Friday, 30 Jun 2006

Whole Foods Market, the fast-growing natural-foods purveyor, has announced a series of initiatives that would support small, local farms and improve treatment of animals. In an open letter to food writer Michael Pollan, who has criticized Whole Foods for relying on "industrial organic" farms, CEO John Mackey described the chain's coming efforts to build a network of "animal-compassionate" farms, purchase more local food for its distribution centers, and even allow local farmers to sell food directly to customers in store parking lots.

Two Steps Back

Ford backs out on hybrid pledge, plans more alt-fuel vehicles

Remember Ford's much-hyped commitment to produce 250,000 hybrid vehicles by 2010? Er, about that: CEO Bill Ford Jr. backpedaled on the promise Wednesday. While not abandoning hybrids altogether, he said Ford's focus (ha) is shifting (ha ha) to cars that can run on alternative fuels like ethanol, clean diesel, and biodiesel. In an email to employees, the CEO said the quarter-million-hybrids objective was "too narrow to achieve our larger goals of substantially improving fuel economy and CO2 performance." (Of course, ethanol substantially improves neither, so, uh, WTF?) Also on Wednesday, Bill Ford and the CEOs of General Motors and Chrysler pledged to Congress that they would double production of alt-fuel vehicles to 2 million by the end of the decade. In addition, Ford announced plans to partner with VeraSun Energy to open about 50 new ethanol fueling stations in the Midwest.


As if factory farms weren't odiferous enough, the Bush administration is stinking things up further by letting them off easy on water pollution. These massive feeding operations produce vast quantities of animal waste, which all too often finds its way into the nation's rivers and lakes, but the U.S. EPA has proposed new rules that would let factory farms decide themselves whether or not they are contaminating waterways. Muckraker investigates.

A Bitter Drill

House votes to end moratorium on offshore drilling

The House voted yesterday to end the 25-year-old ban on oil and gas drilling off most of the U.S. coast. The highly contentious debate broke down more along geographic lines than partisan ones, as states standing to make money from the drilling largely supported it. Under the bill, drilling would be allowed beyond 50 miles off the coast; states could vote to extend protection to 100 miles, but they would have to pass legislation on it again every five years. The most controversial part of the bill was a plan to reroute, over time, up to 75 percent of the drilling royalties to states rather than the feds. This bribery was necessary to get coastal states behind the bill, but it stands to leech $20 billion from the federal treasury over the next 10 years. "We should not be opening all of our coasts to oil drilling when we have not taken the first step to conserve oil," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), who added that the bill "pretty much defines 'travesty.'" Florida's two senators have vowed to filibuster the bill if it reaches the Senate floor.


Volunteers who head out on expeditions with the Earthwatch Institute may find themselves anywhere in the world, looking for lemurs, tracking turtles, or pursuing penguins. Or, occasionally, climbing a tree to escape a charging rhino -- which, says Earthwatch CEO Ed Wilson, "keeps things exciting." As InterActivist this week, Wilson answers readers' questions about bringing international experiences back to local activism, the benefits and drawbacks of air travel, and that other Edward Wilson guy.

A Lawn Time Coming

EPA may implement California small-motor standards across U.S.

The U.S. EPA indicated yesterday that it was leaning toward approving California's proposal to require catalytic converters on small motors like those in weed whackers and lawn mowers, eliminating the equivalent of emissions from 800,000 cars. Even better, the agency suggested it may implement the high standards across the country. "We believe harmonizing with California will be cost-effective, good for the environment, good for the industry, good for all the stakeholders," said EPA air-quality director Margo Oge. At least two small-engine manufacturers, Honda and Kohler, support California's plan, while the counsel for the main industry trade group indicated grudging acceptance of the state standard, adding, "I want you to appreciate the pain and challenge [our] members are accepting." EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson will make the final decision later this year. We hope Johnson rises to the occasion.

Gave Proof Through the Night That Our Mag Was Still There

Grist takes a vacation to celebrate Independence Day

We Gristers are proud, patriotic, exhausted Americans, and damn, we need a vacation. We'll be sipping American beer and watching American fireworks on Monday and Tuesday, so fellow Americans (and our international audience, we love you too) will have to live without Daily Grist. We shall return on Wednesday, refreshed and ready to renew our fight for the clean America we know is possible. See you then.