Thursday, 08 Apr 2004

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch ...

Bush Shows Off Ranch to Conservation Groups

President Bush today will give a tour of his Texas ranch to what the White House calls "wildlife conservation organizations," including Ducks Unlimited, the U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, and, uh, the National Rifle Association. Bush's policies of promoting oil and gas exploration and other development in the West have sapped some of his political support among traditionally Republican hunters and anglers; this tour will be an opportunity for him to talk up his clean-air and healthy-forest initiatives, said a White House spokesperson. Bush spends several weeks a year at his ranch -- between his inauguration and September 2001, he spent part or all of 54 days there -- often hacking away at the cedar brush he says saps water from his hardwoods. A spokesperson for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry -- who himself hunts and would like to win over the hunter demographic -- used the ranch tour as an opportunity to attack Bush's record on conservation, saying that the president is "systematically dismantling, neutralizing, or defunding virtually every meaningful law, regulation, and program that protects or restores fish and wildlife."

Quality Is Job One

Protected Areas Aren't Adequate to Shield Endangered Species

Some 20 percent of the world's threatened animal species live in habitats that are entirely unprotected, according to a study just published in the journal Nature. Although 11.5 percent of the world's land is protected in wildlife preserves and parks -- exceeding the ambitious 10 percent goal established at 1992's Caracas Congress -- these areas are often extremely cold or extremely dry, with low biodiversity. "The protected areas tend to be in the wrong places. We have huge national parks in Alaska, but few protected areas in biologically rich places like Florida or Hawaii," said ecologist Stuart Pimm. The situation is similar across the globe, particularly in poverty-stricken countries: The areas with the richest biodiversity are the most attractive for human development. The authors of the new study recommend targeting quality over quantity in habitat protection, and call upon developed nations to assist poorer countries in conservation efforts.

Breath Defying

EPA's New Smog Standards Cause Political Uproar

On April 15, the U.S. EPA will release a list of counties across the country that exceed its new standards for ground-level ozone (the main component of smog), and the impending announcement is already kicking up a political poopstorm. Local and state governments in overly smoggy areas will be required to devise plans to improve their air; failure to meet strict deadlines will result in loss of highway funds, among other penalties. Some 40 percent of the nation's population lives in areas that fail to meet the new standards. Many of the new problem areas are rural -- including, depressingly, national parks. At least eight of the most popular national parks -- Yosemite, Rocky Mountain, and Great Smoky Mountains among them -- will fail to meet new air standards. The threat of penalties has members of Congress and governors frantically lobbying EPA chief Mike Leavitt to make changes in the EPA's designations. Leavitt says he has heard from or met with dozens of legislators in recent weeks.

Greenahertz

Chipmakers Phasing Out Lead

Computer chip manufacturers are going greener. Intel and National Semiconductor announced separately yesterday that they will begin eliminating lead from most of their products. Intel will begin shipping lead-free embedded processors in the second quarter of 2004 and lead-free microprocessors in the third quarter; their lead-free memory chips are already on the market. National Semiconductor will phase lead out of its products by the end of the year, and also try to reduce the use of bromine- and antimony-based flame retardants. Concerns over the environmental impact of discarded computers -- particularly the lead in circuit boards and cathode-ray monitors -- has grown in recent years. A European law mandates a phaseout of lead by July 2006. While no such laws are on the books in the U.S., public concerns have prompted action from a number of electronics manufacturers.

Crossing Jeffords

Jeffords Stalls Bush EPA Appointments

Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.) has put on hold four of President Bush's appointments to top positions in the U.S. EPA, protesting what he says is the agency's refusal to turn over documents he's requested. Saying he has repeatedly been "stonewalled" by the agency -- he points to 12 unmet document requests over the past three years -- Jeffords bluntly stated, "I have bent over backwards to try to accommodate the EPA, but my patience is now worn out." Jeffords' relationship to the president and the Republican Party has been frosty since he became an independent in May 2001, but his accusations were supported by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, who coauthored a letter with Jeffords to EPA chief Mike Leavitt on March 4 "to express our commonly held position that the agency is obligated to respond to requests from ... the chair and ranking member." Most of the documents Jeffords has requested relate to Bush's changes to Clean Air Act rules, which the senator calls "questionable interpretations."