Friday, 24 Jun 2005

As founder of Sprawl-Busters, Al Norman counsels local communities on how to change their zoning codes to keep big-box stores from taking over local businesses. He chats with readers this week about what to do if Wal-Mart comes to town, why Target is just Wal-Mart with 'tude, how to get hip anti-Wal-Mart garb, and more.

Craig's %$#! List

Idaho senator tries to axe center that analyzes endangered salmon

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) has inserted a rider into the federal energy bill that would eliminate funding for the Fish Passage Center, which has tracked salmon in the Columbia and Snake River systems in the Pacific Northwest for over 20 years. Craig is peeved that the center's fish survival data was used to support a recent federal court order mandating summer spills over Snake River dams, impacting electricity rates and barge travel along the rivers. The senator took umbrage at the center's support for what he calls a "controversial and one-sided" salmon recovery policy. Many other interested parties, from Indian tribes to state fish biologists to fishers to federal judges, support the center. Michele DeHart, the center's manager, says it compiles "data that is accurate and, yes, it does show that the federal hydro system kills fish." The Bonneville Power Administration, which both dispenses money to the center and sells electricity produced by federal dams, says it will not fight for or against Craig's measure.


Several Grist readers took umbrage this week at our credit-allocation levels. One thought we gave Seattle mayor Greg Nickels too much. One thought we gave the Bush plan to expand fish farming too little. So too for Umbra's career advice and, well, everything else we wrote about. We're shooting for the sweet spot, people. We'll get there some day.

My Own Private Saudi Arabia

Energy execs beg Congress to let them dig up the West for oil shale

"We can safely say of our future with regard to oil and gas, it has yet to see its brightest days," said Rep. James Gibbons (R-Nev.) in a House subcommittee meeting yesterday. We know what you're thinking: What the ... ? Well, apparently Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming are sitting on top of lots and lots of oil shale, a porous rock soaked through with petroleum. In fact, the Green River Basin is estimated to contain over a trillion barrels of oil, enough to eliminate trans-Atlantic oil imports by 2025. Energy execs are champing at the bit to start digging, but farmers and conservationists in the West aren't quite so gung-ho. The last big oil-shale boom, in the 1970s, went bust. Past oil-shale extraction methods have included underground nukes (!) and heavy mining, and though energy companies promise this time around they'll be environmentally sensitive, similar promises about coalbed methane extraction yielded contaminated land and water. Tread lightly, warned Russ George of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, "but do tread."

A Shot Across the Mao

State-controlled Chinese oil company makes big bid for America's Unocal

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), a state-controlled Chinese oil company, is making an $18.5 billion bid to take over California-based oil and gas firm Unocal, which has extensive Asian operations. Rival bidder Chevron warns that China will have the power to raise energy prices for U.S. consumers if CNOOC prevails, and some lawmakers are anxious about national-security implications. But the Bush administration seems loath to comment on the deal, since China has some very pointy hooks in the U.S. economy. In particular, it acquired over $200 billion in U.S. Treasury securities just last year, cementing its status as one of America's major creditors. Against the backdrop of world oil prices hitting $60 a barrel, however, critics of the takeover bid are incensed that Bush is largely mute while the world's largest communist country attempts to take over a U.S. energy company.

The Spirit is Willing, But the Fest is (Two) Weeks

Grist staff takes semiannual, semi-deserved break; readers mourn

While most of you have already trundled out the grill and scooped the beetles out of your pool, Grist staffers haven't yet tasted summer. In fact, we've been perched on stools at the pun assembly line for the last six months -- and our backs are starting to ache. So we hereby announce that we're taking a two-week break. We'll be back in your inbox on July 11, but in the meantime, don't despair: Like any self-respecting online environmental magazine, we have a blog! And like any blog, this one stops for no tan. Be sure to check out Gristmill while we're gone.