Wednesday, 19 Oct 2005

Junket in the Trunk

ESA foe Pombo took two trips paid for by anti-animal-welfare foundation

The ever-widening net of Republican-corruption busting may have snared a green bête noire: Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.). It seems Pombo took two trips, to New Zealand in 2000 and Japan in 2002, underwritten by a nonprofit foundation notable for opposition to environmental and animal-welfare protections. Problem is, tax laws prohibit private, nonprofit foundations from financing international travel by government officials. According to the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity, Pombo, his wife, and a staffer have taken $23,000 worth of international travel paid for by the International Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources, whose backers include the Japan Whaling Association and the International Fur Traders Association. "This is an organization that has made a cottage industry out of opposing any animal-welfare reform," says the Humane Society's Michael Markarian. Pombo claimed he didn't know the group was a private foundation and said he'll reimburse the travel expenses if they prove to violate the tax code.


When we were in college, the closest we got to buying local was grabbing ramen noodles from the 7-Eleven down the street. But things have changed, and today's students are more aware of their options (do they make organic ramen?). Today, a green guy from Hartwick College asks Umbra Fisk how to convince his school to serve locally grown food. As usual, she cooks up a tasty answer.

Oh No You Mittn't

Mass. governor may weaken power-plant rules as winter approaches

Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) is the latest lawmaker looking to sacrifice environmental protections in the face of sky-high energy prices and what looks to be a frigid winter. He's considering weakening some air-emissions restrictions on oil-burning power plants in his state, saying it may allow them to produce more energy this winter. Massachusetts and the rest of New England get almost half of their electricity from plants burning natural gas, but with natural-gas prices hitting new highs, some worry that utilities will find it more profitable to just cease operating on the coldest days of the upcoming winter and sell off their gas supplies. This would leave the state vulnerable to blackouts and more dependent on oil-fueled facilities. The Conservation Law Foundation's Seth Kaplan says the state could make its cheapest, fastest, and most immediate energy gains by encouraging more energy efficiency in heating, lighting, and appliances. But in a crisis situation, lawmakers may go for the easy fix.

O Tidings of Comfort and Anti-Enjoyment

Latest national-parks policy draft drops worst of proposed revisions

The Bush administration has released its proposed revision of National Park Service management policies for 90 days of public comment. An earlier draft, written by Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Paul Hoffman and leaked to the press in August, would have required park managers to prove an activity would "irreversibly" damage park resources in order to ban it. This language is notably absent from the latest version. Some other dubious revisions have also been excised, like allowing more cell-phone towers and snowmobiling in the parks. Hoffman decries "anti-enjoyment" policies that over-prioritize conservation, but Stephen Martin, a deputy park service director, says "passing the resources on in as good, or better, condition to future generations is a key premise of the draft." Parks advocates are largely reserving comment until they've had a chance to read the 277-page document closely. This seems to be an improvement on the earlier version, says a former NPS superintendent, but "a Woodsy Owl comic book would have been better."

Covert Ploperations

CIA investing in "plug and play" clean power generator

Warning: this blurb will self-destruct in five seconds. It seems clean energy has a spooky new backer. The CIA is investing, via a venture capital firm, in a Virginia start-up called SkyBuilt, which has developed a clean electricity generator for use in the field. The Mobile Power Station uses solar panels and wind turbines to generate up to 150 kilowatts of electricity, with batteries for backup. It's enough to power a small emergency medical facility or military field-operations center, and could easily help power communications and other vital services in disaster-relief situations. The stations are "plop and drop, plug and play," according to SkyBuilt VP Scott Sklar, created from widely available components and packed into standard-size shipping containers that can be delivered via boat, truck, or even laser-guided parachute. Of course, now that we've told you this, we have to kill you.