your hopes too much.  TPMMuckraker explains that it’s more cover story than real action.

Bush to Lay out New Way Forward on Global Warming

After seven years of foot dragging and stonewalling by the Environmental Protection Agency, has the administration finally seen the light? From the AP: “President Bush is giving a Rose Garden speech on Wednesday on climate change to lay out the [...]

Technorati Tags: Global Warming,Climate Change

Tonight’s Global Warming Update

I’m pleased to pass along tonight’s best post on global warming. You know that it’s one of the topics we do our best to track.  With that in mind, help yourself to some good news. Kinda good news.

Global Warming is Good For Something!

Well, it turns out that global warming and climate change are good for something, after all! They promote life! Okay, so it’s a toxic form of bacteria, but toxic forms of bacteria need love, too! According to report in Science Magazine, by [...]

Technorati Tags: Global warming

Another Problem

Yes, my friends, we have yet another problem in America.  And, yes, it’s going to take boatloads of money to fix. 

US Water Pipelines Are Breaking

Two hours north of New York City, a mile-long stream and a marsh the size of a football field have mysteriously formed along a country road. They are such a marvel that people come from miles around to drink the crystal-clear water, believing it is bubbling up from [...]

Technorati Tags: Pipes Breaking, Water

Your EPA

Pretty much sitting on its hands, doing nothing. via AMERICAblog, where they delight in finding little nuggets of incompetence at the highest levels of our government.

Bush EPA ignores Supreme Court directive

They are not even trying to make up excuses, which makes this even more amazing. They just shrug their shoulders and [...]

Technorati Tags: EPA, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Greenhouse Gases

Who’d A Thunk It?

They’re doing some progressive and innovative right next door in Texas! I am seriously impressed with what they’re doing and the amount of money farmers can make! Of course, they have the wide open spaces to try something like this.

Texas Turning Into The Capital Of Wind Power

The wind turbines that recently went up on Louis Brooks’s ranch are twice as high as the Statue of Liberty, with blades that span as wide as the wingspan of a jumbo jet. More important from his point of view, he is paid $500 a month apiece to permit 78 of them on his land, with 76 more on the way. “That’s just money you’re hearing,” he said as they hummed in [...]

Tags: Environment, Wind Turbines

Four Years

That’s all some U.S. cities may have, according to a new report. I’m not buying into this thing 100%, simply because the target date is too close. I can’t see things turning that bad, that quickly. But…

The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities

Below table lists the world’s cities that are likely to collapse completely or partially by or before 2012¹ in the first wave of collapse. The collapse would be caused by a combination of failing ecosystems, human-enhanced environmental catastrophes; failing infrastructure; food, water and fuel shortages; infectious disease; war, civil conflict and other dynamics. Following the first phase of collapse, [...]

Tags: Economy, Environment

The Ethanol Debate

Well, this has been a fun little exercise in greening the environment, hasn’t it?

Ethanol: It’s Even Worse Than You Thought

A few days ago two studies were published showing that biofuels like ethanol had no positive effect on global warming. In fact, it turns out that they’re actively bad for the environment. One of [...]

Tags: Environment, Ethanol

They’ve Done It Again

Once again, a negative report on the environment is held up by the Bush Administration. Please note that this one has information that could be bad news for 9 million Americans.

CDC blocked release of ‘alarming’ environmental report.

The Center for Public Integrity reports today that “for more than seven months, the nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states” because of “alarming information” about “elevated infant mortality and cancer rates” potentially threatening “more than nine million” Americans. [...]

Nice, Huh?

Better schedule that Yellowstone vacation this year, if you want any peace and quiet. I want to find new sources of energy as much as anyone, but we shouldn’t have to destroy a forest to do it. They’ll try to tell us that damage will be minimal, and they’ll replace what they destroy. I’m not convinced…

Bush Administration Plan Would Open Six Million Acres of Pristine National Forests in Idaho to Mining and Logging

A new poll released today finds that a majority of Idaho voters oppose a Bush administration plan to open six million acres, including areas in Idaho’s Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, to phosphate mining, commercial logging and energy exploration [...]

Tags: Environment

Your Next Car?

I’m betting somebody’s gonna quash this, before it ever has a chance to be imported. Land of the free? I’m thinking: “Not”. It’s a car than runs on compressed air. That’s right. AIR. This is absolutely amazing, especially when you realize it isn’t pokey and doesn’t cost a forture.

How Cool Is This?

 

Tags: Compressed Air Car

Shooting Down California’s Environmental Concerns

Who’s responsible? Our favorite gun-slinger, Dick Cheney. Proof, positive, that the VP still has a lot of power. At least, in certain areas.

Cheney at Work

Before EPA administrator Stephen Johnson rejected California’s application to impose greenhouse-gas regulations beyond federal requirements, auto executives appealed directly to Dick Cheney. Sure enough, Johnson delayed his decision until after the VP had talked to the execs: “On multiple occasions in October and November, Cheney and White House staff members met with industry executives, including the [...]

Tags: Cheney, Environment, California

Another Milestone

Life can be measured in milestones.  Births, deaths, new jobs, graduations.  Our daughter graduated Friday night from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. After a celebratory dinner, it began to snow as we returned to our hotel.  By the time we got there, it was snowing heavily. It snowed all night and much of Saturday, leaving 6 to 8 inches on the ground.  To some of you, that may not sound like much.  To a transplaned Iowan, living now in Arkansas, it’s a lot.  Especially when you’re trying to move a daughter out of an apartment, piling her possessions into three cars. We got much of it done Saturday, in the snow.  By Sunday morning, the final work was done in 15 degree temperatures, with a brisk NorthWest wind to speed us up.  Then, broken windshield wipers had to be replaced before we could begin the treck over relatively clear roads to return home. Kudos to the highway folks in Missouri – they did really quick work to keep the roads passable. Now, it wasn’t quite as bad as this old photo from “Keep The Coffee Coming” would indicate.  It just FELT that bad!

So, today, she’s gainfully employed and managed to find something back at home.  That, my friends, is a milestone.

All that being said, with the holidays rapidly approaching, the massive staff at this little blog is “fixin’” to become busy.  Keep checking back, but if you don’t see anything fresh for a day or two, don’t worry. I’m still around.  It’s just that (this is embarassing to say) we don’t have many Christmas decorations up, yet! Somehow that graduation thing occupied a lot of December hours. 

Blog-wise, I’m playing catchup tonight. Big Time.  Lots of stuff to wade through and it looks like folks were busy over the weekend.  Dig in.

Bush backs off Bali agreement hours after signing

No surprises here except to the rest of the world that actually thought Bush was being sincere when he agreed to nothing and pushed this out for the next president. Same old, same old. Even a signed document with this administration isn’t worth the paper it is written on and Congress is too afraid to ever call him out. Between the [...]

Carl explains it this way:

Bush Got What He Wanted Out Of Bali

He delayed, ran down the clock, deferred, distracted and otherwise pushed off the tough decisions on global warming to the next shnook to sit in his [...]