Friday, 26 May 2006

If At First You Don't Succeed ... Keep Not Succeeding

House passes legislation to drill in Arctic Refuge ... again

Here we go again: for the 947th time, the House has passed legislation that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. Less than six months before congressional elections, House Republicans are desperate to show they're doing something about high gas prices. Of course, that something is largely symbolic, as the measure is likely to crash and burn in the Senate. The bill passed 225-201; 30 Republicans voted against drilling, but were balanced out by 27 Democrats who voted in favor. The drilling measure's chief sponsor, California Republican Richard Pombo (who else?), thundered at Democrats, "You've got this pie-in-the-sky [idea] that we're going to invent a 100-mile-per-gallon carburetor, and all of a sudden our problems are going to go away." He's right, you know. Our problems won't go away until we drill in the refuge and gas prices drop. By a penny. In a decade.


If you believe ag-state legislators, car companies, and all too many enviros, ethanol will solve the energy crisis. So it comes as a somewhat awkward revelation that many manufacturers are looking to build new ethanol plants powered by coal -- global warming enemy No. 1. The Bush administration and a bipartisan crew of lawmakers from corn- and coal-producing states are promoting the trend by pushing to loosen air-pollution rules on ethanol facilities. Muckraker looks into what that would mean for the future of this much-ballyhooed biofuel.

They Should Volunteer to Be Penalized for That

Bush's voluntary emissions-reduction programs not amounting to much

Are you sitting down? We've got some earth-shattering news: the Bush administration's voluntary programs to reduce industrial greenhouse-gas emissions aren't working. A report issued yesterday by the Government Accountability Office stated that many industry participants in the U.S. EPA's voluntary "Climate Leaders" program and the Department of Energy's voluntary "Climate VISION" program were not setting specific emissions-reduction goals or inventorying or reporting on their emissions. According to the report, as of November 2005, only 38 of the 74 participants in the EPA program had set reduction goals; an EPA spokesflack responded that the program now has 87 participants, with half committed to reducing emissions. Holding strong at 50 percent! Eleven of the 15 trade groups involved in the DOE program have established targets, but only five have reported their emissions. Wonder why this plan isn't working. Anyone like to volunteer an opinion?


As a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, John Suttles is used to being the one asking the tough questions. But as InterActivist this week, Suttles finds himself in the hot seat. Under cross-examination from curious Grist readers, he testifies on the ins and outs of being a public-interest lawyer, the legal standing of pesticide-spraying neighbors, his marital status, and more.

The Tropic of Cancerous Growth

Warming atmosphere is expanding the tropics, study finds

The globe's tropics are expanding -- and if you're thinking coconuts and palm trees, don't. Think deserts and drought. According to a new study in Science, satellite measurements show that the lowest level of the atmosphere in torrid subtropical regions on either side of the equator is heating up, and has pushed the northern and southern jet streams each some 70 miles closer to the poles since 1979. A continuation of the trend could deprive southern Europe of winter precipitation, expand deserts of the American Southwest, and nudge the Sahara Desert north, perhaps by hundreds of miles. "This may be a totally new aspect of climate change," says study coauthor Thomas Reichler. The study authors conclude, "Regardless of the cause, the poleward shift of the jet streams and the associated subtropical dry zone, if it continues, could have important societal implications." Indeed.

Senate Takes Dirk in Interior

Kempthorne confirmed as secretary of the interior

After a brief and largely pro forma confirmation hearing today, the Senate made it official: ex-Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne (R) will succeed Gale Norton as secretary of the interior, steward of 20 percent of the nation's land. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) whinged a bit at the hearings about President Bush's plan to drill off the coast of Florida, but otherwise the hearings were a hugfest. If Kempthorne's environmental critics are right, we can now look forward to several more years of drilling, leasing, and lots and lots of snowmobiles.

Them's the Breaks

Grist takes Memorial Day off

In a burst of spontaneity and goodwill, Grist's tall, smolderingly handsome, delightfully witty, dazzlingly intelligent Maximum Leader is giving all staffers the day off on Monday. What generosity! What thoughtfulness! What ... did you say? It's a federal holiday? Oh. In that case, he's actually not that tall. Anyway, don't fret -- we'll be back on Tuesday.