Tuesday, 13 Dec 2005

Haul Out the Folly

White House makes last-ditch effort to open Arctic Refuge to drilling

The Bush administration is mounting a last-ditch effort to persuade Congress to approve drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before lawmakers break for the holidays. Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao are out furiously shopping talking points: It would supply New Hampshire's oil needs for 315 years! It would create thousands of jobs! Did we say "thousands"? We meant a million! The moderate House Republicans who blocked the drilling provision from being included in a big budget bill are fielding White House offers to fund pet projects, as are 30 or so House Democrats who've supported drilling in the past. But House Dems appear united in opposition to the budget bill, in large part because it would make deep cuts to social programs, and the green-minded House Republicans say they're not budging either. At the moment, drilling supporters seem to be at an impasse. Hold your breath ...


A troubling number of U.S. fish stocks are floundering (ahem), and a bipartisan duo of senators is hoping to stem the tide. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) -- both, as it happens, supporters of drilling in the Arctic Refuge, and neither known for eco-consciousness -- are pushing for updates to fisheries law that could better protect fish populations and their marine habitat. Enviros want more, but say the Stevens-Inouye plan isn't bad. Some industry players, meanwhile, would prefer to see the current draft of the legislation sleeping with the fishes. Muckraker takes a peek at the bill being crafted by this unlikely pair of ecosystem crusaders.

Off Season

Climate change is messing with the seasons in a Rocky Mountain forest

Since 1968, researchers have gathered air samples from near the summit of Colorado's Niwot Ridge in the Rocky Mountains, and tracked carbon dioxide levels in the conifer forest below. They've amassed the world's third-longest record of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and that record provides a troubling glimpse of how forests respond to a warming world. The biological start of spring in the Niwot forest was about 10.5 days earlier in 2002 than it was in 1980, and cool fall temperatures are coming later. "It's shocking," said researcher Pieter Tans. "It was more than I expected." That bodes ill for the Northern Hemisphere's mountain forests: An earlier spring usually means a hotter, drier summer, with water-stressed trees that are easier prey for insects, disease, and forest fires. Trees hurting for water also photosynthesize more slowly, pulling less carbon dioxide from the air than a healthy forest would.


It's been almost 20 years since the world learned of Chernobyl and the nuclear industry was declared dead. But memories fade, and now nuclear is wearing a pretty new dress! It's twirling in the spotlight! In fact, it might just be the salvation of our sweaty-palmed, oil-dependent planet! Today, our Full Disclosure columnists check in on the industry's renaissance, and its prospects for becoming the belle of the business world's ball.

Great Expectations

Big Great Lakes cleanup plan gets an OK, but no federal funds

U.S. EPA administrator Stephen Johnson and a bipartisan coalition of Midwestern lawmakers and officials approved a 15-year strategy to restore the Great Lakes on Monday. But the Bush administration says it won't fund the plan, which may cost up to $20 billion. The strategy to pull the lakes back from imminent ecological collapse involves revamping disintegrating municipal sewer systems, clearing out invasive species, decontaminating severely polluted toxic hotspots, and more. Conservationists say the effort is imperative to the region's ecology and economy -- the lakes supply 35 million North Americans with freshwater, and support a $35 billion boating industry and an estimated $18 billion in yearly spending from hunters, anglers, and wildlife-watchers. Lawmakers vow they'll pry funding loose from Washington. "There is not a Democratic plan for cleaning up the Great Lakes or a Republican plan for cleaning up the Great Lakes," says Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.). "There are only two choices -- action or inaction."