Thursday, 26 Apr 2007

Hustle and Muscle

Schwarzenegger, frustrated by inaction, threatens to sue U.S. EPA

In a smackdown between U.S. EPA head Stephen Johnson and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), who would you bet on? It's OK if you need time to ponder, because their battle is unfolding in slow motion. On Tuesday, Johnson said he had begun the process of considering California's request to be allowed to regulate vehicle greenhouse-gas emissions, setting up a public hearing in May and a public comment period that lasts through mid-June. The request -- which would result in a 25 percent cut in car and truck emissions and an 18 percent cut in SUV emissions by the 2009 model year -- was filed in 2005, but the EPA sat on it until the Supreme Court said the agency oughta reconsider its role in cutting carbon dioxide. And guess who's peeved about that? "If we don't see quick action from the government, we will sue the U.S. EPA," said Arnie yesterday, revealing that he'd sent an intent-to-sue letter to the agency that demands action within 180 days. Steve, time to think about taking off your glasses.

He Also Tried "Climate Fun Time Happypants"

Wolfowitz deputy allegedly tried to weaken climate-change message

The brouhaha over World Bank head Paul Wolfowitz giving financial favors to his lady friend is spreading into a look at whether he's been pushing the Bush administration agenda on family planning and climate change. The bank's chief scientist, Robert Watson, says Wolfowitz deputy Juan José Daboub tried to edit climate change out of a clean-energy strategy paper last year. "He tried to water it down," said Watson, a former NASA official and former head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Daboub tried to delete the phrase "climate change" in some places and change it to "climate risk" and "climate variability" in others, inserting doubt that Watson says counters bank policy. Two other officials supported the assertion. Daboub defended himself against the climate and family-planning clause claims, saying, "I am here to carry out the bank's policies, not my own." Wolfowitz, meanwhile, is thrashing about like a bat trapped in a trashcan, begging for time to defend himself.


Two years ago, dairy giant Dean Foods shuttered a milk-processing facility in Wilkesboro, a town at the eastern edge of North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains. Since there were no other USDA-approved plants around, the move left area farmers with two choices: pay more money to send their milk farther for processing, or shut their businesses down. It's a pattern playing out across the country, as meat, dairy, and vegetable production consolidate in the hands of a few big companies. Tom Philpott explores how the little guys are faring, and how we got to this point.

Getting the Fax Straight

New Canadian climate policy leaks out, is kinda leaky

Canada's Conservative government, known for consistently pooh-poohing the Kyoto Protocol, planned to unveil emissions-reduction targets today and urge participation in carbon markets, a la Kyoto. But the news got out early when a draft of the speech was accidentally faxed to the Liberal Party on Tuesday. So what's in store? Well, the country aims to cut emissions 20 percent from current levels by 2020, but that will still leave it 11 percent shy of its Kyoto obligations. Sigh. Other plans include a ban on sales of incandescent light bulbs by 2012 and an aim to halve air pollution by 2015. "We find ourselves today with one of the worst environmental records among industrialized countries. Now we need to turn things around," says Environment Minister John Baird. Said a Baird spokesperson of the fax fiasco, "I'm sure the Liberals got all excited when they read it, because they would have loved to have once written a speech this strong." Just put your regulations where your mouth is, dude.

At Least the Couch Is Clean

DuPont, 3M criticized for production of "probable" carcinogen

Public furor is simmering over a chemical used in Teflon, Scotchgard, and other miracles of non-stick, stain-resistant living. Protesters picketed DuPont's annual shareholder meeting in Delaware yesterday, upset over the company's environmental and labor policies -- including its production of PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), a "probable" carcinogen. "I will go to the stockholders meeting to show them the face of someone dying of cancer," said Maryanne McGonegal of Common Cause of Delaware, a government watchdog group. "We have to make them understand that people die because of their environmental practices." The company plans to phase out PFOA production by 2015, but maintains that it knows of "no human health effects" from the chemical. Meanwhile, an internal report from fellow giant 3M shows that that company was worried about PFOA and related chemicals infiltrating soil, water, and human bodies as long ago as 1983. Concerned 3M officials, quick on the draw, phased the compounds out in 2002.