NRDC Rounds Up Obama’s Environmental Progress

When it was announced last week that Obama was set to reverse Bush-era rules that weakened protection of endangered species, we wondered aloud whether anyone was keeping track of just how much progress the new administration has made thus far in terms of the environment. We should have known that the National Resources Defense Council was on it.

The NRDC, which also kept a comprehensive record of Bush’s environmental crimes, rounded up Obama’s green efforts in a recent article at The Huffington Post:

• January 26, 2009: President Obama directs the EPA to reconsider the agency’s decision to deny California’s strong limits on global warming pollution from cars, and he calls on the Department of Transportation to raise national fuel efficiency standards.February 4, 2009: More than 100,000 acres of Utah wilderness win protection from oil and gas drilling after the Department of Interior announced that it will cancel 77 leases issued under the Bush administration.
• February 5, 2009: President Obama signs a presidential memorandum requesting that the Department of Energy set new efficiency standards for common household appliances. This will save in 30 years the amount of energy produced by all the coal-fired power plants in America over a two-year period.
• February 6, 2009: The EPA announces it will reconsider its decision to deny California permission to set standards controlling greenhouse gases from motor vehicles.
• February 6, 2009: On instruction from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the Solicitor General asks the Supreme Court to drop the Bush administration’s desperate appeal to resurrect EPA’s illegal and harmful power plant mercury rule.
• February 10, 2009: Department of Interior Secretary Salazar announces that he is going to make a thorough review of the five-year Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing program that was announced in the final days of the Bush administration.

That’s not even half of it – check out the rest at The Huffington Post.

What a relief, after the disaster that was George W. Bush’s presidency. It’s so nice to know that we’ve got years of additional progress to look forward to.

Link [The Huffington Post]

Obama Reverses Bush-Era Endangered Species Rule

President Obama has shelved a Bush-era rule that weakens protection of endangered species, he announced on Tuesday. The regulations allow agencies to decide for themselves whether projects like highways, dams and mines could harm animals and plants listed under the Endangered Species Act. The rule reduces the mandatory independent reviews that government scientists have been performing for 35 years, and prevents federal agencies from assessing whether the construction project contributes to global warming.

From MSNBC:

“We should be looking for ways to improve it, not weaken it,” Obama said of the Endangered Species Act. He spoke at an Interior Department ceremony to mark the department’s 160th anniversary.

At least for now, the two agencies will resume full scientific reviews of projects that might harm endangered wildlife and plants.

A conservation group that had sued to overturn the Bush-era rule welcomed the news.

“Obama has swiftly delivered on his campaign promise to reverse Bush’s anti-endangered species regulations,” Kieran Suckling, director of the Center for Biological Diversity, told msnbc.com. “He has restored independent, scientific oversight to the heart of the Endangered Species Act.”

Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum to put the regulation on hold until the Interior and Commerce departments complete a review of it. Democrats in Congress are attempting to reverse the rule via legislation. They wrote a provision into a spending bill that passed in January, drawing the predictable ire of Republicans.

Is anyone keeping track of how many of Bush’s environmental offenses Obama has overturned thus far, in less than 60 days in office? Quite impressive. He’s not wasting any time, which is a huge relief to everyone who cried foul when Bush enacted one anti-environment regulation after the other during his presidency. All signs point to Obama keeping the momentum going.  That dark cloud that has hovered over us for 8 years? It’s almost a thing of the past. What a relief.

Link [MSNBC]

Update: Oil Leases in Utah Parklands Canceled

The Obama administration is canceling Bush-era oil drilling leases on more than 130,000 acres near two national parks and other protected areas in Utah. Bush’s Interior Department had planned to auction off the land in December for oil and gas drilling, but the auction was disrupted by activist Tim DeChristopher. The land sale had been slammed as a ‘fire sale’ for the oil and gas industry, and would have placed drilling rigs near treasured national landmarks.

In January, a judge granted a temporary restraining order preventing the Bureau of Land Management from moving forward with the leases after several conservation groups sued to challenge long-term management plans that made the sale of the parcels possible.

From MSNBC:

“In the last weeks in office, the Bush administration rushed ahead to sell oil and gas leases near some of our nation’s most precious landscapes in Utah,” Interior Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters. ““We need to responsibly develop our oil and gas supplies to help us reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but we must do so in a thoughtful and balanced way that allows us to protect our signature landscapes and cultural resources.”

“We will take time and a fresh look at these 77 parcels to see if they are appropriate for oil and gas development,” he said, adding that the Bureau of Land Management will return the $6 million in bids from an auction last December.

The 77 leases were for areas near Arches and Canyonlands national parks, Dinosaur National Monument, and Nine Mile Canyon, which is sometimes called the world’s longest art gallery for its collection of ancient rock-art panels.

Unsurprisingly, Republicans and the oil industry have responded with claims that the decision will hamper U.S. efforts to reduce reliance on foreign oil. Environmental groups, on the other hand, are thrilled.

Tim DeChristopher isn’t necessarily off the hook – the 27-year-old won $1.7 million in leases despite having no intention to pay, and prosecuters still haven’t decided whether or not to charge him.

This is certainly a victory for conservationists everywhere and for the people of Utah, who can now enjoy the beauty of their state’s national parks without worrying about oil rigs popping up.

Link [MSNBC]
Photo credit: Destination 360

A Round-Up of Bush’s Midnight Regulations on the Environment

In a January 6th, 2009 press conference on conservation and the environment, Bush declared, “The new steps I’ve announced today are the capstone of an eight-year commitment to strong environmental protection and conservation.” He was referring to last-minute action to establish three new national monuments in the Pacific Ocean – what was hailed even by critics as the largest marine conservation effort in history.

But despite Bush’s selective memory, those who have been paying attention know that Bush’s dismal environmental record was made even worse by a series of anti-environment midnight regulations in the last months of his presidency.

So, exactly how much damage did Bush manage to do to the environment during the last months of his presidency?

The National Resources Defense Council has an interactive timeline of Bush’s environmental follies, starting with the appointment of Gale Norton as Secretary of Interior in January of 2001 and ending with the EPA’s December 2008 memorandum declaring that the agency would not regulate CO2 pollution from power plants or other industrial facilities.

The Washington Post outlined Bush’s midnight regulations on December 19th, dividing them into three categories according to whether they were done deals, still unresolved or already dead. Here are the done deals:

1.) Concealed firearms now allowed in national parks. A new Interior Department rule allows an individual to carry a loaded weapon in a park or wildlife refuge — but only if the person has a permit for a concealed weapon, and if the state where the park or refuge is located also allows loaded firearms in parks.
2.) New rules for mountaintop-mining waste. A new rule from the Office of Surface Mining could ease the restrictions on what mining companies can do with the tons of dirt and rock they blast off Appalachian mountaintops to reach coal seams beneath. In many cases, this waste is dumped into nearby ravines, creating “valley fills” that be dozens of feet high. Previously, rules had barred most dumping within 100 yards of a stream, if the material would damage the stream’s water quality.  The new rule would allow waste to be dumped in streams — if a company has no alternative, and if it tries to preserve the stream’s health “to the extent practicable.”
3.) Looser rules for air pollution from factory farms. A new regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency exempts factory farms from a requirement to report hazardous air pollution — including ammonia given off by animal waste — to the federal government.
4.) Permission to burn toxic wastes as fuel. A new rule from the EPA allows companies that create hazardous chemical wastes in industrial processes to burn them as fuel in their own incinerators, instead of paying highly regulated incineration firms to destroy them.
5.) Loosened protections for endangered and threatened species.  A new rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would allow other government agencies to decide in some cases whether a project would harm an imperiled species, without having to submit to an independent scientific review.
6.) Easing restrictions on oil-shale drilling. The federal Bureau of Land Management has proposed allowing companies to drill for “oil shale,” which is oil contained in rock deposits, across the West. The bureau argued that the work would increase domestic oil production.

The entire list of midnight regulations, including those outside of environment and energy, can be found at ProPublica. It includes regulations that are open to comment, closed to comment, withdrawn, finalized, and in effect. The environment and energy regulations include increased uranium mining permits near the Grand Canyon in Colorado (in effect), EPA’s decision not to regulate rocket fuel contamination in drinking water (closed to comment), and narrowing the definition of ‘navigable waters’ in regards to the Clean Water Act which could allow oil companies to discharge oil into streams and marshes (in effect).

Finally, on December 31st, the Bureau of Land Management announced their decision to double the rate of logging on 2.6 million acres of federally owned land in Oregon. The BLM stated that increased logging would bring jobs and windfall profits to economically depressed counties, but the surge of timber harvesting will likely have a negative impact on water quality, fish and wildlife in the area.

While some of the last regulations issued by the Bush administration can be easily reversed once Obama is in office, many will require a far lengthier process due to the need to open them up to a period of public consulting. Undoing these final acts could take Obama months or even years, especially with the gargantuan task of keeping the U.S. afloat during an economic crisis taking up most of his time and attention.

One laudable conservation effort in the final hour of his presidency is nowhere near enough to erase the past eight years of appalling antipathy to the environment and clean energy. While Bush may have hoped to remove a bit of the tarnish on his reputation, his legacy has already been set in stone.

As Bush’s presidency ends and Obama’s begins, we can finally turn our backs on an embarrassing part of American history – an era wherein our country not only fell behind in scientific advancements, ignored global warming and initiated deeply flawed wars over oil but consistently put industry before human health and the environment.

What’s left but to watch gratefully as Bush disappears onto the horizon, and breathe a sigh of relief as Obama takes charge? We’re waking up from a national nightmare and even in the midst of frightening economic conditions, we’ve got – yes – hope.

Link [Washington Post] + [NRDC] + [ProPublica]
Photo credit: Makri at Freaking News

Interior Department Moves to Increase Logging on Oregon Land

Oregon is bracing for the revival of a decades-long battle over logging of old-growth timber. The Interior Department recently announced their intention to double the rate of logging on 2.6 million acres of federally owned forests in southwestern Oregon, ignoring the objections of the governor and two federal agencies in charge of protecting the quality of the water in the area.

From The New York Times:

The economies of the timber industry and Oregon’s rural southwestern counties took a major hit when logging on federal lands in the area was cut back by 80 percent under the terms of the Northwest Forest Plan, which took effect about 15 years ago. Representatives of both groups applauded Wednesday’s decision, saying it would revive local mills and timber companies.

But environmental groups condemned the decision and gave notice that they would challenge the plan in federal court. The group Earthjustice called the decision a “massive giveaway at the expense of salmon spawning streams, healthy old-growth forests and habitat for rare birds such as the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet.”

Oregon Governor Kulongoski warned that such a plan would interfere with any future wilderness designations in the areas around the Rogue River. He advised that harvest increases be phased in slowly due to environmental and public concerns.

There will still be a chance for environmental review and public comment as each tract of land is prepared for sale, a process that takes some time. OPB News reports that the Obama Administration is unlikely to back the plan, giving many hope that it won’t end up becoming reality.

Two conservation groups are suing over the plan. Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics and EarthJustice both say the agency failed to consult federal biologists over the harm that logging might cause to spotted owls and other wildlife protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Link [The New York Times] + [OPB News] + [Seattle Times]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Activist Disrupts Sale of Utah Oil and Gas Drilling Leases

On December 19th, the Bush Administration held an auction in Salt Lake City for oil and gas drilling leases on land adjacent to national parks. A lot of people have been upset about this ‘fire sale’ ever since it was announced, and one activist decided to do something about it.

Tim DeChristopher, fully expecting to be arrested and charged, drove up the price of land parcels by bidding them up with no intention of paying for them. The environmental activist was escorted from the Bureau of Land Management offices after throwing the process into chaos before the sale of 132 parcels covering 164,000 acres was concluded.

From MSNBC:

“He’s tainted the entire auction,” said Kent Hoffman, deputy state director for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in Utah.

Buyers will have 10 days to reconsider and withdraw their bids, Hoffman said.

The FBI was questioning a man who registered for the auction as Tim DeChristopher of Salt Lake City, said the bureau’s Utah Energy Team Leader Terry Catlin.

Other bidders at the auction complained about DeChristopher as unfamiliar and bidding in an unconventional fashion, which raised suspicions, Catlin said.

DeChristopher is believed to have won the bidding on 13 parcels and driven up the price of several others. He said he successfully bid on more than $1.7 million in parcels.

It’s pretty hilarious to imagine all of these uptight oil and gas company representatives and government officials getting all worked up over an “unfamiliar” man bidding in an “unconventional fashion”. Good for him for disrupting the process.  This ‘midnight sale’ was unfair in the first place, so it serves them right to have to deal with some confusion and delay.

Link [MSNBC]

U.S. Proposes Protection for 7 Penguin Species

The Bush administration is proposing to list six species of penguin as threatened and a seventh as an endangered species while three other penguin species in need of help are being ignored.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has denied protection for the emperor penguin, star of recent films Happy Feet and March of the Penguins, as well as the northern rockhopper and the macaroni penguin. The Bush administration stated – despite research to the contrary – that there is not enough evidence to list the emperor as threatened because of global warming now or in the future.

From MSNBC:

The penguins live far from the United States, in places like Antarctica, South Africa, Peru, Argentina and New Zealand, so the protections of U.S. endangered species law are limited, officials said. Listing the penguins under the act, however, will raise awareness about the species and could give the United States leverage in international negotiations to protect them from fishing, habitat loss, development and other threats.

Environmentalists praised the Bush administration’s proposal to list fully six penguin species, but criticized its decision not to protect the other three. The emperor penguin is the largest in the world and depends on sea ice for breeding and feeding.

The decision to protect the seven species chosen by the Bush administration is still under public comment, so a final determination will be made by the Obama administration.

One can only guess that the Bush administration is allowing the protection of these penguins because it won’t financially harm the business interests of their buddies. Call me cynical, but the only rhyme or reason to Bush and Co.’s decisions about endangered species this year seems to be based on that and that alone.

It’s great that these penguins are getting much-needed protection, but it’s hard to get excited when Bush is simultaneously impeding protection for so many other species. Is it January 20th yet?

Link [MSNBC]

Feds Halt Drilling Plans in Some Areas of Utah

The Bush Administration has been all too eager to auction off large swaths of scenic parkland in Utah for drilling by oil and gas companies, but it seems pressure from conservation groups may have gotten to them. Though the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) hasn’t said why they’ve pulled certain tracts of land from the auction, they’ve met with a lot of resistance by people angry about the potential for oil rigs spoiling beautiful views.

From MSNBC:

For the second time in a week, the bureau announced late Tuesday that it was pulling auction parcels from an expanded oil-and-gas leasing program in Utah. The latest tracts include land inside Nine Mile Canyon and Desolation Canyon on the Green River.

Together with previous deferrals, the BLM has pulled nearly 100,000 acres from an auction set for Dec. 19, leaving more than 276,000 acres up for bid.

Last week, the BLM pulled drilling leases that were located on and near the borders of Arches National Park, Dinosaur National Monument and Canyonlands National Park, all in Utah.

The auction has been slammed by conservationists as a “fire sale” for the oil and gas industry, especially since it was put together so quickly. The National Park Service in Utah wasn’t even properly notified and was rightfully upset about the possibility of oil rigs setting up so close to natural treasures like the Delicate Arch.

Parcels of land on bluffs overlooking Desolation and Nine Mile Canyons are still up for sale, along with areas populated by big game. An attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance says the BLM’s second reversal in a week just goes to show that this whole thing was a rush job.

Seriously, is it January 20th yet? Agencies like the Bureau of Land Management are about to be forced into making some major changes in the way they operate. Obama’s teams are already swarming government offices to review their current modus operandi. No more blatant favors for the oil and gas industries!

Link [MSBNC]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Bush Administration Departing Proposal Slammed As “Fire Sale” For Oil And Gas Industry

If the Bush Administration has its way, iconic views across the country could be sullied by oil rigs and other machinery owned by oil and gas companies. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has announced a December 19th auction of more than 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels alongside or within Arches National Park and two other redrock national parks in Utah – Dinosaur and Canyonlands – in what environmentalists are slamming as a “fire sale” for the industry.

One of the landmarks that could be affected is the Delicate Arch natural bridge in Utah, a scene so treasured it’s on Utah license plates. The top National Park Service official in Utah is justifiably angry about the announcement, given that his agency wasn’t even properly notified, calling the sale “shocking and disturbing”.

From The Huffington Post:

Officials of the BLM, which oversees millions of acres of public land in the West, say the sale is nothing unusual, and one is “puzzled” that the Park Service is upset.

“We find it shocking and disturbing,” said Cordell Roy, the chief Park Service administrator in Utah. “They added 51,000 acres of tracts near Arches, Dinosaur and Canyonlands without telling us about it. That’s 40 tracts within four miles of these parks.”

Top aides to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne stepped into the fray, ordering the sister agencies to make amends. His press secretary, Shane Wolfe, told The Associated Press that deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett “resolved the dispute within 24 hours” last week.

A compromise ordered by the Interior Department requires the BLM to “take quite seriously” the Park Service’s objections, said Wolfe.

However, the BLM didn’t promise to pull any parcels from the sale, and in an interview after the supposed truce, BLM state director Selma Sierra was defiant, saying she saw nothing wrong with drilling near national parks.

Selma Sierra went on to say that there are many parcels leased around parks, and this is nothing new. But Cordell Roy and conservationists have a bone to pick with that statement, saying the bureau has never before put so many drilling parcels directly on the fence lines of national parks. Franklin Seal, a spokesman for the environmental group Wildland CPR, says you can see drill pads on the hillside when standing at Delicate Arch.

It’s obvious enough what this is: Bush’s final gift to the oil and gas industry. They know they won’t be getting this kind of special treatment from Obama, so they’re asking for as many favors as they can get away with before Bush is gone for good. Environmental reform is coming, like it or not!

Link [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Department of Energy Stopping Important Global Warming Research Project

For over a decade, scientists have been working on a federally-funded research project called ‘Free Air CO2 Enrichment’ (FACE) to determine the effect of carbon dioxide on forests. Millions of dollars have already been spent pumping elevated levels of CO2 into experimental forests, and scientists say they’re on the cusp of receiving key results that may be crucial to our understanding of how global warming will affect the planet. But, the Department of Energy is ready to cut the trees down, saying they need the funding for other things.

From The Huffington Post:

That plan has upset some researchers who have spent years trying to understand how forests may help stave off global warming, and who want to keep the project going for at least a couple of more years.

“There has been an investment in these experiments and it’s a shame we are going to walk away from that investment,” said William Chameides, an atmospheric scientist at Duke University, where one of the experimental forests is located. “There is no question that ultimately we want to cut the trees down and analyze the soil. The question is whether now is the time to do it.”

Ronald Neilson, a U.S. Forest Service bio-climatologist in Corvallis, Ore., said the experiments should continue because they still have potential to answer key questions about how rainfall and fertility affect how much carbon a forest will store long-term _ essential to understanding how forests may soften the blow of climate change.

The Energy Department is insisting that cutting down the trees now and digging up the soil will allow the first real measurements of how much carbon various parts of the trees have been storing. They also say that ending the experiments will allow them to forward the funding to new research that will examine the effects of higher temperatures, changes in rainfall and variations in soil fertility.

Some of the scientists associated with the project say that if it’s stopped now, all of the time spent on this all-consuming project will be for nothing. Ram Oren, associate professor of ecology at Duke University and principle investigator of the experiments there, says “To stop an experiment that cost $55 million, $10 million before it reaches its real conclusion makes no sense to me.”

What’s the deal with the Bush Administration lately? It seems as if this is yet another part of their recent hackjob on the environment, destroying progress and ensuring that Obama’s task of cleaning up their mess is even more difficult.

Link [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Duke University

New Bush Rule Eases Pollution Restrictions on Factory Farms

With just months left in office, it seems that President Bush has a fire under his ass to destroy the environment in as many ways as possible before he vacates the White House. The Bush Administration is already rushing to ease endangered species laws so government-approved building projects can move forward; now, we’re hearing that they have made thousands of factory farms exempt from needing permits that limit water pollution. The EPA also decided not to improve controls for bacteria and other pathogens that pose risk to human health and wildlife.

From The Daily Green:

Confined Animal Feeding Lots or CAFOs, as factory farms operations are known, are huge polluters. They create large amounts of waste that doesn’t become fertilizer for farms but often runs off into waterways, contaminating drinking supplies and harming aquatic life. The release says that the EPA estimates that these facilities generate three times more waste than people do nationwide.

According to the NRDC, the new rule:

• Creates a loophole allowing facility operators to avoid permits by claiming they won’t have a discharge.
• Adopts a scheme that allows facilities to avoid certain environmental enforcement. For instance, if an operator certifies that the facility won’t have a discharge, environmental authorities will ignore enforcement action, even if the facility discharges to the nation’s waters.
• Rejects improvements in technology that would reduce harmful bacteria and other pathogens contained in animal waste, missing an opportunity to prevent water pollution and threats to public health.

Maybe this is just an extension of his gleeful “Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter!” exclamation at the G8 summit – in other words, he’s a little kid willfully trashing the place in disobedience. Congratulations, Bush – you’ll go down in the history book for many things, not the least of which is being the WORST. PRESIDENT. EVER.

Link [The Daily Green]
Photo credit: StoptheMegaDairy.org

Bush Administration Rushing to Ease Endangered Species Laws

In the final months of Bush’s rule as President of the United States, his administration is feverishly working to push through government-approved building projects that can only be carried out if endangered species laws are eased.  In fact, Interior Department officials are so eager to loosen the laws that protect these animals, they’re poring over 200,000 public comments in just 32 hours.

From Yahoo News:

The Fish and Wildlife Service has called a team of 15 people to Washington this week to pore through letters and online comments about a proposal to exclude greenhouse gases and the advice of federal biologists from decisions about whether dams, power plants and other federal projects could harm species. That would be the biggest change in endangered species rules since 1986.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., whose own letter opposing the changes is among the thousands that will be processed, called the 32-hour deadline a “last-ditch attempt to undermine the long-standing integrity of the Endangered Species program.”

At that rate, according to a committee aide’s calculation, 6,250 comments would have to be reviewed every hour. That means that each member of the team would be reviewing at least seven comments each minute.

It usually takes months to review public comments on a proposed rule, and by law the government must respond before a rule becomes final.

It’s the Republicans taking the side of business over anything and everything else, as usual. Lobbyists are paying big money to push these projects though, and if the Bush administration does manage to make the regulation final before they leave office, it could take months or even years for the next president to undo. Obama has already said he would reverse the proposal, and McCain’s campaign has not commented.

Perhaps this is Bush’s way of saying, “Hey, look at me! I’m still a crappy President!” After all, we’ve practically forgotten that Bush is still in office in our excitement about seeing someone else taking his place. If you thought he was done screwing things up, think again.

Link [Yahoo News]

White House Buries Report on Possible Climate Change Death Toll

My, my. Will wonders never cease? The Bush administration has once again stepped in to keep important information out of public hands because of their own selfish needs. Information that could save thousands of lives and keep catastrophic damage from occurring to the planet. Is anyone surprised?

US government scientists wrote a report detailing the harmful impact that climate change could have upon the human population, which included a high death toll from heat waves, fires, disease and smog. The 149-page report was prepared as part of a response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling under the Clean Air Act, which found that the EPA must regulate greenhouse gases unless there was not a scientific reason to do so. The Bush Administration stifled the report, and environmental activists believe it’s because they don’t want to regulate greenhouse gases.

From The Telegraph:

The report lays out for the first time the scientific case for the grave risks that global warming poses to people, and to the food, energy and water on which society depends.

“Risk (to human health, society and the environment) increases with increases in both the rate and magnitude of climate change,” scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency said. Global warming, they wrote, is “unequivocal,” and humans are to blame.

It suggests that extreme weather events and diseases carried by ticks and other organisms could kill more people as temperatures rise and allergies could worsen because climate change could produce more pollen. Smog, a leading cause of respiratory illness and lung disease, could become more severe in many parts of the country. At the same time, global warming could mean fewer illnesses and deaths due to cold.

The Bush Administration has worked to discourage a connection between public health and climate change, because it would compel them to regulate greenhouse gases. Lawmakers are persistently lobbied by corporations who fear that emissions regulations would hurt their business.

The bottom line is, we can’t trust the Bush camp to do anything right, so we’ve just got to wait for them to leave. Only 5 months left!

Link [The Telegraph]
Photo credit: Eric Gay

Fallujah Doctors Claim Increased Deformities in Babies After ‘Special Weaponry’ Used by US

Another shameful legacy the United States may be leaving behind in Iraq – deformed children. Doctors and residents in Fallujah are saying that babies born there are showing increasing rates of deformities after the US began using ‘special weaponry’ in the two massive bombing campaigns in the city during 2004.

Though they denied it at first, the Pentagon admitted in 2005 to using ‘white phosphorous’, a restricted incendiary weapon. Depleted uranium (DU) munitions, which contain low-level radioactive waste, were also used heavily in Fallujah. The Pentagon has admitted to using 1,200 tons of it in Iraq thus far.

From AfterDowningStreet.org:

Many doctors believe DU to be the cause of a severe increase in the incidence of cancer in Iraq, as well as among U.S. veterans who served in the 1991 Gulf War and through the current occupation.

“We saw all the colours of the rainbow coming out of the exploding American shells and missiles,” Ali Sarhan, a 50-year-old teacher who lived through the two U.S. sieges of 2004 told IPS. “I saw bodies that turned into bones and coal right after they were exposed to bombs that we learned later to be phosphorus.

“The most worrying is that many of our women have suffered loss of their babies, and some had babies born with deformations.”

“I had two children who had brain damage from birth,” 28-year-old Hayfa’ Shukur told IPS. “My husband has been detained by the Americans since November 2004 and so I had to take the children around by myself to hospitals and private clinics. They died. I spent all our savings and borrowed a considerable amount of money.”

Shukur said doctors told her that it was use of the restricted weapons that caused her children’s brain damage and subsequent deaths, “but none of them had the courage to give me a written report.”

Doctors and the Fallujah General Hospital administration will not go on record about the deformities, fearing reprisal, so no official data is available – we can only go on anecdotal evidence. Unfortunately, it may be many years before we find out the whole truth of how children in Iraq are being affected by this unnecessary war.

Shameful. We sent our troops to Iraq, to risk their own lives, for the wrong reasons – and as a result, who paid for it the most? Innocent citizens of Iraq. Families torn apart, lives destroyed – and for what?

Link [AfterDowningStreet.org]
Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

White House Hiding Truth of $2 Trillion Benefit to Global Warming Regulations

The Wonk Room has discovered the why the Bush administration has been suppressing an EPA report on climate change regulations since December. Apparently, the documents prepared by the EPA show that the U.S. economy would not be ‘crippled’ by caps on greenhouse gases, as Bush said, but would actually benefit to the tune of $2 trillion by 2030. Had the document been published rather than stifled by the White House, it could have become a “legal roadmap for regulation of greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. economy.”

From The Wonk Room:

Even after major cuts from the December version, this document makes a mockery of President Bush’s claim in April that applying the Clean Air Act to global warming pollution “would have crippling effects on our entire economy.” In fact, after spending all of 2007 working with the Departments of Transportation and Energy to model the effects of motor vehicle greenhouse gas regulations, the EPA found the exact opposite:

Assuming gas prices in the range of $3.50 per gallon, “the net benefit to society could be in excess of $2 trillion” through 2040.

Now that the EPA’s findings have been revealed, many people are questioning whether Bush’s statements were made in good faith. Seriously? Do we really even have to ask? It should be obvious. In fact, why is this surprising to anyone at all? Nearly everything Bush and Co. have done in the last 8 years has harmed the country.

Link [The Wonk Room]
Photo credit: NationalNightmare.com

U.S. Stops Solar Energy Projects Over ‘Environment Fears’

It sounds like a joke: the U.S. has decided to put off large-scale solar projects on public land so they can first study the effects that the solar panels will have on the environment. No word yet on whether they’ll do the same for coal mining, power plants and other major sources of environmental damage and disruption.

From The Telegraph:

The move has angered some solar energy proponents who argue it could hold up the industry at a vital juncture, given the pressing need to secure alternative energy sources at a time of soaring oil prices.

“This technology has been around for nearly three decades. If there is an environmental concern, that can be addressed without putting a halt to this technology and helping to impact our greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental degradation from coal-fired and natural gas plants,” said Brad Collins, executive director of the American Solar Energy Society.

Amazing, truly amazing. Granted, it’s just PUBLIC land. There will still be plenty of room for the growth of solar technology elsewhere – but that doesn’t change how incredibly stupid this is. Be cautious and think about the environmental repercussions of everything we do, absolutely. But we already know that our current energy production methods are far more damaging, and that we need a better way ASAP. Being conscious of solar panels displacing wildlife is good, but in the meantime, our current energy methods are hurtling us toward destruction of the entire planet at light speed.

Link [The Telegraph]

Photo credit: Worst President Ever

White House Suppressed EPA Report on Car Emissions

At this point, I think the question is, can the Bush administration do anything right, or are they really all just a bunch of corrupt assholes? Last December, White House officials tried to stop the EPA from submitting a proposal that would limit greenhouse-gas emissions, supposedly because they ‘threatened public welfare’. Once they found out that the EPA had sent out the email only minutes before, they wanted the email ‘recalled’.

From The Washington Post:

The EPA official who forwarded the e-mail, Associate Deputy Administrator Jason Burnett, refused, said the sources, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations.

The proposed rule was EPA’s response to an April 2007 Supreme Court ruling that the agency had violated the Clean Air Act by refusing to take up the issue of regulating automobile emissions that contribute to global warming.

Burnett, who resigned from the agency this month, sent the e-mail to the White House Office of Management and Budget at 2:17 p.m. Dec. 5 and received the call warning him to hold off at 2:25 p.m., the sources said. The EPA is expected to release a watered-down version of its original proposal within a week, highlighting the extent to which Bush administration officials continue to resist mandatory federal limits on emissions linked to global warming.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that White House officials never opened EPA’s e-mail. In March, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee disclosed documents showing that the White House had overruled EPA’s findings on the impact of vehicle emissions on climate change.

Burnett refused to comment on the White House calls but said in an interview, “In early December, I sent an e-mail with the formal finding that action must be taken to address the risk of climate change,” adding that he resigned his political appointment because the agency had been stymied in its efforts to respond to the Supreme Court. “The White House made it clear they did not want to address the ramifications of that finding and have decided to leave the challenge to the next administration. Some [at the White House] thought that EPA had mistakenly concluded that climate change endangers the public. It was no mistake.”

WTF – does the White House know how email works? They wanted it ‘recalled’? They never opened the email so the EPA rewrote it? Amazing. What a bunch of partisan rightwing hack pussies.

Apparently, the revised version that the EPA is preparing to put out no longer states that climate change is a direct threat to public welfare, is far shorter and no longer includes alternative approaches to regulate greenhouse emissions from vehicles and power plants. The White House stood on the EPA’s balls and the EPA gave in.

Is it 2009 yet?

Link [The Washington Post]

Photo credit: Flickr user KRSPO

$23 Billion ‘Lost, Stolen, Mismanaged’ in Iraq by Private Contractors

As if we didn’t already have enough evidence that these companies are run by crooks, a BBC investigation has revealed that $23 billion in taxpayer funds has been ‘lost, stolen, or not properly accounted for’ in Iraq. The BBC was investigating how much private contractors have profited from the war in Iraq when they discovered the missing money, and a US gag order straight from President Bush has prevented further discussion of the allegations.

From the BBC:

The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies.

While Presdient George W Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted.

To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq.

The president’s Democratic opponents are keeping up the pressure over war profiteering in Iraq.

Henry Waxman, who chairs the House committee on oversight and government reform, said: “The money that’s gone into waste, fraud and abuse under these contracts is just so outrageous, it’s egregious.

“It may well turn out to be the largest war profiteering in history.”

Excellent work, Bush and Co. Using private contracts has, as you promised, been far more cost effective. The Free Market really came through on this one.

Link [BBC] via [truthdig]
Photo credit: Micah Ian Wright at the Propaganda Remix Project

The Dumbing Down of America Under Bush

America has become a nation of idiots.

I think the point where I really started to worry was when people began using the phrase ‘freedom fries’ as a substitute for ‘french fries’. It spread like syphilis at a Roman orgy after France refused to take part in the invasion of Iraq, when anti-France sentiment grew here in the U.S. and two Republican congressmen decided to officially change the name in the restaurants and snack bars run by the House of Representatives. ‘Dang it all, Jeb, if the Republican gov’ment says it, then we should too! Those fancy French people, they’s all disloyal and anti-American and stuff!’

As if that weren’t enough, frighteningly, we seem to be endlessly entertained by crotch gags, like the ‘Ow My Balls!’ segments on America’s Funniest Videos. Some of the most popular programs on television are those that depict people eating bull testicles, transforming themselves into scary plastic mannequins via dozens of plastic surgery procedures, intentionally trying to hurt themselves in the stupidest ways possible and competing for the dubious affections of a man wearing a giant clock around his neck.

Then there are the email forwards. Christ on a bicycle, people, would you please verify that the information you’re about to send is correct before forwarding it to 98 of your closest friends, relatives, business associates and random acquaintances? I don’t know how many times I’ve had to direct the sender of a ridiculous email to Snopes.com to get the real story. It seems that many people are content to simply believe whatever is convenient for them to believe. If they want to convince themselves that Barack Obama really did go to terrorist training school, refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and was sworn into office using the Koran rather than the Bible, they damn well will. [Read more]

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