Friday, 27 Aug 2004

Good Times, Good Times

Federal Report on Global Warming Produces Beltway Drama

When The New York Times reported yesterday on a new Bush administration report to Congress which acknowledged the human causes of global warming, characterizing it as an abrupt shift in policy, some Beltway wags speculated that the newspaper was trying to box the administration in and embarrass it. Today brought evidence in support of such speculation. The Times ran an editorial calling the report "tardy acceptance of what mainstream scientists have been saying for years." Meanwhile, in an interview with the paper, when asked why the administration had changed its position, Bush said, "Ah, we did? I don't think so." When the paper's story on the report was brought to his attention, he said, "Oh, okay, well, that's got to be true." Elsewhere, in more informed quarters of the administration, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said policy on climate change would continue to be "guided by ... science"; White House spokesperson Trent Duffy said, despite the report, "we need to fill in the knowledge and the scientific gaps" on the issue; and Bush's top scientific adviser, John Marburger, said the report has "no implications for policy." Glad we cleared that up!

Classified Adds

As Feds Classify More Info, Environment Could Be Affected

Since 9/11, the Bush administration has upped secrecy at a growing number of agencies, all in the name of fighting terrorism. Much of the information newly deemed sensitive has direct implications for the environment and public health. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will no longer make safety scorecards for nuclear facilities public. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has said he is considering removing hazardous-waste signs from trucks and trains, lest they tip off shadowy evildoers. A highway bill now in congressional committee would allow the government to withhold information "detrimental to the security of transportation, transportation facilities or infrastructure, or transportation employees," language so vague that Environmental Defense says it could be used to conceal hazardous-waste spills or the routes by which nuclear waste is transported. Though the recent 9/11 Commission report said too much information was classified already, the federal Information and Security Oversight Office says the number of classified government documents is only increasing.

Well To-Do

Farmers Across Asia Emptying Underground Water Tables

Farmers in India, Pakistan, Vietnam, and northern China are setting themselves up for drought and famine in decades to come by pushing wells deep into the ground, emptying underground reserves at a rate faster than precipitation can replenish them. India's government system of irrigation canals is decrepit, so farmers have sunk some 21 million wells and sink a million new ones every year. While the influx of water has brought short-term relative prosperity, it's not expected to last; as the water table recedes, shallower wells are drying up, and new wells need to be sunk deeper and deeper. In northern China, the country's "bread basket," 40 percent of grain is produced with pumped groundwater, and officials warn that the coming water shortage will make China an importer of grain soon. Farmers risk turning some land into desert within five to 10 years. Said Tushaar Shah of the International Water Management Institute, "When the balloon bursts, untold anarchy will be the lot of rural India."

Don't Be a Bad Sport

New Study Says Recreational Fishing Harms Endangered Species

When it comes to overfishing and the depletion of stocks of threatened and endangered fish species, the focus is usually on commercial fishing. But a new study published today in the journal Science claims that recreational fishing has a much larger impact on those stocks than previously assumed. A team of researchers analyzed the National Marine Fisheries Service's online database and regional sources of information and concluded that while recreational fishing accounts for a relatively small percentage of the total saltwater fish catch, it accounts for almost a quarter of impact on "species of concern." In some areas that number rises to 64 percent (off the Gulf Coast) and for some individual species it rises to 93 percent (the red drum). Researcher Felicia Coleman acknowledged that most sport fishers are conservation minded, and that each individual's catch is limited, but added that the sheer number of fishers was having a huge impact. She said, "Recreational fishing should no longer be seen as benign and needs to be better managed."

Smears of a Clown

Auto Industry-Backed PR Firm Claims California Emissions Regs Will Kill

A new ad campaign by the Sport Utility Vehicle Owners of America uses "Squeezy the Clown" to warn that proposed carbon-dioxide emissions regulations in California would force automakers to (gasp!) build smaller cars, which in turn will lead to increased traffic fatalities. (You see, they argue, the regs would force people to squeeze into smaller cars. Like clowns. Funny!) Though the group's name implies a grassroots citizens' effort, in fact SUVOA was bought two years ago by Strat@comm, a Washington, D.C., PR firm with extensive ties to big automakers. Critics are calling the campaign a classic example of "Astroturf" -- industry-backed campaigns masquerading as grassroots. And critics say the ad's main contention is a bunch of hooey: Not only does the 2002 law that calls for regulating emissions specifically prohibit state officials from banning large vehicles, but just-released federal data show that SUV occupants are more likely to die in traffic accidents.