Reheated Leftovers
Umbra Answers Your Still-Smoldering Questions
Some Ask Umbras past come a-haunting this week, as our tireless research slavette returns to the questions of home heating, water heating, and -- just to mess up our "heat" theme -- battery recycling. As always, the incomparable Umbra punctures myths with rapier wit. It turns out wood stoves aren't necessarily as eco-bad as you thought, and tankless water heaters aren't as eco-good. Find out more about these matters, and Umbra's new slogan, in Ask Umbra -- only on the
Grist Magazine website.
The League's Extraordinary Gentleman
League of Conservation Voters Endorses Kerry
The League of Conservation Voters has officially endorsed John Kerry for president, marking the first time in the organization's history that it has backed a candidate prior to the first primaries. Kerry, four-term Democratic senator from Massachusetts, has the best environmental voting record of the Democratic candidates, with an LCV score of 96 percent (Lieberman, whose supporters are reportedly frustrated with the decision, comes in second at 93 percent). LCV's board of directors has made unseating Bush a priority, and expressed hope that their early endorsement would raise the profile of environmental issues in the coming race. Kerry seems amenable to their plans: "I intend to put the environment front and center in this race because it is squarely in the center of our lives," he said at an LCV event in New Hampshire.
only in Grist: Kerry forward -- veteran environmental leader gives Kerry the green light -- by Denis Hayes
Survey Says: Don't Survey!
Bush Admin. to Ease Rare Species Restrictions on Old-Growth Logging
Timber companies hoping to log on federal land in the Northwest will no longer be responsible for surveying and protecting some 300 rare plant and animal species, the Bush administration announced on Friday. (Yes, it's yet another Friday rollback; they were hoping you wouldn't notice.) The administration will dump the "survey and manage" plan that was put in place by the Clinton administration; it has been used by enviros to challenge a number of logging plans and has sharply reduced overall logging in Northwest forests. Government officials said that the money saved on the surveys could be better used for projects like clearing undergrowth from fire-prone forests. Industry groups cheered the change, viewing it as a victory in a long-term campaign to step up logging in the Northwest's old-growth forests. Environmentalists just stared mutely, worn down from fighting. No, we're kidding! They're protesting and planning to challenge the decision in court.
Rivers and Tithes
Judge Rules Government Must Pay for Withheld Water
In a case that could have substantial implications for enforcement of the Endangered Species Act, a federal judge ruled recently that the U.S. government must pay California irrigators some $14 million for water it withheld from them during an early 1990s drought in the state. The water was held back in order to maintain river and stream flows sufficient to protect two endangered fish species. The ruling builds on an earlier decision by the same judge that the withholding amounted to a property taking under the U.S. Constitution, which means the property owners (in this case, irrigators) must be compensated. Since water supplies in arid Southern California (and the Southwest generally) are perpetually short of demand, this decision means that any move to restrict flows to the region's irrigation districts amounts to a property taking of enormous value. The case's prosecutor argued that the government will simply find other, less economically damaging ways to protect species; enviros, on the other hand, said that the decision more or less screws endangered fish.
That Ken-do Spirit
London's Mayor Pushes Solar Panels
London's lefty mayor, known (either fondly or derisively, depending on whom you talk to) as "Red Ken" Livingstone, is calling for the "vast majority" of new homes built in London to include photovoltaic solar panels. The requirement is part of a set of strict building and planning rules for local authorities that will go into effect next month. The plan is being released on the heels of a World Wildlife Fund study showing that Britain's leading house-construction firms are not using sustainable building practices. Industry groups protested the rules, saying that focusing on upgrading old housing stock would be more efficient. Livingstone has installed solar panels on the roof of his own London home. "[A]ll day long I am giving energy back to the national grid," he boasted.
