Wednesday, 01 Aug 2001

DeLay It on Thick

Republican leaders said yesterday they were hopeful that the U.S. House would vote to allow oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), the House majority whip, said, "We feel very, very confident we will be able to crack the backs of radical environmentalists." The Arctic Refuge provision is part of the broad energy bill up for discussion on the House floor today. The bill would grant oil and gas companies as much as $15 billion in tax cuts over the next decade. During debate on the bill, the House will vote on an amendment to raise the average fuel-efficiency of SUVs and light trucks to 27.5 miles per gallon by 2007.

Crazy Like a Red Fox

While some other university students are scoping out foxes in the local bars, John Perrine, a Berkeley grad student, is chasing California's rarest fox -- the Sierra Nevada red fox. Perrine, a wildlife ecology and conservation student, is part of a team that has taken on a three-year research program to protect the fox. Using modern technology, rancid chicken legs, and good old-fashioned legwork, Perrine is helping to find the answers that could keep the elusive fox from slipping away forever. Read more on the Grist Magazine website.

Riverdance of Joy?

U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman gave the go-ahead yesterday to a Clinton-era plan requiring General Electric to spend half a billion dollars to dredge PCB pollution from 40 miles of the Hudson River. Her draft order, which has been sent to New York state for a 30-day review, came after weeks of speculation that the Bush administration might cave to pressure from G.E. and scale back the dredging to a six-mile pilot project. The company has spent millions of dollars trying to convince the EPA and the public that the river is naturally cleaning itself and that dredging now would only make the pollution problem worse. Enviros said last-minute lobbying by Republican Gov. George Pataki (N.Y.) helped to convince Whitman to stick with the Clinton plan.

Flat-bottomed Lizards, You Make the Rockin' World Go 'round

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton to reconsider her decision not to list the flat-tailed horned lizard as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Norton argued that the lizard has plenty of public land on which to live in southwestern Arizona and Southern California. But the court said her analysis was faulty. In other species news, a coalition of enviro groups sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service yesterday for failing to protect spotted owls and Pacific fishers (a relative of the mink and otter) in California's Sierra Nevada mountain range. The groups want the animals listed under the ESA, a move that could reduce logging on millions of acres in the region.

Smoke on the Water, Fire on the Hill

Four firefighters may have lost their lives last month in Washington state because of the Endangered Species Act, U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.) charged yesterday. McInnis, chair of the House Resources forests subcommittee, cited unnamed sources who said that fire crews delayed helicopter water drops for three hours or more while dispatchers determined whether water could be pulled from the Chewuch River without violating the Endangered Species Act. The river contains populations of salmon, bull trout, and steelhead. But Elton Thomas, fire-management officer for the Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests, said the delays didn't relate to the species act, which doesn't curtail water use in such cases.

Just Spray No

Despite a judge's order to temporarily cease fumigating coca and poppy plants with the herbicide glyphosate because of environmental and health concerns, Colombia said yesterday it would not stop the antidrug operation. The judge on Friday asked the Colombian government to explain what it knows about the effects of glyphosate on people and the environment. His final ruling on a petition by indigenous groups to halt the American-backed spraying is expected within 10 days. Both Colombia and the U.S. deny that the spraying might be causing harm. Colombia's antinarcotics chief, Gen. Gustavo Socha, said spraying would continue, except in the Amazon; American officials said they interpreted the ruling to suspend the fumigation in all of Colombia.