Brazil - Farms - Illegal - Business - History - Land - Plants - Global - Weather - Science - "Amazon deforestation seen surging." ... "[Brazil's National Institute for Space Research scientist Carlos] Nobre, whose government agency monitors the Amazon and gathers data, said that 2,300 square miles of [Brazil's] forest had been lost in the past four months." ... "That compares with an estimated 3,700 square miles in the 12 months ended July 31, which Brazil officials hailed as the lowest deforestation rate since the 1970s." ... "Brazil's government has said that policies such as more controls on illegal logging and better certification of land ownership were reducing the deforestation that has destroyed about a fifth of the forest -- an area bigger than France -- since the 1970s." ... "But environmental groups have warned that rising global commodity prices are likely to fuel more clearing of land for farms, as occurred in 2004 when Brazil recorded the highest deforestation rate of more than 10,400 square miles (27,000 square km )." ... "Destruction of forests produces about 20 percent of man-made carbon dioxide emissions, making conservation of the Amazon crucial to limiting rises in global temperatures." (1, 2) -By Stuart Grudgings with contributions by Cynthia Osterman -Reuters 

---

John Edwards - Environmental - Law - South Carolina - Coal-Plant - Corporation - US - Global - Climate - North Carolina - 2008 Election - "Edwards Calls for Ban on Coal Plants." ... "[2008 Election] Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Monday said a proposed coal-fired power plant shouldn't be built in northeastern South Carolina, continuing his call for a ban on those facilities." ... ""My view is that needs to stop," Edwards said of the $1 billion, 600-megawatt plant set to be built along the Pee Dee River in this early voting state. Santee Cooper officials are awaiting a final permit from state environmental regulators." ... "Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, told about 150 people at a campus of Coastal Carolina University that coal-fired plants are "taking a bad situation and making it worse."" ... "He also said he was opposed to new nuclear power plants and that the U.S. has no credibility in global warming discussions. "We are the worst polluter on the planet," Edwards said." ... ""We have to have a president willing to stand up to the oil and gas industry," Edwards said." -By Page Ivey -AP via -Forbes 

---

Global - Climate - Wind - Earth's - Ice - Science - "Escalating Ice Loss Found in Antarctica: Sheets Melting in an Area Once Thought to Be Unaffected by Global Warming." ... "Climatic changes appear to be destabilizing vast ice sheets of western Antarctica that had previously seemed relatively protected from global warming, researchers reported yesterday, raising the prospect of faster sea-level rise than current estimates." ... "While the overall loss is a tiny fraction of the miles-deep ice that covers much of Antarctica, scientists said the new finding is important because the continent holds about 90 percent of Earth's ice, and until now, large-scale ice loss there had been limited to the peninsula that juts out toward the tip of South America. In addition, researchers found that the rate of ice loss in the affected areas has accelerated over the past 10 years -- as it has on most glaciers and ice sheets around the world." ... ""Without doubt, Antarctica as a whole is now losing ice yearly, and each year it's losing more," said Eric Rignot, lead author of a paper published online in the journal Nature Geoscience." ... "The Antarctic ice sheet is shrinking despite land temperatures for the continent remaining essentially unchanged, except for the fast-warming peninsula." ... "The cause, Rignot said, may be changes in the flow of the warmer water of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current that circles much of the continent. Because of changed wind patterns and less-well-understood dynamics of the submerged current, its water is coming closer to land in some sectors and melting the edges of glaciers deep underwater." (1, 2) -By Marc Kaufman -WashingtonPost

---

John Edwards - New Hampshire - 2008 Election - Healthcare - Jobs - Poverty - US - Global - Climate - Environment - "Edwards: Two down, 48 to go." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and former North Carolina Senator] Former Sen. John Edwards painted himself as the candidate of the voiceless Tuesday night after tracking a distant third in the New Hampshire Democratic primary." ... ""We have had too much of voices not being heard," he said to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. " … That's what this battle is about. It's not about me. It's about the cause of giving voice to all those whose voices are not being heard in this democracy."" ... "Edwards pledged to continue his fight to expand healthcare coverage, to fight global warming, protect the environment, end poverty and create new jobs." ... ""We know what needs to be done," he said. "The only question is whether we have the backbone and the will and the determination to get there."" -CNN 

---

Animals - US - Government - Law - Global - Climate - "Decision on polar bear protection delayed: Officials cite time to review comments; activists say time is running out." ... "Federal officials said Monday that they will need a few more weeks to decide whether polar bears need protection under the Endangered Species Act because of global warming." ... "The deadline was Wednesday, but the U.S. [United States] Fish and Wildlife Service said it now hopes to provide a recommendation to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in time for a decision by him within the next month." ... "The department has never declared a species threatened or endangered because of climate change, said Dale Hall, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service." ... "Environmental groups that petitioned to protect polar bears, arguing that warming threatened their habitat, said they would go court Wednesday to ensure a timely decision." ... "The Center for Biological Diversity noted that more than 500,000 comments in favor of listing the polar bears [as "threatened"] were received, the highest ever for a listing, but that the [Republican President] Bush administration has had three years to act." -AP -MSNBC 

---

John Edwards - Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton - Iowa - Manufacturing - Jobs - Family - Health-Care - Environment - Human Rights - US - China - Corporations - Iraq - Military - Indiana - Idaho - Illinois - Homes - Consumers - 2008 Election - "Behind the Edwards Surge: Right Message at the Right Time." ... "To a far greater extent than [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidates Barack] Obama or [Hillary] Clinton, [John] Edwards has struck at the heart of issues that should matter most in the race to replace not just [Republican President] George W. Bush, but the Bush agenda of corporate giveaways, job-crushing free trade deals, war profiteering in Iraq, and subprime mortgage profiteering in Indiana, Idaho, Illinois and, yes, Iowa." ... "Edwards summed up his increasingly aggressive and powerful anti-corporate themes with a declaration: "What makes America America is at stake: jobs, the middle class, health care, preserving the environment in the world for future generations."" ... ""But all those things are at risk. And why are they at risk? Because of corporate power and corporate greed in Washington, D.C. And we have to take them on. You can't make a deal with them. You can't hope that they're going to go away. You have to actually be willing to fight. And I want every caucus-goer to know I've been fighting these people and winning my entire life. And if we do this together, rise up together, we can actually make absolutely certain, starting here in Iowa, that we make this country better than we left it."" ... "Edwards got to know workers in Iowa. He stood with them in their struggles." ... "Turning a broad question about human rights toward the specific issue of trade policy, the former senator said that human rights, human needs and human values "should be central to our trade policy."" ... ""But," he added, "if you look at what's happened with American trade policy, look at what America got: Big corporations made a lot of money, are continuing to make a lot of money in China. But what did America get in return? We got millions of dangerous Chinese toys. We lost millions of jobs." ... ""And right here in Iowa, the Maytag plant in Newton [Iowa] closed. A guy named Doug Bishop, who I got to know very well, had worked in that plant, and his family had worked in that plant literally for generations. And his job is now gone. The same thing, by the way, happened in the plant that my father worked in when I was growing up. It is so important that we stop allowing these corporate powers and corporate profits to run America's policy, whether it's trade policy, how we engage with China. This is not good for America. It's not good for American jobs. And it's not good for working people in this country."" ... "That's an issue Edwards has taken far, far more seriously than his opponents in what is now a three-way race in Iowa. And that seriousness has benefitted the former senator." -By John Nichols -TheNation 

---

Dick Cheney - Car - Manufacturers - Fumes - Corporate - Government - Environmental - Science - Politics - California - Climate - "Cheney accused of blocking Californian bid to cut car fumes." ... "The US [United States Republican] vice-president, Dick Cheney, was behind a controversial decision to block California's attempt to impose tough emission limits on car manufacturers, according to insiders at the government Environmental Protection Agency." ... "Staff at the agency, which announced last week that California's proposed limits were redundant, said the agency's chief went against their expert advice after car executives met Cheney, and a Chrysler executive delivered a letter to the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] saying why the state should not be allowed to regulate greenhouse gases." ... "EPA staff members told the Los Angeles Times that the agency's head, the [Republican President] Bush appointee Stephen Johnson, ignored their conclusions and shut himself off from consultation in the month before the announcement. He then informed them of his decision and instructed them to provide the legal rationale for it, they said." -By Dan Glaister -Guardian.co.uk 

---

Stephen Johnson - Mary E Peters - Dick Cheney - Government - Political - Gas - Auto - Makers - Fuel - Economy - Laws - Environmental - Health - Safety - American - People - Transportation - California - History - Global - Climate - Clean Air Act - "EPA blocks California bid to limit greenhouse gases from cars." ... "The [Republican President] Bush administration blocked efforts by California and 16 other states Wednesday to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, setting up a political and legal fight over whether states can take a lead role in combatting global warming." ... "[Republican President Bush's] Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson rejected California's request for a waiver from the federal government to impose its tough tailpipe emissions standards. The other states were poised to adopt similar rules if California's request was granted." ... "The states represent nearly half the U.S. [United States] population, and their laws would effectively require automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions nationwide, despite [Republican] President Bush's rejection of mandatory national standards." ... "Johnson said Congress' passage of an energy bill this week that raises fuel economy standards for all cars and trucks to 35 miles per gallon by 2020 made the state laws unnecessary." ... "California officials said they believed Johnson had long ago decided to oppose the state's waiver, and said he was using the newly passed energy bill as an excuse. Nothing in the new law prevents states from taking stronger action, they said." ... ""I find this disgraceful," said [California Democratic Senator] Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.[Democratic-California], who helped write the fuel-economy law. "The passage of the energy bill does not give the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] a green light to shirk its responsibility to protect the health and safety of the American people from air pollution."" ... "It was the first time the EPA has flat-out denied a waiver request by California under the Clean Air Act. The law gives California special authority to set stronger standards because the state has a long history of smog and other air-quality problems." ... "California officials complained that EPA's decision-making process for the waiver was tainted months ago when documents revealed that Transportation Secretary Mary Peters led a lobbying campaign to urge lawmakers to call the EPA and oppose the waiver request." ... "Automakers have been meeting regularly at the White House to discuss the new fuel-economy standards. The Detroit News reported that [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney met with the CEOs [Chief Executive Officers] of Chrysler and Ford this fall to try to influence the policy." -By Zachary Coile -SFGate.com

---

Noteworthy - Industrial - Government - Accounting - Environmental - Health - Safety - Politics - Air - Water - Ground- "EPA was pressured to weaken toxic report rules." ... "The [Republican President Bush] White House pressured the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] to weaken requirements that companies annually disclose releases of toxic chemicals, congressional auditors say." ... "In a study scheduled to be released next week, the Government Accountability Office says the changes mean that industry will have to file 22,000 fewer reports each year, reducing an important public monitoring tool on industrial emissions." ... "The EPA rushed to complete the changes because of "pressure" from the White House Office of Management and Budget to reduce the regulatory burdens on industry, says the report obtained by The Associated Press. The White House overstated the cost-savings to industry of making the changes, it added." ... "For more than two decades, industries and businesses have had to disclose to the EPA the amount of toxic chemicals they produce, store and discharge into the air, water and ground." ... "Last December, the EPA reduced the amount of information that needed to be disclosed in the Toxic Release Inventory Report, or TRI, process." -By H. Josef Hebert -AP via -Chron

---

Rudy Giuliani - Federal - Energy - Legislation - Politics - Wind - Technology - Environment - 2008 Election - Massachusetts - Georgia - Ohio - "Giuliani Firm, Utilities Team Up to Fight Renewable-Energy Plan." ... "A lobbying blitz by some of the U.S.'s biggest utility companies is likely to strangle the most potent provision in energy legislation that's making its way through Congress." ... "[Atlanta, Georgia-based] Southern Co., [Ohio based] American Electric Power Co. and other producers hired top Washington lobbyists, including [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] Rudy Giuliani's firm, to help defeat a measure that would force them to boost electricity generated by wind, solar and other forms of renewable energy to 15 percent of the U.S. total by 2020. That's up from less than 2 percent today, and is a move the industry says would cost at least $67 billion." ... "The Senate failed on Dec. 7 to get the 60 votes needed to move the legislation, a day after the House of Representatives approved it. To get the bill to [Republican] President George W. Bush's desk this year and steer clear of a White House veto threat, the Senate will probably have to pass a weakened measure." ... "``The lobbying effort led by Southern Co. is the principal obstacle to America unleashing a renewable-electricity revolution,'' says Representative Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat[ic Representative] who has led the fight for a federal standard on the new energy sources." ... "The legislation pits the utilities and oil companies against wind and solar-electricity producers, as well as venture-capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where former [Democratic] Vice President Al Gore is a partner. Those firms have made billions of dollars in clean-energy-technology investments, which would pay off if the bill becomes law." -By Daniel Whitten and Tina Seeley -Bloomberg

---

Business - Government - Politics - 2008 Election - Family - Health - Safety - Environment - Air - Water - Soil - Labor - Animal - Farmers - Energy - Transportation - Automakers - Consumer - History - "Business Lobby Presses Agenda Before ’08 Vote." ... "Business lobbyists, nervously anticipating Democratic gains in next year’s elections, are racing to secure final approval for a wide range of health, safety, labor and economic rules, in the belief that they can get better deals from the [Republican President] Bush administration than from its successor." ... "Hoping to lock in policies backed by a pro-business administration, poultry farmers are seeking an exemption for the smelly fumes produced by tons of chicken manure. Businesses are lobbying the Bush administration to roll back rules that let employees take time off for family needs and medical problems. And electric power companies are pushing the government to relax pollution-control requirements." ... "The Federal Register typically grows fat with regulations churned out in the final weeks of any administration. But the push for such rules has become unusually intense because of the possibility that Democrats in 2009 may consolidate control of the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time in 14 years." ... "At the Transportation Department, trucking companies are trying to get final approval for a rule increasing the maximum number of hours commercial truck drivers can work. And automakers are trying to persuade officials to set new standards for the strength of car roofs — standards far less stringent than what consumer advocates say is needed to protect riders in a rollover." ... "At the Interior Department, coal companies are lobbying for a regulation that would allow them to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys." ... "Some of the biggest battles now involve rules affecting the quality of air, water and soil." (1, 2) -By Robert Pear -NYTimes 

---

Julie MacDonald - Animals - Environmental - Science - Politics - Agricultural - Business - California - WVa - "7 federal wildlife decisions to be revised: A [Republican President Bush] political appointee had overruled recommendations by staff scientists on endangered species. She quit under a cloud." ... "Federal wildlife regulators will revise seven controversial decisions on endangered species and critical habitat made by an Interior Department political appointee who quit in the spring amid charges of improper meddling in scientific decisions." ... "California's arroyo toad and red-legged frog could regain protection that federal biologists determined was crucial to their survival, according to a letter the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent Friday to House Natural Resources Committee Chairman [West Virginia Democratic Representative] Nick J. Rahall II (D-W.Va.). Rahall released the letter publicly Tuesday." ... "Former Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald, a civil engineer from California with no formal training in natural sciences, routinely questioned and sometimes overruled recommendations by biologists and other field staffers, according to documents, interviews and a review by the department's inspector general. The review outlined instances in which MacDonald advocated altering scientific conclusions in ways that led to reduced protection for imperiled species and that favored developers and agricultural businesses. And she was rebuked for providing internal documents to lobbyists." ... "Under her direction, proposed habitat protection for the endangered arroyo toad, a tiny amphibian that once inhabited many Southern California creek regions, was slashed by 93%. Similarly, the protected area proposed for the threatened California red-legged frog was reduced from 4.1 million acres to 450,000 acres." -By Janet Wilson -LAtimes

---

California - Environmental - Technology - Industry - "California county turns to sewer water to increase drinking supplies." ... "It used to be so final: Flush the toilet and waste be gone." ... "But this week, for millions of people here in Orange County [California], pulling the lever will be the start of a long, intense process to purify the sewage into drinking water - after a hard scrubbing with filters, screens, chemicals and ultraviolet light and the passage of time underground." ... "On Friday, the Orange County Water District will turn on what industry experts say is the world's largest plant devoted to purifying sewer water to increase drinking water supplies. They and others hope it serves as a model for authorities worldwide facing persistent drought, predicted water shortages and projected growth." ... "The process, called by proponents "indirect potable water reuse" and "toilet to tap" by the wary, is getting a close look in several cities." ... ""These types of projects you will see springing up all over the place where there are severe water shortages," said Michael Markus, the general manager of the Orange County district, whose plant, which will process 70 million gallons, or nearly 3 billion liters, a day, has already been visited by water managers from across the globe." ... "The finished product, which district managers say exceeds drinking water standards, will not flow directly into kitchen and bathroom taps; state regulations forbid that." ... "Instead it will be injected underground, with half of it helping to form a barrier against seawater intruding on groundwater sources and the other half gradually filtering into aquifers that supply 2.3 million people, about three-quarters of the county." (1, 2) -By Randal C. Archibold -IHT.com 

---

Al Gore - US - Global - Climate - Planet - Environment - Energy - Technology - Politics - Lawmakers - "Al Gore's next act: Planet-saving VC: The recovering politician is teaming with a legendary venture capitalist and bigtime moneyman to make over the $6 trillion global energy business. A Fortune exclusive." ... "[Former Democratic Vice President Al] Gore appears utterly comfortable with this drill, but in fact he's engaging in some on-the-job training. The recovering politician, environmental activist, and Nobel laureate is adding another title to his résumé: venture capitalist. After "a conversation that's gone on for a year and a half," according to Gore, he has decided to join his old pal John Doerr as an active, hands-on partner at Kleiner Perkins, Silicon Valley's preeminent venture firm." ... "According to Doerr, by 2009 more than a third of Kleiner's latest fund, which was raised in 2006 and totals $600 million, will be invested in technologies that aim to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. Already Kleiner has invested more than $270 million from various funds in 26 companies that make everything from microbes that scrub old oil wells to electric cars to noncorn ethanol. Twelve of Kleiner's 22 partners now spend some or all of their time on green investments." ... "In turn, Doerr, the master networker whose greatest hits include initial investments in Netscape, Amazon (Charts, Fortune 500), and Google (Charts, Fortune 500), will join the exclusive advisory board of Generation Investment Management. That's the $1 billion investment company Gore started three years ago in London with David Blood, the former head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, to analyze and invest in publicly traded "sustainable" companies. Over the past five weeks Gore, Doerr, and Blood agreed to give Fortune an exclusive look at their new alliance." ... "Already they've begun to pool information. Generation came across a small company engaged in carbon trading that Kleiner is analyzing, and Kleiner has shared intelligence about which startups could threaten the established companies in Generation's portfolio. In the long term, though, they want to help drive something much larger, "bigger than the Industrial Revolution and significantly faster," as Gore puts it." ... "They argue that to halt global warming, nothing less will be required than a makeover of the $6 trillion global energy business. Coal plants, gas stations, the internal-combustion engine, petrochemicals, plastic bags, even bottled water will have to give way to clean, green, sustainable technologies. "What we are going to have to put in place is a combination of the Manhattan Project, the Apollo project, and the Marshall Plan, and scale it globally," Gore continues. "It'd be promising too much to say we can do it on our own, but we intend to do our part."" (1, 2, 3) -By Marc Gunther and Adam Lashinsky -Fortune via -CNN 

---

California - Air - Environment - Enforcement - Government - Auto - Makers - Global- Planet - Climate - "California sues EPA over emissions: The state seeks to force the agency to move more quickly on its request to enforce tough regulations." ... "California sued the federal government today, demanding that the [Republican President Bush led] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency act now to give the states the power to enforce tough regulations on automakers in the fight against global warming." ... "The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way last summer for the EPA to approve state regulations to limit emissions of greenhouse gas from automobile tailpipes. But no action has been forthcoming." ... "The EPA has said it will act on the state's request by year's end, but today's move was a major assault on the federal government's perceived lack of action on what many national and world leaders consider the No. 1 threat to the planet." -By Marc Lifsher -LAtimes 

---

Humanity - Global - Environmental - Science - Disaster - Politics - UN - Earth - Climate - Animals - Rivers - "Environmental failures 'put humanity at risk': · UN report bemoans lack of urgency by governments· Five-year study involved more than 1,400 scientists." ... "The future of humanity has been put at risk by a failure to address environmental problems including climate change, species extinction and a growing human population, according to a new UN report." ... "In a sweeping audit of the world's environmental wellbeing, the study by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) warns that governments are still failing to recognise the seriousness of major environmental issues." ... "The study, involving more than 1,400 scientists, found that human consumption had far outstripped available resources. Each person on Earth now requires a third more land to supply his or her needs than the planet can supply, it finds." ... "Meanwhile, biodiversity is seriously threatened by the impact of human activities: 30% of amphibians, 23% of mammals and 12% of birds are under threat of extinction, while one in 10 of the world's large rivers runs dry every year before it reaches the sea." ... "The report - entitled Global Environment Outlook: Environment for Development - reviews progress made since a similar study in 1987 which laid the groundwork for studying environmental issues affecting the planet." ... "It addresses a number of areas where environmental degradation is threatening human welfare and the planet, including water, over-fishing and biodiversity - where the UNEP says a sixth, human-induced, extinction is under way." -By  Martin Hodgson -Guardian.co.uk

---

US - Government - Global - Climate - Politics - Human - Health - Environmental - Science - Food - Water - Air - "Scientists Denounce Global Warming Report 'Edits': Public Health Experts Say Edits Represent Censoring of Science." ... "Environmental and public health experts overwhelmingly denounced editing by the White House of a federal health agency head's testimony to Congress Tuesday. Significant deletions were made from the testimony, concerning global warming and the potential impact on human health." ... "The original, unedited testimony presented to Congress by Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and obtained by ABC News was 14 pages long, but the White House Office of Management and Budget edited the final version down to a mere six pages." ... "Scientists and public health organizations called the move "frustrating," "terrible" and "appalling." The edits essentially deleted all sections that referred to climate change as a public health concern -- including the risks of increased food-borne and waterborne diseases, worsening extreme weather events, worsening air pollution and the effect of heat stress on humans." ... ""Dr. Gerberding is the lead of the premiere public health agency in the U.S.," said Kim Knowlton, a science fellow on global warming and health at the National Resources Defense Council in New York. "It's shocking that she was not allowed to say in a public discussion some of these vital details." ... ""One has to wonder why was this is so threatening to the White House."" (1, 2, 3) -By Raja Jagadeesan, M.D. and Carla Williams -ABCNEWS.com 

---

Special Report - Global - Environment - "In the Greenhouse: Confronting a Changing Climate." ... "" -WashingtonPost

---

Noteworthy - Kids- Environmental - Safety - Human - Industrial - Science - Politics - Consumer - Manufacturer - Law - History - "Tests reveal high chemical levels in kids' bodies." ... "Michelle Hammond and Jeremiah Holland were intrigued when a friend at the Oakland Tribune asked them and their two young children to take part in a cutting-edge study to measure the industrial chemicals in their bodies." ... ""In the beginning, I wasn't worried at all; I was fascinated," Hammond, 37, recalled." ... "But that fascination soon changed to fear, as tests revealed that their children -- Rowan, then 18 months, and Mikaela, then 5 -- had chemical exposure levels up to seven times those of their parents." ... ""[Rowan's] been on this planet for 18 months, and he's loaded with a chemical I've never heard of," Holland, 37, said. "He had two to three times the level of flame retardants in his body that's been known to cause thyroid dysfunction in lab rats."" ... "The technology to test for these flame retardants -- known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) -- and other industrial chemicals is less than 10 years old." ... "Environmentalists call it "body burden" testing, an allusion to the chemical "burden," or legacy of toxins, running through our bloodstream. Scientists refer to this testing as "biomonitoring."" ... "Most Americans haven't heard of body burden testing, but it's a hot topic among environmentalists and public health experts who warn that the industrial chemicals we come into contact with every day are accumulating in our bodies and endangering our health in ways we have yet to understand." ... ""We are the humans in a dangerous and unnatural experiment in the United States, and I think it's unconscionable," said Dr. Leo Trasande, assistant director of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City." ... "Trasande says that industrial toxins could be leading to more childhood disease and disorders." ... ""We are in an epidemic of environmentally mediated disease among American children today," he said. "Rates of asthma, childhood cancers, birth defects and developmental disorders have exponentially increased, and it can't be explained by changes in the human genome. So what has changed? All the chemicals we're being exposed to."" ... "The Environmental Protection Agency does not require chemical manufacturers to conduct human toxicity studies before approving their chemicals for use in the market." -By Jordana Miller -CNN 

---

Special Report - Global - Environment - "Planet in Peril: Environmental Coverage." -CNN 

---

Noteworthy - Global - Climate- Disaster - Environment - Water - "Rising seas threaten 21 mega-cities." ... "Cities around the world are facing the danger of rising seas and other disasters related to climate change." ... "More than one-tenth of the world's population, or 643 million people, live in low-lying areas at risk from climate change, say U.S. and European experts." -AP via -Yahoo 

---

Water - Emergency - Weather - Environment - History - Farm - Animals - Food - Georgia - Alabama - North Carolina - Tennessee - Kentucky - "Southeast drought hits crisis point." ... "Outdoor watering bans already cover the northern third of Georgia and dozens of cities, counties and towns in surrounding states. Farmers are selling cattle because pastures have dried up. Alabama's Elmore County had to bring in floating pumps and barges to extend its water intake pipe farther out into shrinking Lake Martin. Georgia might have to do the same at Lake Lanier, Atlanta's main water source." ... "Although rain is due today across parts of the region, it will barely dampen the 16-month drought. Through September, it is the region's driest year in 113 years of record-keeping. In five of the six worst-hit states, rain totals this year are close to a foot below normal." ... "It is the driest year on record for North Carolina and Tennessee, second-driest in Alabama and third-driest in Kentucky. A tree-ring study this summer of Tennessee's rainfall history shows this is the third-driest year for the state in at least 350 years, behind only 1839 and 1708." -By Patrick O'Driscoll and Larry Copeland with contributions by Jordan Schrader, Marty Roney, Leon Alligood, Ron Barnett, Jessie Halladay, Matt Reed, and Jennie Coughlin -USATODAY 

---

World - Climate - Science - Education - Earth - Environmental - Emergency - UN- India - US - Politics - 2008 Election - "Gore and UN panel win Nobel prize: Climate change campaigner Al Gore and the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." ... "The committee cited "their efforts to build up and disseminate knowledge about man-made climate change"." ... "Mr Gore, 59, won an Oscar for his climate change film An Inconvenient Truth while the IPCC is the top authority on global warming." ... "IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri said he was "overwhelmed" by the award." ... "He told a cheering crowd of colleagues and journalists outside his office in Delhi [India's capital] that he hoped the award would bring a "greater awareness and a sense of urgency" to the fight against global warming." ... "The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the recipients' efforts to "lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract [climate] change"." ... "The committee said it wanted to bring the "increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states" posed by climate change into sharper focus." ... "It highlighted a series of scientific reports issued over the last two decades by the IPCC, which comprises more than 2,000 leading climate change scientists and experts." ... "Mr Gore was praised as "probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted", through his lectures, films and books." ... "Speaking in Washington, Mr Gore praised the IPCC, "whose members have worked tirelessly and selflessly for many years"." ... ""We face a true planetary emergency," Mr Gore warned. "It is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."" ... "Correspondents say Mr Gore's selection has prompted supporters to renew calls for him to stand in next year's US presidential [2008 election] race. Until now, Mr Gore has said he will not run." -BBC/News 

---

Montana - Climate - Ice - History - "Warming climate shrinking Glacier Park's glaciers." ... "This summer, for the first time in Glacier National Park's 100-year history, Gem Glacier was entirely snow-free, a glistening sheet of bare ice sweating dark and blue under a relentless sun." ... "Many miles away, a bubbling mountain stream turned to a trickle, fading finally, underground. It was one of many streambeds that dried up this year, and one of many more to come." ... ""There's still water down there under the cobble," Dan Fagre said of that stream, "but it's not so good if you're a fish."" ... "Fagre, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, has been monitoring Glacier's glaciers for years, studying the many implications of retreating ice and snow. This summer's disappearing streams, he said, are but the latest signs of a rapidly changing climate driving an equally rapidly changing park system." ... ""We're starting to see this picture pretty clearly," Fagre said. "Glaciers have always been the summertime reservoirs, and now the natural reservoir system is diminishing. That's a concern, because you have this critically dry time of year, but you have no safety net to keep feeding water downstream."" -By Michael Jamison -Missoulian.com via -USATODAY 

---

Nuclear - Energy - Construction - Industry - Government - Environmental - Law - Language - Politics - History - Land - Maryland - New Jersey - "Nuclear Utilities Redefine One Word to Bulldoze for New Plants." ... "On tree-lined bluffs overlooking the Chesapeake Bay, where anti-nuclear activists won a landmark environmental victory 36 years ago, Constellation Energy Group Inc. is engineering atomic power's comeback." ... "This time, even if there are protests, bulldozers will roll." ... "That's because the [Maryland] Baltimore-based utility and its allies have found a way around a longstanding regulatory policy they say added a year or more to construction times for nuclear plants." ... "In April, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission [NRC] agreed to industry demands that it reduce its oversight of initial work at reactor sites. By narrowing its definition of the word ``construction'' in agency rules, the NRC put off the required public hearings and permits that have waylaid past projects." ... "The untold story of how the energy lobby and the federal government worked to clear a path for new reactors -- backed by an NRC commissioner [Republican Jeffrey Merrifield] seeking a job in the [nuclear] industry -- reveals one way pro-nuclear forces have stolen a march on environmentalists." ... "Utilities and the administration of [Republican] President George W. Bush say they want new reactors on line by 2015. Power companies are rushing to take advantage of federal tax credits and loan guarantees in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, some of which begin to expire next year. The NRC says it expects to receive as many as 21 applications to build 32 new reactors, the first of which will be filed today by NRG Energy Inc. of Princeton, New Jersey." ... "The new construction rule is only the latest such initiative. In 2004, the NRC limited the public's ability to gather evidence and question witnesses during hearings." ... "By redefining ``construction'' to exclude excavation, road building and the erection of some cooling towers, the NRC could reduce its oversight without violating the 1971 court order." ... "Andrew Kugler, senior environmental project manager in the NRC's New Reactor Office, protested to the general counsel's office. Kugler said in an e-mail that the proposed rule would exclude from NRC regulation ``probably 90 percent of the true environmental impacts of construction.''" -By Elliot Blair Smith -Bloomberg

---

Transportation - Auto - Industry - Environmental - Air - Law - Enforcement - Politics - Los Angeles - CA - "E-mails show DOT chief fought state on emissions: Official lobbied against letting California enforce own standard for tailpipe exhaust." ... "U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters, with the knowledge of the [Repuublican President Bush] White House, directed a behind-the-scenes effort to block California's request for its own, more stringent tailpipe emission standard, according to documents released Monday by a congressional committee." ... "A trail of e-mails show Peters prodding her staff this spring to persuade members of Congress and state governors to oppose California's request, now pending with the Environmental Protection Agency, to enforce its own standards. To contact members, DOT staffers used a list of congressional districts with auto facilities provided by the auto industry." ... "Secretary Peters "asked that we develop some ideas A.S.A.P. about facilitating a pushback from governors (esp. D's) and others opposed to piecemeal regulation of emissions, as per CA's waiver petition," Jeff Shane, Peters' undersecretary for policy, told staffers in a May 22 e-mail about the California request. "Esp. D's" meant "especially Democrats."" ... "In another e-mail, a DOT staffer told Peters' chief of staff that Marty Hall, chief of staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was "OK with (the secretary) making calls" to lobby Congress." ... "The e-mails were released Monday by [California Democratic Representative] Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Waxman, a Los Angeles [California] Democrat, said the documents, along with interviews with Hall and other staffers, showed that "the administration is trying to stack the deck against California's efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles" and that "political considerations — not the merits of the issue" — will determine EPA's decision." ... "California is allowed under the Clean Air Act to set its own emissions standards if it secures a waiver from the EPA. At least 11 other states are waiting to adopt the California standard, designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent from new models in 2016, which has made this a major environmental issue." -By Frank Davies -MNG via -MercuryNews 

---

World - Animals - Plants -  - "Gorillas and coral at top of endangered list." ... "The world's animal kingdom continues to be jeopardized as more than a hundred new species make it onto the endangered list." ... "The western gorilla, a Chinese dolphin and even coral are all at the top of the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) priority cases, according to the organization's Red List[*] released Wednesday." ... "Furthermore, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, one third of all amphibians and 70 per cent of the world's assessed plants are also endangered." ... ""This year's IUCN Red List shows that the invaluable efforts made so far to protect species are not enough," said Julia Marton-Lefèvre, the IUCN's director general in a news release. "The rate of biodiversity loss is increasing and we need to act now to significantly reduce it and stave off this global extinction crisis. This can be done, but only with a concerted effort by all levels of society."" -CTV.ca

---

Global - Climate - Science - Air - Water - US - Russia - Alaska - "Scientist Measures an Overlooked Greenhouse Gas." ... "Alaska scientist Katey Walter studies an aspect of climate change that has been largely overlooked: methane emissions." ... "Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, which means it is much more efficient at trapping heat. As a result, methane feeds into a loop of global warming." ... "Thawing Yields More Methane." ... "As global temperatures rise, permafrost thaws. Ponds and lakes form in the depressions left behind by melting chunks of ice in the ground. In the bottoms of ponds and lakes, bacteria feed on the carbon that previously had been frozen underground and burp it out as methane." ... "And because methane emissions from lakes haven't been carefully studied, scientists worry that projections for global warming could be far worse than currently estimated." ... "Walter, who teaches at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, says that methane is being released from lakes in the far north — Alaska, Siberia [Russia], elsewhere — at a far greater rate than anyone has estimated." -By Melissa Block with contributions by Art Silverman -NPR/News

---

US - China - Made - Business - Children - Health- Safety - Brain - Learning - Consumer - Food - Environmental - Pet - "Mattel Recalls 848,000 Barbie, Other Toys With Lead (Update3)." ... "Mattel Inc., the world's largest toymaker, recalled about 848,000 Chinese-made Barbie and Fisher-Price products whose paint may contain excessive levels of lead, its third in the past five weeks." ... "The 11 affected toys include Barbie kitchen, living room and other furniture items as well as Fisher-Price preschool Geo Trax Locomotive toys and Bongo Band drums. No injuries have been reported, Mattel said today." ... "Mattel has recalled 21 million Chinese-made products since the beginning of August. U.S. officials have raised alarm about tainted products from China including seafood containing harmful drugs, toothpaste with an ingredient found in antifreeze and pet food containing a chemical used to make plastic." ... "About 65 percent of Mattel toys are made in China." ... "Lead may be toxic if ingested by children and can cause brain damage, behavior and learning problems and slowed growth, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." -By Heather Burke -Bloomberg 

---

China - Environmental - Health- Politics - Air - Land - Water - Coal - Weather - Science - Industrial - History - International - South Korea - Japan - USA - California - Los Angeles - EU - Sports - Children - "As China Roars, Pollution Reaches Deadly Extremes." ... "No country in history has emerged as a major industrial power without creating a legacy of environmental damage that can take decades and big dollops of public wealth to undo." ... "But just as the speed and scale of China’s rise as an economic power have no clear parallel in history, so its pollution problem has shattered all precedents. Environmental degradation is now so severe, with such stark domestic and international repercussions, that pollution poses not only a major long-term burden on the Chinese public but also an acute political challenge to the ruling Communist Party. And it is not clear that China can rein in its own economic juggernaut." ... "Public health is reeling. Pollution has made cancer China’s leading cause of death, the Ministry of Health says. Ambient air pollution alone is blamed for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. Nearly 500 million people lack access to safe drinking water." ... "Chinese cities often seem wrapped in a toxic gray shroud. Only 1 percent of the country’s 560 million city dwellers breathe air considered safe by the European Union. Beijing [China's capital] is frantically searching for a magic formula, a meteorological deus ex machina, to clear its skies for the 2008 Olympics." ... "Environmental woes that might be considered catastrophic in some countries can seem commonplace in China: industrial cities where people rarely see the sun; children killed or sickened by lead poisoning or other types of local pollution; a coastline so swamped by algal red tides that large sections of the ocean no longer sustain marine life." ... "China is choking on its own success. The economy is on a historic run, posting a succession of double-digit growth rates. But the growth derives, now more than at any time in the recent past, from a staggering expansion of heavy industry and urbanization that requires colossal inputs of energy, almost all from coal, the most readily available, and dirtiest, source." ... "China’s problem has become the world’s problem. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by China’s coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea [capital], and Tokyo [Japan's capital]. Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles [California, USA] originates in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6) -By Joseph Kahn and Jim Yardley -NYTimes 

---

20070821

US - China - Manufacturer - Industry - Children - Brain - Safety - Government - Police - Consumer - Environmental - Law - Politics- History - "Efforts to crack down on lead paint thwarted by China, Bush Administration." ... "The [Republican President] Bush administration and China have both undermined efforts to tighten rules designed to ensure that lead paint isn't used in toys, bibs, jewelry and other children’s products." ... "Both have fought efforts to better police imported toys from China." ... "Lead paint is toxic when ingested by children and can cause brain damage or death. It’s been mostly banned in the United States since the late 1970s, but is permitted in the coating of toys, providing it amounts to less than six parts per million." ... "The Bush administration has hindered regulation on two fronts, consumer advocates say. It stalled efforts to press for greater inspections of imported children’s products, and it altered the focus of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), moving it from aggressive protection of consumers to a more manufacturer-friendly approach." ... "“The overall philosophy is regulations are bad and they are too large a cost for industry, and the market will take care of it,” said Rick Melberth, director of regulatory policy at OMBWatch, a government watchdog group formed in 1983. “That’s been the philosophy of the Bush administration.”" ... "Today, more than 80 percent of all U.S. toys are now made in China and few of them get inspected." ... "But as recently as last December, the Sierra Club sued the Bush administration after the Environmental Protection Agency rebuffed a petition to require health and safety studies for companies that use lead in children’s products." -By Kevin G. Hall -McClatchyDC.com

• Siera Club Request to Republican President Bush to monitor lead [PDF]
• EPA settlement with Sierra Club [PDF]

Dick Cheney - Oil - Industry - 2008 Election - Environmental - Iowa - "Obama Says Energy Policy A Moral Issue: [2008 election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack] Obama Says Energy Policy Requires Shaking Up The Status Quo." ... "Democrat Barack Obama said Saturday the country faces an "an urgent moral challenge" to reduce reliance on oil and needs a president willing to defy special interests in Washington that dictate energy policy." ... ""We've got to have a president in the White House who sets bold targets and sets broad goals and isn't intimidated by the barriers and the roadblocks and isn't driven by those who already have an investment in the status quo _ somebody who can overcome the lobby-driven, divisive politics that characterizes this issue," Obama told about 300 people at Waverly Light and Power, the [Wavery, Iowa] city utility." ... ""We've got an energy policy that doesn't just seem like it's written by industry lobbyists," he said. "It was written by energy lobbyists."" ... "[Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney led the [Republican President Bush] administration's energy task force, which Obama said met once with environmentalists, once with renewable energy experts and 40 times with oil industry leaders." ... ""It's an urgent moral challenge that demands attention now," he [Obama] said. "We can free ourselves from the tyranny of oil."" -Contributed to by Amy Lorentzen -AP via -CBSNews 

---

Global - Climate - Environment - Ice - History - United States - Colorado - "Arctic sea ice expected to hit record low." ... "The extent of Arctic sea ice will likely have melted to a record low this September partially due to man-made greenhouse gas emissions, researchers at the University of Colorado said on Thursday." ... "There is a 92 percent chance that Arctic sea ice extent in September will melt to its lowest level at least since the 1970s, when satellite measuring efforts began, the researchers said." ... "Such high levels of ice melting could have wide implications in coming years such as changes in temperature and rain patterns across much of the United States." ... "The melt itself can act as a feedback loop and cause ever more melting, because water has a darker surface than snow." (1, 2) -By Timothy Gardner -Reuters 

---

US - China - Manufacturing - Market - Baby - Safety - Environmental - Science - Consumer - WalMart - Calif - "Some Baby Bibs Said to Contain Levels of Lead." ... "Certain vinyl baby bibs sold at Toys “R” Us stores appear to be contaminated with lead, laboratory tests have shown, making the inexpensive bibs another example of a made-in-China product that may be a health hazard to children." ... "The vinyl bibs, which feature illustrations of baseball bats and soccer balls and Disney’s Winnie the Pooh characters, are sold for less than $5 each under store brand labels, including Especially for Baby and Koala Baby." ... "Tests this summer, financed by the Center for Environmental Health of Oakland, Calif. [California], found lead as high as three times the level allowed in paint in several styles of the bibs purchased from both Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us stores in California." ... "“These bibs are exposing children to lead in an unnecessary way,” said Caroline Cox, research director at the Center for Environmental Health, a nonprofit agency that for the last decade has been testing consumer products for lead, in an effort to remove them from the market." ... "The bibs were imported for Toys “R” Us by Hamco Baby Products, the same company that made the bibs for Wal-Mart." ... "Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us are jointly controlled by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Bain Capital and Vornado Realty Trust. Hamco is a unit of Crown Crafts." -By Eric Lipton -NYTimes 

---

US - Global - Germany - Dutch - Genetics - Environmental - Science - Children - Safety - Politics - Free-Market - History - "America Loses Its Stature as Tallest Country." ... "Pundits often opine that America's stature is declining on the global stage. It turns out that Americans --literally -- are not standing as tall, compared with the rest of the world, as they used to." ... "U.S. adults lost their position as the tallest people on Earth to the Dutch [Netherlands], who average about two inches taller than the typical American. In fact, American men now rank ninth and women 15th in average height, having fallen short of many other European nations." ... ""Americans, who have been the tallest in the world for a very long time, are no longer the tallest," said John Komlos of the University of Munich [Germany], who has published a series of papers documenting the trend. "Americans have not kept up with western European populations."" ... "The idea that many Europeans are looking down on Americans has led to a flurry of interest in trying to explain the trend, with debate focusing on whether to blame the lack of universal health care and other holes in the nation's social safety net, particularly for children." ... ""We conjecture that perhaps the western and northern European welfare states, with their universal socioeconomic safety nets, are able to provide a higher biological standard of living to their children and youth than the more free-market-oriented U.S. economy," Komlos wrote in one of his latest papers, published in June in the journal Social Science Quarterly." ... "While some researchers agree, others are more cautious, arguing that height is determined by a complicated amalgam of genetic, environmental, social and biological influences." -By Rob Stein -WashingtonPost

---

Gordon Smith - Dick Cheney - Environmental - Science - Politics - Federal - Investigation - History - Portland - Ore - California - Fish - Food - Farmers - Business - "Smith backs Cheney on salmon kill controversy." ... "[Oregon Republican Senator] Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. [Republican-Oregon], is siding with [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney over a massive fish kill on the Klamath River in 2002, saying there is no evidence it was caused by water diversions to farmers." [The Klamath River runs through Oregon and California] ... "Smith also defended Cheney's role in intervening with federal officials to help farmers in the Klamath Basin and cast doubt that the salmon die-off caused sharp commercial costal [coastal] fishing restrictions." ... "The House Natural Resources Committee is investigating whether Cheney exerted improper political influence to override scientifically based management of the water resources." ... "Environmentalists, often at odds with Smith, say his stance contradicts a study by the California Department of Fish and Game, which found that the water diversions played a key role in the deaths of some 77,000 salmon." ... "The California Fish and Game report cited several factors leading to the fish kill, the largest in recorded West Coast history." ... "There were larger-than-normal salmon returns, warm water and low river flows that combined to crowd the fish, hastening the spread of disease." ... "The report concluded that, "River flow and the volume of water in the fish-kill area were atypically low," and that the river flow was the only factor controlled by humans." ... ""It's stretching credibility to claim that the flow management decisions by the [Republican President] Bush administration in 2002 had nothing to do with the low flows in the Klamath River," said Steve Pedery of Oregon Wild, a Portland-based environmental group." -AP via -kgw.com 

---

Global - Climate - Politics - Fuel - Financed - Opinion - Media - Environment - "Gore: Polluters manipulate climate info." ... "Research aimed at disputing the scientific consensus on global warming is part of a huge public misinformation campaign funded by some of the world's largest carbon polluters, former [Democratic] Vice President Al Gore said Tuesday." ... ""There has been an organized campaign, financed to the tune of about $10 million a year from some of the largest carbon polluters, to create the impression that there is disagreement in the scientific community," Gore said at a forum in Singapore. "In actuality, there is very little disagreement."" ... ""This is one of the strongest of scientific consensus views in the history of science," Gore said. "We live in a world where what used to be called propaganda now has a major role to play in shaping public opinion."" ... "He said Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's largest publicly traded oil company, is one of the major fuel companies involved in attempting to mislead the public about global warming." -By Gillian Wong -AP via -Yahoo 

---

Idaho - Nevada - Utah - Wildfire - Plants - Animals - Politics- "Western governors blame cheatgrass for 2007 wildfire woes." ... "Four Western governors declared war Monday on cheatgrass, a nonnative weedy grass they blame for filling the West's open spaces with flammable fuels feeding this summer's massive wildfires." ... "Still, their efforts could be complicated by a shortage of seeds of other grasses needed to restore the charred landscape before cheatgrass takes hold. In fact, some of the federal Bureau of Land Management territory where such seeds are collected has been burned." ... "And environmentalists are leery about the plans for replanting, fearing they'll concentrate on grasses that provide forage for livestock rather than native vegetation that helps wildlife such as sage grouse." ... "So far this year, wildfires in Idaho, Nevada and Utah have burned thousands of square miles, including the giant Murphy Complex fires on the Idaho-Nevada border that torched an area as large as Rhode Island." -By John Miller -AP via -SeattlePI

---

US - World - Water - Marketing - Environmental - Politics - "Aquafina labels to spell out source - tap water." ... "PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political opposition to the bottled water industry. According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group, the world's No. 2 beverage company will include the words "Public Water Source" on Aquafina labels." ... "Pepsi's Aquafina and Coca-Cola Co's Dasani are both made from purified water sourced from public reservoirs, as opposed to Danone's Evian or Nestle's Poland Spring, so-called "spring waters," shipped from specific locations the companies say have notably clean water." -Reuters via -CNN

---

Harriet E Miers - Joshua Bolten - US Attorneys - Politics - Environmental - History - "House panel OKs contempt proceedings: Along party lines, the House judiciary committee votes to begin criminal prosecution of current and former Bush aides." ... "A House committee voted Wednesday to endorse the criminal prosecution of [Republican] President Bush's chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, and former White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers for refusing to cooperate with a congressional probe into the firings of U.S. attorneys last year." ... "The 22-17 party-line vote of the judiciary committee calling for contempt-of-Congress proceedings against the two aides was referred to the full House for consideration. That vote is expected to occur after Labor Day, when Congress returns from its August recess." ... "The panel's move escalates a growing legal and political battle between Congress and the White House, and sets the stage for what would be the first congressional contempt citation of an executive branch official since the [Republican President] Reagan administration." ... "It has been 24 years since an administration official has been cited for contempt of Congress. In 1982, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Anne M. Gorsuch Burford refused to turn over documents under orders from President Reagan. The Justice Department refused to prosecute her. A year later, another EPA official, Rita Lavelle, refused to appear before a House committee. Lavelle was acquitted of the contempt charge but was later convicted of perjury in another trial." -By Richard B. Schmitt -LAtimes 

---

Portland - Oregon - River - Animal - Electric - Company - History - "Utility blasts its Oregon dam to make way for fish." ... "The largest dam removal in the Pacific Northwest in 40 years began on Tuesday with blasts of 4,000 pounds of explosives, the dam's owner, Portland General Electric, said." ... "The Marmot Dam on the Sandy River about 40 miles east of Portland [Oregon] was built almost 100 years ago along with the nearby 16-foot-high Little Sandy Dam, which will be destroyed next summer, the utility said." ... "Removing the two dams will allow the Sandy to flow freely from Mt. Hood to the Columbia River." ... "When the dams were built, they ruined a natural fish run that biologists say the fish will rediscover and repopulate once the dams are removed, [Portland General Electric spokesman Mark] Fryburg said." (1, 2) -By Bernie Woodall -Reuters

---

Julie MacDonald - Government - Animals - Justice - Science - Politics - Industry - Seattle - Washington - West Virginia - "Decisions on species to be reviewed: Methods of Interior official who resigned in question." ... "In the wake of the resignation of a [Republican President] Bush administration official who was rebuked for meddling in scientists' calls about protecting endangered species, federal officials on Friday announced plans to re-examine eight decisions influenced by the disgraced official." ... "Environmentalists labeled the administration's move a "token effort designed for damage control."" ... "Friday's announcement by Dale Hall, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, comes less than three months after the resignation of Julie MacDonald, an Interior Department official in charge of the wildlife service. She had been chastised by the agency's inspector general for bullying agency scientists and leaking information to industry groups." ... "The most recent controversy in the Northwest involved a Washington, D.C.-based team of [Republican President] Bush administration officials, including MacDonald, who overruled a panel of Northwest-based experts and reduced by one-fifth the amount of acreage protected as "critical habitat" for the spotted owl." ... ""People's bells should go off when the folks in an agency's regional office are overruled by political appointees in D.C.," [Seattle, Washington attorney from Earthjustice, Kristen] Boyles said. "I don't believe the region is always right, but I believe they are paying attention to the science because they are the scientists." ... West Virginia Democratic Representative Nick Rahall: ""What we have learned to date raises concerns about political tinkering with science that has affected perhaps 100 endangered species-related decisions -- and goodness knows what else -- that deserve further scrutiny," Rahall said Friday." ... "Environmentalists noted that Hall was agreeing to review only about a third of the cases in which misconduct by MacDonald was alleged." -By Robert McClure and John Heilprin -AP -SeattlePI.NWsource

---

Government - Environmental - Health - Science - Politics - Children - Air - Safety - Hurricane Katrina - Emergency - Manufactured - Homes - Construction - Louisiana - California - Lawmakers - "FEMA Suppressed Health Warnings for Workers, Katrina Victims:Agency Rejected Environmental Testing on Formaldehyde Gas Levels." ... "The Federal Emergency Management Agency [run by the Republican President Bush administration] has suppressed warnings from its own Gulf coast field workers since the middle of 2006 about suspected health problems that may be linked to elevated levels of formaldehyde gas released in FEMA-provided trailers, lawmakers said today." ... "Committee Chairman [California Democratic Representative] Henry L. Waxman (D-Calif.) called FEMA's bureaucratic neglect of storm victims "sickening."" ... "Nearly 5,000 pages of documents turned over to the committee "expose an official policy of premeditated ignorance," Waxman charged. "Senior officials in Washington didn't want to know what they already knew, because they didn't want the legal and moral responsibility to do what they knew had to be done."" ... "In May, FEMA said its own tests of 96 new trailers near Baton Rouge [Louisiana] last September and October found formaldehyde at 1.2 parts per million, but levels dropped to 0.3 parts per million after four days of ventilation. FEMA said that is the accepted threshold used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for its manufactured homes." ... "But Mary C. DeVany, an occupational health and safety engineer advising the Sierra Club, testified that that exposure limit of 0.3 parts per million is 400 times greater than the normal limit for year-round exposure set by the CDC-affiliated Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Register. It is also three times the daily exposure limit recommended by the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health, she said." ... ""This misapplication and skewing of scientific results is at best unethical and grossly misrepresents and attempt to minimize the adverse health effects being experienced by thousands of travel trailer residents," DeVany said." ... "Formaldehyde is a common wood preservative used in construction materials such as particle board, plywood, glue, curtains, molded plastic and countertops." ... "The chemical can cause vision and respiratory problems. It has been linked to higher rates of asthma, bronchitis and allergies in children with long-term exposure." (1, 2, 3) -By Spencer S. Hsu -WashingtonPost

---

Noteworthy - Political - Theology - Government - Health - Stem Cell - Teen - Parent - Oil - Global - Climate - Environmental - Science - "Ex-surgeon general faults White House: Richard Carmona says the administration 'simply buried' his scientific data on such issues as stem cell research and teen pregnancy." ... "[Republican] President Bush's first surgeon general testified Tuesday that his speeches were censored to match administration political positions and that he was prevented from giving the public accurate scientific information on issues such as stem cell research and teen pregnancy prevention." ... ""Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard H. Carmona, who was surgeon general from 2002 to 2006, told a congressional committee. "The job of surgeon general is to be the doctor of the nation — not the doctor of a political party."" ... "Early in the administration, when the issue of federal funding for stem cell research arose, Carmona said, he felt he could play an educational role by discussing the latest scientific research. Instead, he said, he was told to "stand down" because the White House already had made a decision to limit stem cell studies. He said administration appointees who reviewed his speech texts deleted references to stem cells." ... "Carmona's remarks were the latest in a series of complaints from government scientists about what they say are administration efforts to control — and sometimes distort — scientific evidence in order to support policy decisions." ... "NASA scientists have complained, for example, of political pressure to tone down warnings about global warming. Environmental Protection Agency officials have complained that technical information on such subjects as power plant emissions and oil drilling have been ignored." -By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar -LAtimes 

---

Government - Workers - California - Los Angeles - Environment - "Forest Service Short of Firefighters." ... "Weeks into a wildfire season that has already burned parts of Catalina Island, Los Angeles and Lake Tahoe, swaths of California's flammable national forests are some days protected by nothing more than luck." ... "On any given day, about 40 of 271 U.S. Forest Service engines remain in firehouses rather than on patrol, idled by a shortage of supervisors. Meanwhile, the combined effects of sustained drought, last winter's freeze and a searing heat wave has dramatically raised fire danger levels this season." ... "An exodus of highly trained mid- and upper-level firefighters from the career ranks of the federal agency is at least partly to blame for the fact that 13 percent of the service's 3,600 full-time positions in California are vacant." ... "Nationally, fire planners from all five federal agencies that handle firefighting are dealing with the departure of a generation of top managers hired during a firefighting expansion in the late 1970s. That has left behind too few career firefighters qualified to run engines, oversee forests or command large fire operations." -ByAllison Hoffman -AP via -TIME.com 

---

California - Air- Environment - Legislation - Industry - Global - Climate - "State's global warming fight claims two air-quality officials." ... "The messy departure of the chairman and executive director of California's Air Resources Board, if nothing else, reflects the extremely intense, largely clandestine struggle in the state capitol over how [California Republican Governor] Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's much-ballyhooed anti-global warming crusade is to be implemented." ... "Schwarzenegger says he fired ARB Chairman Robert Sawyer last week because the veteran energy researcher was moving too slowly on cleaning up the San Joaquin Valley's dirty air. But Sawyer and ARB Executive Director Catherine Witherspoon, who resigned Monday, have a far different version, one that rings truer. They contend that Schwarzenegger's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, and other aides wanted them to slow down on implementing anti-global warming legislation passed last year." ... "On Monday, in an interview with Fresno Bee reporter E.J. Schultz, Witherspoon called the administration's rationale a "cover-up" and added, "The real reason for firing him [Robert Sawyer] . . . was climate change policy." She said, "The day-to-day orders that we receive from the governor's office are to do less, to delay, to not burden industry."" -By Dan Walters -MercuryNews 

---

Environmental - Safety - Secrecy - Business - Law - Tenn - "Secrecy Shrouds Accident at Nuclear Plant." ... "A factory that makes uranium fuel for nuclear reactors had a spill so bad that it kept the plant closed for seven months last year and became one of only three incidents in all of 2006 serious enough for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to include in an annual report to Congress. After an investigation, the commission changed the terms of the factory’s license and said that the public had 20 days to request a hearing on the changes." ... "But no member of the public ever did. In fact, no member of the public could find out about the changes. The document describing them, including the notice of hearing rights for anyone who felt adversely affected, was stamped “official use only,” meaning that it was not publicly accessible. “Official use only” is a category below “Secret” and, while documents in that category are not technically classified, they are kept from the public." ... "The agency would not even have told Congress which factory was involved were it not for the efforts of one of the five commissioners, Gregory B. Jaczko, who named the company, Nuclear Fuel Services, of Erwin, Tenn., in a memo that became part of the public record." -By Matthew L. Wald -NYTimes 

---

California - Air - Environment - Business - Politics - Los Angeles - "Schwarzenegger pressured air-quality board, Democrats charge." ... "[California Democratic] Assembly Speaker Fabian Nu`ñez on Monday called for an investigation into whether the [California Republican Governor Arnold] Schwarzenegger administration has wrongly interfered with the state's air resources board as it begins to develop new air emission standards." ... "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has traveled around the globe touting the state's unprecedented emissions law, AB 32, which was passed amid worldwide fanfare last year as he sought re-election. But critics now contend that the governor may have pressured the board to slow down implementing the new rules to appease business interests." ... ""The administration is interfering with CARB's [California Air Resources Board] ability to implement the laws of California, and to say I'm troubled is an understatement," said Nu`ñez, a Los Angeles Democrat who co-sponsored the legislation. "We're going to get to the bottom of this. We want to know if CARB was being manipulated by the administration . . . and to what extent those left in charge of the air resources board are committed to fully implementing AB 32 to the letter of the law."" -By Steven Harmon -MercuryNews 

---

Health - Worker - Safety - Environment - Civil Rights - Privacy - Law - Politics - NC - "House Balks at Bush Order for New Powers." ... "[Republican] President Bush this month is giving an obscure White House office new powers over regulations affecting health, worker safety and the environment. Calling it a power grab, Democrats running Congress are intent on stopping him." ... "The House voted last week to prohibit the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs from spending federal money on Executive Order 13422, signed by Bush last January and due to take effect July 24." ... "The order requires federal officials to show that private companies, people or institutions failed to address a problem before agencies can write regulations to tackle it. It also gives political appointees greater authority over how the regulations are written." ... "The House measure "stops this president or any president from seizing the power to rewrite almost every law that Congress passes, laws that protect public health, the environment, safety, civil rights, privacy and on and on," said [North Carolina Democratic Representative] Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., its sponsor." (1, 2) -By Jim Abrams -AP via -WashingtonPost 

---

20070627

Dick Cheney - Special Report - Government - Terrorism - Torture - Economy - Environment - Air - Water - Food - Animal - Politics - "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency." ... "Dick Cheney is the most influential and powerful man ever to hold the office of vice president. This series examines Cheney's largely hidden and little-understood role in crafting policies for the War on Terror, the economy and the environment."

• Part 1 "Working in the Background: A master of bureaucracy and detail, Cheney exerts most of his influence out of public view."
• Part 2 "Wars and Interrogations: Convinced that the "war on terror" required "robust interrogations" of captured suspects, Dick Cheney pressed the Bush administration to carve out exceptions to the Geneva Conventions." ... "Sidebar: Cheney on Presidential Power."
• Part 3 "Dominating Budget Decisions: Working behind the scenes, Dick Cheney has made himself the dominant voice on tax and spending policy, outmaneuvering rivals for the president's ear." ... "Sidebar: Expanding Authority for No. 2 Spot." ... "Sidebar: Taking on the Supreme Court Case."
• Part 4 "Environmental Policy: Dick Cheney steered some of the Bush administration's most important environmental decisions -- easing air pollution controls, opening public parks to snowmobiles and diverting river water from threatened salmon."

Analysis- Countries - People - Law - Money - Environment - Religion - Terrorism - Nuclear - Military - Politics - "The Failed States Index 2007." ... "The world’s weakest states aren’t just a danger to themselves. They can threaten the progress and stability of countries half a world away." ... "The problems that plague failing states are generally all too similar: rampant corruption, predatory elites who have long monopolized power, an absence of the rule of law, and severe ethnic or religious divisions." ... "For the second year in a row, Sudan tops the rankings as the state most at risk of failure. The primary cause of its instability, violence in the country’s western region of Darfur, is as well known as it is tragic. At least 200,000 people—and perhaps as many as 400,000—have been killed in the past four years by janjaweed militias armed by the government, and 2 to 3 million people have fled their torched villages for squalid camps as the violence has spilled into the Central African Republic and Chad. These countries were hardly pictures of stability prior to the influx of refugees and rebels across their borders; the Central African Republic plays host to a modern-day slave trade, and rebels attacked Chad’s capital in April 2006 in a failed coup attempt. But the spillover effects from Sudan have a great deal to do with the countries’ tumble in the rankings, demonstrating that the dangers of failing states often bleed across borders. That is especially worrying for a few select regions. This year, eight of the world’s 10 most vulnerable states are in sub-Saharan Africa, up from six last year and seven in 2005." ... "That is not to say that all failing states suffer from international neglect. Iraq and Afghanistan, the two main fronts in the global war on terror, both suffered over the past year. Their experiences show that billions of dollars in development and security aid may be futile unless accompanied by a functioning government, trustworthy leaders, and realistic plans to keep the peace and develop the economy." ... "Today, two countries among the world’s 15 most vulnerable, North Korea and Pakistan, are members of the nuclear club. Their profiles could hardly be less similar: The former faces the very real prospect of economic collapse, followed by massive human flight, while the latter presides over a lawless frontier country and a disenchanted Islamist opposition whose ranks grow by the day." (1 of 9)

 1 Sudan

 2  Iraq

 3  Somalia

 4  Zimbabwe

 5  Chad

 6  Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)

 7  Democratic Republic of the Congo

 8  Afghanistan

 9 Guinea

10  Central African Republic

11  Haiti

12  Pakistan

13  North Korea

14  Burma (Myanmar)

15  Uganda

16  Bangladesh

17  Nigeria

18  Ethiopia

19  Burundi

20  Timor-Leste (East Timor)

Military - Families - Water - Environment - History - North Carolina - "Marines drank tainted water for 30 years: CDC." ... "As many as 75,000 people may have drunk water contaminated by dry cleaning fluid at the U.S. Marine base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday." ... "The contamination lasted for 30 years until the affected wells were closed. Marines and their families drank the contaminated water during base assignments of an average of 2 years, the CDC said." -Reuters 

---

North Carolina - Families - Water - History - Military - Employees - Business - Environmental - Lawmakers - Michigan - "Toxins, cancer link probed at Marines' base." ... "Some 75,000 Marines and their families at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina were exposed to toxic tap water that may have caused cancer and birth defects, a federal health official testified Tuesday." ... "Results of a new study of the base's water were released Tuesday, the same day lawmakers heard emotional testimony from families who were affected by the water, which contained 40 times the amount of toxins considered safe by today's standards." ... "Camp Lejeune's water supply was polluted from 1957 until 1987 by TCE, a degreasing solvent, and PCE, a dry cleaning agent. The chemicals apparently came from a dry cleaning store near the base, according to the government." ... "The substances are possible carcinogens." ... "The chairman of the committee, Democratic [Representative] Rep. John Dingell of Michigan, said he will examine handling of the water investigation in 2005 by the Environmental Protection Agency's criminal division." ... "An EPA investigator, Tyler Amon, acknowledged Tuesday that officials had considered accusing some civilian Navy employees of obstruction of justice." ... "Amon, who testified despite objections from the [Republican President] Bush administration, said some employees interviewed during the criminal investigation appeared coached and were not forthcoming with details." -CNN

---

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - J Steven Griles - Environmental - Politics - "Federici pleads guilty, will assist in Abramoff probe." ... "Federici is the second person with ties to Norton to plead guilty in the Abramoff investigation. Former Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his relationship to Abramoff and Federici." ... "Federici is the president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy (CREA), which evolved from a group Federici and Norton founded in 1997 with tax activist Grover Norquist to push for Republican environmental goals." -By Mike Soraghan -TheHill.com

---

Jack Abramoff- Italia Federici - Steven Griles - Environmental - Money - Politics - "Republican figure pleads guilty in Abramoff probe." ... "A Republican activist [Italia Federici] pleaded guilty on Friday to obstructing Congress and evading taxes in a deal with prosecutors probing the influence-peddling scandal involving former lobbyist Jack Abramoff." ... "As head of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, Federici, 37, had close ties to senior Interior Department officials, including former Interior Secretary Gale Norton. Founded by Federici and Norton in 1997, CREA is a nonprofit group that touts Republicans' environmental accomplishments and criticizes established environmental groups like the Sierra Club." ... "According to the plea agreement, Federici introduced Abramoff to the Interior Department's No. 2 official, Steven Griles, in March 2001." ... "Federici's involvement masked the extent of Abramoff's influence over Griles, the agreement says, allowing the two to discuss how to block casinos that might compete with those owned by Abramoff clients, among other matters." ... "Griles pleaded guilty in March to obstructing Congress, becoming the highest-ranking [Republican President] Bush administration official convicted in the lobbying scandal." (1, 2) -By Andy Sullivan -Reuters

---

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - Environment - Money - Politics - "GOP activist charged in Abramoff probe: Environmental group founder Italia Federici is accused of tax evasion and obstruction of justice in the lobbying case." ... "The founder of a Republican environmental organization was charged Wednesday with tax evasion and obstruction of justice as part of the continuing federal criminal investigation into lobbying practices in the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal." ... "Italia Federici, president of the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, allegedly failed to pay more than $77,000 in federal income taxes from 2001 to 2003. She was also cited for making "false and fictitious" statements before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in 2005, which was investigating Abramoff's representation of Native American tribes." ... "According to the charges filed Wednesday, Federici founded the environmental council in 1997 in Colorado with the help of Gale A. Norton, who later became secretary of the Interior under President Bush." -By Richard A. Serrano -LAtimes 

---

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - Steven Griles - Environment - Money - Politics - "Republican with Abramoff ties to plead guilty." ... "A Republican activist will plead guilty to obstructing Congress in the influence-peddling scandal centered around former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, her lawyer said on Wednesday." ... "According to criminal charges filed by the government, Federici in 2001 introduced Abramoff to her sometime boyfriend, ex-Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles." ... "Abramoff, currently serving a six-year prison sentence, is at the center of a lobbying scandal that has resulted in prison time for several Bush administration officials and one congressman." ... "Over the next several years, Federici served as a go-between for Griles and Abramoff, the charges say. Abramoff donated roughly $500,000 to her group during that time." (1, 2) -By Andy Sullivan -Reuters via -ABCNEWS.com

---

US - Germany - UN - Global - Climate - Science - Seas - Environment - "U.S. opposes fixing greenhouse gas cuts at G8." ... "The United States said on Wednesday it opposed setting firm targets for greenhouse gas cuts at a G8 summit but offered reassurance that its plan for fighting climate change would not undermine U.N. efforts." ... "U.S [Republican] President George W. Bush's stance is likely to lead to hard bargaining at a meeting where German Chancellor Angela Merkel hopes to win a commitment from major powers to halve greenhouse gas emissions by the middle of the century." ... "Summit host Merkel has been pushing for cuts of 50 percent in greenhouse gases by 2050 to curb a rise in temperatures that scientists say could cause more droughts, heatwaves, floods and rising seas." ... "Merkel, who brokered an EU deal in March which includes binding cuts in emissions, has also been pushing for a G8 pledge to limit warming of global temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit), seen as a threshold for dangerous changes." (1, 2, 3) -By Caren Bohan and Tabassum Zakaria with contributions by  Erik Kirschbaum, Christian Lowe, Madeline Chambers, David Ljunggren and Crispian Balmer -Reuters 

---

Clean Water Act - Law - Environmental- Science - Politics - "EPA makes it harder to protect wetlands." ... "The [Republican President] Bush administration made it harder Tuesday for non-permanent streams and nearby wetlands to be protected under the federal Clean Water Act." ... "The new guidance issued by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers requires that for such waters to be protected there must be a "significant nexus" shown between the intermittent stream or wetland and a traditional waterway." ... "And the guidance says a determination will be made on a case-by-case basis, analyzing flow and other issues. Environmentalist argued that would negate the broader regional importance of many such waterways in the aggregate on water bodies downstream." ... "Environmentalists said the new rules will put in jeopardy many of the intermittent streams and headwaters that now fall under the Clean Water Act, and result in less protection of wetlands." -By H. Josef Hebert -AP via -Chron 

---

Water - Government - Environmental - Clean Water Act - Enforcement - Politics - "U.S. adopts limits on clean water law enforcement." ... "The landmark U.S. law to fight water pollution will now apply only to bodies of water large enough for boats to use, and their adjacent wetlands, and will not automatically protect streams, the U.S. government said on Tuesday." ... "Environmental groups said they fear the new policy will muddy the purpose of the federal Clean Water Act and put many smaller bodies of water at risk. Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation mandating protection of creeks, estuaries and other watersheds." ... "The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers wrote the new guidelines after the Supreme Court split a year ago in a case about which waters fall under the Clean Water Act." ... "Angered by the Supreme Court's split, Democratic lawmakers last month introduced the "Clean Water Restoration Act" that would drop the word "navigable" from the original law." (1, 2) -By Lisa Lambert -Reuters 

---

Ala - Terrorism - Law - Enforcement - Politics - Free Speech - Liberty - Military - Environmentalist - Animal - Abortion - "Ala. terror Web site angers activists." ... "The Alabama Department of Homeland Security has taken down a Web site it operated that included gay rights and anti-war organizations in a list of groups that could include terrorists." ... "The Web site identified different types of terrorists, and included a list of groups it believed could spawn terrorists. The list also included environmentalists, animal rights advocates and abortion opponents." ... "The site included the groups under a description of what it called "single-issue" terrorists. That group includes people who feel they are trying to create a better world, the Web site said. It said that in some communities, law enforcement officers consider certain single issue groups to be a threat." -By Bob Johnson -AP via -Yahoo

---

New York - Terrorism - Air - Environment - Police- "Health-related Sept. 11 death raises questions, confusion." ... "Police Detective James Zadroga died of respiratory disease at age 34, more than four years after he worked hundreds of hours in the [New York, New York] ground zero cleanup." ... "As family members of ground zero workers who died after breathing in the toxic dust from the collapsed World Trade Center push to have their names included on the official list of victims, Zadroga's father plans to ask the city to review his son's case." ... "A New Jersey medical examiner has ruled his son's 2006 death to be "directly related" to his work at ground zero and exposure to toxic dust from the collapsed World Trade Center." ... "A New York attorney [Felicia Dunn-Jones] who died of lung disease months after the terrorist attack was declared a homicide victim and added to the death toll Wednesday, prompting confusion among Sept. 11 family members about what distinguished this death from the scores of others attributed to the aftermath of the attack." -By Amy Westfeldt -AP via -Newsday.com

---

New York - Terrorism - Air - Environment - Police - Firefighters - Workers - Lawsuit - "For the First Time, New York Links a Death to 9/11 Dust." ... "New York City’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Charles S. Hirsch, has for the first time directly linked a death to exposure to dust from the destruction of the World Trade Center." ... "In a letter made public yesterday, Dr. Hirsch said that he was certain “beyond a reasonable doubt” that dust from the twin towers contributed to the death of Felicia Dunn-Jones, 42, a civil rights lawyer who was engulfed on Sept. 11 as she ran from her office a block away from the trade center." ... "She later developed a serious cough and had trouble breathing, and she died five months after the terrorist attack." ... "Her name will be added to the official list of World Trade Center victims, and the official number of people who died as a result of the attack on the twin towers will be increased to 2,750." ... "The medical examiner’s decision also could be cited as supporting evidence in the federal lawsuits filed against the city by thousands of firefighters, police officers and recovery workers who say they were injured by breathing the dust during the 10-month cleanup." -By Anthony DePalma -NYTimes

---

Monica M Goodling - Alberto R Gonzales - Kyle Sampson - Paul J McNulty - Political - US Attorneys - Jobs - Civil Rights - Environment - "Officials Describe Interference by Former Gonzales Aide." ... "When Jeffrey A. Taylor, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, wanted to hire a new career prosecutor last fall, he had to run the idea past Monica M. Goodling, then a 33-year-old aide to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales." ... "The candidate was Seth Adam Meinero, a Howard University law school graduate who had worked on civil rights cases at the Environmental Protection Agency and had served as a special assistant prosecutor in Taylor's office." ... "Goodling stalled the hiring, saying that Meinero was too "liberal" for the nonpolitical position, said according to two sources familiar with the dispute." ... "The tussle over Meinero, who was eventually hired at Taylor's insistence, led to a Justice Department investigation of whether Goodling improperly weighed political affiliation when reviewing applicants for rank-and-file prosecutor jobs, the sources said." ... "Goodling's public troubles began in mid-March, when [Kyle] Sampson disclosed to Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty and others that the plan to fire the U.S. attorneys had begun more than two years earlier in the White House, contrary to what McNulty and another official had testified to Congress." (1, 2) -By Dan Eggen and Carol D. Leonnig with contributions by  Amy Goldstein and Jerry Markon -WashingtonPost

---

Rudolph Giuliani - Election 2008 - Politician - New York - Terrorism - Disaster - Money - Government - Construction - Firefighters - Workers - Air - Environment - Science - Health - Safety - Enforcement - Lawsuit - "Ground Zero Illnesses Clouding Giuliani’s Legacy." ... "[2008 election Republican Presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani] Administration documents and thousands of pages of legal testimony filed in a lawsuit against New York City [New York], along with more than two dozen interviews with people involved in the events of the last four months of Mr. Giuliani’s administration, show that while the city had a safety plan for workers, it never meaningfully enforced federal requirements that those at the site wear respirators [at the World Trade Center cleanup]." ... "At the same time, the administration warned companies working on the pile that they would face penalties or be fired if work slowed. And according to public hearing transcripts and unpublished administration records, officials also on some occasions gave flawed public representations of the nature of the health threat, even as they privately worried about exposure to lawsuits by sickened workers." ... "“The city ran a generally slipshod, haphazard, uncoordinated, unfocused response to environmental concerns,” said David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, a labor group." ... "City officials and a range of medical experts are now convinced that the dust and toxic materials in the air around the site were a menace. More than 2,000 New York City firefighters have been treated for serious respiratory problems. Seventy percent of nearly 10,000 recovery workers screened at Mount Sinai Medical Center have trouble breathing. City officials estimate that health care costs related to the air at ground zero have already run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and no one knows whether other illnesses, like cancers, will emerge." ... "From the beginning, there was no doubt that Mr. Giuliani and his team ruled the hellish disaster site. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, all with extensive disaster response experience, arrived almost immediately, only to be placed on the sideline. One Army Corps official said Mr. Giuliani acted like a “benevolent dictator.”" ... "Despite the presence of those federal experts, Mr. Giuliani assigned the ground zero cleanup to a largely unknown city agency, the Department of Design and Construction. Kenneth Holden, the department’s commissioner until January 2004, said in a deposition in the federal lawsuit against the city that he initially expected FEMA or the Army Corps to try to take over the cleanup operation. Mr. Giuliani never let them." ... "Records show that the city was aware of the danger in the ground zero dust from the start. In a federal court deposition, Kelly R. McKinney, associate commissioner at the city’s health department in 2001, said the agency issued an advisory on the night of Sept. 11 stating that asbestos in the air made the site hazardous and that everyone should wear masks." ... "Much has been said and written about Christie Whitman, then the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and her statement a week after the towers fell that the air in New York was safe. But even then, the air above the debris pile was known to be more dangerous than the air in the rest of Lower Manhattan." ... "Whatever they were saying publicly about the safety of the air, Mr. Giuliani and his staff were privately worried. A memo to Deputy Mayor Robert M. Harding from his assistant in early October said that the city faced as many as 10,000 liability claims connected to 9/11, “including toxic tort cases that might arise in the next few decades.”" ... "The warning did not lead to a crackdown on workers without respirators. Rather, a month later, Mr. Giuliani wrote to members of the city’s Congressional delegation urging passage of a bill that capped the city’s liability at $350 million." (1, 2, 3) -By Anthony DePalma -NYTimes 

---

World - US - Brazil - Animals - Food - Environment - Business - "Vanishing honeybees mystify scientists." ... "Go to work -- and vanish without a trace." ... "Billions of bees have done just that, leaving the crop fields they are supposed to pollinate, and scientists are mystified about why." ... "The phenomenon was first noticed late last year in the United States, where honeybees are used to pollinate $15 billion worth of fruits, nuts and other crops annually. Disappearing bees have also been reported in Europe and Brazil." ... "Commercial beekeepers would set their bees near a crop field as usual and come back in two or three weeks to find the hives bereft of foraging worker bees, with only the queen and the immature insects remaining. Whatever worker bees survived were often too weak to perform their tasks." ... "Since about one-third of the U.S. diet depends on pollination and most of that is performed by honeybees, this constitutes a serious problem, according to Jeff Pettis of the U.S. Agricultural Research Service." -Reuters via -CNN 

---

Earth_Day - Environmental - Science - Consumer - US - Iraq - Terrorism - Fuel- Earth - Climate - Ocean - "Seeing the Green in Earth Day: Businesses big and small are learning that not only does environmental friendliness feel good, it can turn a profit, too." ... "[Andrea] Wilson is the Prius-driving, tree-hugging, vegan owner of Green Earth Office Supply, a purveyor of such items as clipboards and three-ring binders fashioned from defective circuit boards, cafeteria utensils made of biodegradable vegetable-based plastics, and, of course, 100 percent recycled paper goods. As fuel costs soar, environmentalists like Wilson say, America's consumer culture will downshift and clean energy sources will be developed." ... "Already, Wilson can see the great awakening in her sales. Thirteen mostly lean years after the former corporate accountant launched Green Earth from her home in the Santa Cruz Mountains, sales are soaring -up 250 percent last quarter compared with the first quarter of 2006, and on pace to bust the $1 million-a-year mark for the first time." ... "The sentiment surrounding this year's Earth Day is palpably different, say "green" entrepreneurs like Wilson and others working to bridge the cross-purposes of profits and environmental protection. Concern over man-made causes of climate change, pollution and the degradation of oceans are driving factors, they say, while terrorism and the Iraq war grimly underscore the pitfalls of an economy based on fossil fuels." ... "No longer just a feel-good niche or a marketing angle, the clean-and-green movement now includes corporate leaders targeting environment-minded consumers and renewable energy sources." ... "But [Eco Design Resources, store manager Scott] Farmer and Wilson say consumers should be wary of companies and products that indulge in "greenwashing." The phrase, a play on whitewashing, refers to environmental claims rooted more in salesmanship than science. Many companies and many products, they say, make exaggerated claims about their ecological virtues." -By Scott Duke -MercuryNews

---

Fuel - Food - Poor- People - Auto - Environment - Economy - US - Venezuela - Mexico - "Ethanol policy divides Latin America: US efforts to promote ethanol have raised food prices in the region." ... "Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez calls the boom in ethanol the equivalent of starving the poor "to feed automobiles."" ... "Ethanol, which is derived from crops such as corn or sugar, is seen by some as a green alternative, a rising star on the path toward reducing independence on foreign petroleum. But it's not just Mr. Chávez who is questioning whether the benefits outweigh the unintended consequences." ... "Now poultry industry executives, who have seen the price of feedstock has gone up; Mexican consumers, facing a 60 percent jump in the cost of tortillas; and even environmentalists, who look at the amount of fertilizer that will be needed to grow extra crops, are wondering aloud whether ethanol will help or hurt Latin American economies." ... ""I think people worry that rich Americans are trying to fuel cars at the expense of hungry people in poorer countries," says Janet Larsen, director of research at the Earth Policy Institute in Washington. "This increased push for ethanol production could be an incredible foreign policy blunder."" (1, 2) -By Sara Miller Llana and Daniel Cancels -CSMonitor 

---

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - Environment - Money - Politics - Colorado - "Federici linked to Abramoff case." ... "A one-time Colorado political activist and ex-girlfriend of a convicted Interior Department official has been informed by the Justice Department that there is "substantial evidence" linking her to criminal activity in the Jack Abramoff scandal." ... "In a January 2007 letter obtained by the publication Legal Times, a federal prosecutor urged Italia Federici to hire an attorney to defend against allegations she illegally used a tax-exempt organization to lobby for Abramoff's clients and lied about the organization's activities to Congress." ... ""The investigation is focused on the allegedly illegal manner in which you operated the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy, commonly known as CREA," wrote Justice Department tax division attorney Stephanie D. Evans to Federici, an ex-aide and Colorado fundraiser for former Interior Secretary Gale Norton." ... "Founded by Federici and Norton in 1997, CREA became ensnared in scandal after evidence emerged that Abramoff's Indian casino clients gave the conservative environmental group almost $500,000 to gain influence with the Interior Department." -By Christa Marshall -DenverPost.com

---

Italia Federici - Jack Abramoff - J Steven Griles - Environmental - Politics - "Ex-Interior Secretary's Former Girlfriend Is Latest Target in Abramoff Probe." ... "Italia Federici, the one-time girlfriend of a convicted former senior official at the Interior Department, is a target of the ongoing federal influence-peddling investigation into the activities of former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to court documents obtained by Legal Times." ... ""The investigation is focused on the allegedly illegal manner in which you operated the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy," wrote Stephanie Evans, a trial attorney in the department's Tax Division. Federici co-founded CREA, a conservative-leaning environmental-advocacy group, in 1997 with Gale Norton, who became secretary of the Interior Department in 2001." ... "Federici was central to the charges against J. Steven Griles, the former deputy secretary of the Interior Department who pleaded guilty March 23 to misleading Senate investigators about his relationship with Abramoff, the infamous then-Greenberg Traurig lobbyist who pleaded guilty to several felonies last year." ... "According to the Jan. 19 target letter filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, investigators are looking at whether Federici violated five statutes in connection with running the group: conspiracy to defraud the United States, tax evasion, impeding the Internal Revenue Service, and obstructing proceedings and making false statements before the Senate." ... "Federal officials also informed Federici that they believe she "may have assisted others in depriving the American Public of honest services of at least one administration official," the letter states." -By Emma Schwartz -LegalTimes.com via -Law.com

---

Julie A MacDonald - Science - Politics - Business - Government - Land - Animal - Environmental - Law - "Report Faults Interior Appointee: Landowner Issues Trumped Animal Protections, IG Says." ... "A senior [Republican President] Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has repeatedly altered scientific field reports to minimize protections for imperiled species and disclosed confidential information to private groups seeking to affect policy decisions, the department's inspector general concluded." ... "The investigator's report on Julie A. MacDonald, deputy assistant secretary for fish and wildlife and parks -- which was triggered by an anonymous complaint from a Fish and Wildlife Service employee and expanded in October after a Washington Post article about MacDonald -- said she frequently sought to reshape the agency's scientific reports in an effort to ease the impact of agency decisions on private landowners." ... "The IG noted that MacDonald "admitted that her degree is in civil engineering and that she has no formal educational background in natural sciences" but repeatedly instructed Fish and Wildlife scientists to change their recommendations on identifying "critical habitats," despite her lack of expertise." -By Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost 

---

Julie A MacDonald - Government - Animal - Water - Environmental - Science - Law - Investigation - Oil - Industry - E-Mail - "Report Says Interior Official Overrode Work of Scientists." ... "A top-ranking official overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service at the Interior Department rode roughshod over agency scientists, and decisions made on her watch may not survive court challenges, investigators within the Interior Department have found." ... "Their report, sent to Congress this week by the department's inspector general, does not accuse the official, Julie A. MacDonald, the deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, of any crime. But it does find that she violated federal rules when she sent internal agency documents to industry lobbyists." ... "The inspector general also found that Ms. MacDonald had sent internal government documents by e-mail to a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation — a property-rights group that frequently challenges endangered-species decisions." ... "She twice sent internal Environmental Protection Agency documents — one involving water quality management — to individuals whose e-mail addresses ended in chevrontexaco.com,  the report said." -By Felicity Barringer -NYTimes

---

Government - Climate - Science - Politics- Environment - Employees- Free Speech - Law - "Exclusive: Report Charges Broad White House Efforts to Stifle Climate Research." ... "Bush administration officials throughout the government have engaged in White House-directed efforts to stifle, delay or dampen the release of climate change research that casts the White House or its policies in a bad light, says a new report that purports to be the most comprehensive assessment to date of the subject." ... "Researchers for the non-profit watchdog Government Accountability Project reviewed thousands of e-mails, memos and other documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and from government whistle-blowers and conducted dozens of interviews with public affairs staff, scientists, reporters and others." ... "The group says it has identified hundreds of instances where White House-appointed officials interfered with government scientists' efforts to convey their research findings to the public, at the behest of top administration officials." ... "In some cases, the policies and practices the group says were enacted to squelch damaging scientific information "constitute constitutional and statutory infringements of the federal climate science employees' free speech and whistle-blower rights," the report finds." -By Justin Rood -ABCNEWS.com 

---

J Steven Griles - Jack Abramoff - Italia Federici - Money - Government - Environmental - Energy - Companies - Politics - Law - "Ex-Official At Interior Hid His Ties To Abramoff: Griles Pleads Guilty To Lying to Senate." ... "The former No. 2 official in the Interior Department yesterday admitted lying to the Senate about his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who gained the official's intervention at the agency for his Indian tribal clients." ... "J. Steven Griles pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a felony for making false statements in testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in November 2005 and in an earlier interview with panel investigators. He is the 10th person -- and the second high-level [Republican President] Bush administration official -- to face criminal charges in the continuing Justice Department investigation into Abramoff's lobbying activities." ... "Griles, 59, a gregarious former mining lobbyist, drew the wrath of environmentalists and his department's inspector general during a stormy four-year tenure at Interior." ... "Griles told the Senate panel and its investigators that his relationship with Abramoff was no different from that with any lobbyist. Griles's then-girlfriend, however, had introduced him to the lobbyist and then acted as a go-between. The woman, Italia Federici -- identified as "Person A" in court papers -- ran an advocacy group to which Abramoff and his clients donated $500,000." ... ""Abramoff occasionally sought and received -- both directly and through Person A -- defendant James Steven Griles' advice and intervention on issues within DOI that directly affected Abramoff and his clients," said the government's charging document. Griles was not accused of accepting anything of value in exchange." ... "Griles was a controversial political appointee from the start of his tenure at Interior under then-Secretary Gale A. Norton. Environmentalists and the department's inspector general faulted him for keeping ties to energy and mining companies that were once his lobbying clients." (1, 2) -By Susan Schmidt and James V. Grimaldi -WashingtonPost

---

Business - Government - Labor - Politics - Nuclear - Environmental - Safety - Law - Mich - "U.S. lets whistle-blowers lose jobs." ... "The federal government is sanctioning agreements that cost whistle-blowers their jobs after they expose safety and security lapses at nuclear facilities and toxic waste sites, Labor Department records show." ... "Federal law requires the department to safeguard whistle-blowers from reprisals and approve settlements of their retaliation claims against private or federal employers. Yet 45 of 73 settlements approved since 2000 involving whistle-blowers who complained of environmental and nuclear safety problems included permanent bans on working for the employer." ... "[Michigan Democratic Representative] Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a statement that the clauses amount to blacklisting, which is barred under whistle-blower protection laws. He promised to investigate their use: "It is especially troubling to now learn that our own Department of Labor & is recklessly approving (employment bans) to the detriment of individuals who had the audacity to report wrongdoing."" -By Peter Eisler -USATODAY

---

Torture - Terrorism - Military - Law - Environmental - Politics - "Evangelicals slam torture in war on terrorism." ... "A major U.S. association of evangelical Christians has condemned torture by the U.S. military and reaffirmed its commitment to environmental activism, positions that highlight broader splits in a movement associated with conservative causes." ... ""United States law and military doctrine has banned the resort to torture or cruel and degrading treatment. Tragically, documented cases of torture and inhumane and cruel behavior have occurred at various sites in the war on terror," the National Association of Evangelicals said in a statement." ... ""Current law opens procedural loopholes for more to continue," said the statement endorsed by the association's board of directors at its annual meeting in Eden, Minnesota, over the weekend." ... ""This new document is a Biblical reflection on the unjustified use of torture ... It is part of the international agenda that evangelicals have adopted," Richard Cizik, the NAE's vice president for governmental affairs, told Reuters." -By Ed Stoddard -AP via -Yahoo 

---

- 

Global - Climate - Ocean - Animal - Food - Environment - Science - People - Business - Politics - "Some happy that a family film flaunts dire facts." ... "Michael Hirshfield has long struggled to get across his earnest but wonky message: that global warming and overfishing are killing off the oceans' food supply." ... "Then, along came the animated movie "Happy Feet" and, voila, tens of millions of youngsters -- and their parents -- across the country are suddenly aware that man-made problems are threatening the penguins near the South Pole, and almost everything else in the South Seas." ... "The blockbuster film, the top box-office hit for the past three weekends, is about emperor penguins struggling to survive with a depleted food supply, and one tap-dancing penguin's epic search to learn what is causing the colony's fish to disappear." ... "A study published recently in the journal Science predicted that if overfishing of depleted seafood populations continued at current rates, the world would run out of commercial stocks by 2048." -By John Donnelly -Boston/Globe 

---

US - Government - Iraq - Military - Intelligence - Privacy - Environment - Health - Seniors - Drugs - Oil - Industry- Legal - History - Missouri - "Democrats are set to subpoena: The new majority is expected to hold hearings on military spending and the Iraq war -- just for starters." ... "[Missouri Democrat] Rep. Ike Skelton knows what he will do in one of his first acts as chairman of the Armed Services Committee in the Democratic-led House: resurrect the subcommittee on oversight and investigations." ... "The panel was disbanded by the Republicans after they won control of Congress in 1994. Now, Skelton (D-Mo.) intends to use it as a forum to probe Pentagon spending and the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war." ... "With control of every committee in Congress starting in January, the new majority will inherit broad powers to subpoena and investigate. And that is expected to translate into wide-ranging and contentious hearings." ... "The agenda is likely to be dominated by the Iraq war, but could include probes into the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance, environmental policies and new prescription-drug program for seniors. Industries, such as oil companies, could also come under closer scrutiny." ... ""This could be remembered as a historically unique period in which an administration got immunity from Congress to engage in errors with impunity," said Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore law professor and a former House counsel." ... "Democrats are expected to bore into the Iraq war, including review of no-bid contracts for reconstruction, intelligence failures and decisions to ignore the advice of military commanders about troop levels." (1, 2) -By Richard B. Schmitt and Richard Simon -LAtimes 

---

California - Air - Law - Climate - Politics - LA - "Calif Legislature passes bill to cut greenhouse gases." ... "The California Assembly on Thursday approved, as expected, a bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state to 1990 levels by 2020." ... "The state Senate earlier in the day approved the measure, which was forged by a compromise reached Wednesday between the legislature's Democratic Party leadership and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger." ... "Only one Republican assemblymember, Shirley Horton of San Diego, voted for the measure, which passed 46-31. Not one Republican in the state Senate voted for Assembly Bill 32, which was sponsored by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles." -By Mark Golden -MarketWatch 

---

DCI - Marketing - Oil - Corporation - Politics - Global - Climate - Internet - Computer- Entertainment -  - Environment - Al Gore - "Al Gore YouTube Spoof Not So Amateurish: Republican PR [public relations] Firm Said to Be Behind 'Inconvenient Truth' Spoof." ... "A tiny little movie making fun of Al Gore, supposedly made by an amateur filmmaker, recently appeared on the popular Web site YouTube.com." ... "At first blush, the spoof seemed like a scrappy little homemade film poking fun at Gore and his anti-global warming crusade." ... "The film actually came from a slick Republican public relations firm called DCI, which just happens to have oil giant Exxon as a client." ... "Public relations firms have long used computer technology to create bogus grassroots campaigns, which are called "Astroturf."" ... "Now these firms are being hired to push illusions on the Internet to create the false impression of real people blogging, e-mailing and making films. " (1, 2) -By Jake Tapper and Max Culhane -ABCNEWS.com

---

DCI - Marketing - Psychology - Oil - Corporation - Politics - Opinion - Internet - Video - California - Entertainment - Media - Search Engine - Computer - Communications - EMail - Environmental - Science - Global - Climate - Al Gore - "Where did that video spoofing Gore's film come from?" ... "Everyone knows Al Gore stars in the global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth." But who created "Al Gore's Penguin Army," a two-minute video now playing on YouTube.com?" ... "Like other videos on the popular YouTube site, it has a home-made, humorous quality. The video's maker is listed as "Toutsmith," a 29-year-old who identifies himself as being from Beverly Hills [California] in an Internet profile." ... "In an email exchange with The Wall Street Journal, Toutsmith didn't answer when asked who he was or why he made the video, which has just over 59,000 views on YouTube. However, computer routing information contained in an email sent from Toutsmith's Yahoo account indicate it didn't come from an amateur working out of his basement." ... "Instead, the email originated from a computer registered to DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp [Corporation]." ... "The anti-Gore video represents a less well-known side of YouTube. As its popularity has exploded, the public video-sharing site has drawn marketers looking to build buzz for new music releases and summer blockbusters. Now, it's being tapped by political operatives, public relations experts and ad agencies to sway opinions." ... "DCI is no stranger to the debate over global warming. Partly through Tech Central Station, an opinion Web site it operates, DCI has sought to raise doubts about the science of global warming and about Mr. Gore's film, placing skeptical scientists on talk-radio shows and paying them to write editorials." ... "Internet videos could prove particularly potent, because they may influence watchers in ways they don't realize. Nancy Snow, a communications professor at California State University, Fullerton, viewed the penguin video and calls it a lesson in "Propaganda 101." It contains no factual information, but presents a highly negative image of the former vice president, she says. The purpose of such images is to harden the views of those who already view Mr. Gore negatively, Dr. Snow says." ... "Traffic to the penguin video, first posted on YouTube.com in May, got a boost from prominently placed sponsored links that appeared on the Google search engine when users typed in "Al Gore" or "Global Warming." The ads, which didn't indicate who had paid for them, were removed shortly after The Wall Street Journal contacted DCI Group on Tuesday." -By Antonio Regalado and Dionne Searcey with contributions by Jeffrey Ball -WSJ.com via -Post-Gazette.com

---

Global - Climate - Science - Earth - Ecosystem - History - "Cold, Hard Facts." ... "My research colleagues and I found that from 1986 to 2000, one small, ice-free area of the Antarctic mainland had actually cooled. Our report also analyzed temperatures for the mainland in such a way as to remove the influence of the peninsula warming and found that, from 1966 to 2000, more of the continent had cooled than had warmed. Our summary statement pointed out how the cooling trend posed challenges to models of Antarctic climate and ecosystem change." ... "Newspaper and television reports focused on this part of the paper. And many news and opinion writers linked our study with another bit of polar research published that month, in Science, showing that part of Antarctica’s ice sheet had been thickening — and erroneously concluded that the earth was not warming at all. “Scientific findings run counter to theory of global warming,” said a headline on an editorial in The San Diego Union-Tribune. One conservative commentator wrote, “It’s ironic that two studies suggesting that a new Ice Age may be under way may end the global warming debate.”" ... "In a rebuttal in The Providence Journal, in Rhode Island, the lead author of the Science paper and I explained that our studies offered no evidence that the earth was cooling. But the misinterpretation had already become legend, and in the four and half years since, it has only grown." ... "In the meantime, I would like to remove my name from the list of scientists who dispute global warming. I know my coauthors would as well." -By Peter Doran ["Peter Doran is an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago."] -NYTimes 

---

Oil - Industry - Law - Water - Environmentalists - Florida - Tourism - "Senate approves expanded drilling in Gulf of Mexico." ... "U.S. Senate leaders announced a compromise Wednesday that would expand oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico by millions of acres, but keep exploration at least 125 miles from Florida's western shoreline." ... "The agreement was announced by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Domenici, R-N.M., [Florida Republican Senator Mel] Martinez and lawmakers from other coastal states. Frist said it tries to strike a balance by tapping oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Mexico while also protecting Florida's multibillion-dollar tourism industry." ... "But others were not so sure. Environmentalists are against expanding any exploration in the Gulf. They also note that the Senate plan would allow offshore development in an area of the eastern Gulf known as Lease Sale 181, where government bans have kept drilling off limits." ... "The House's energy-exploration bill that passed last month is much more comprehensive than the Senate's, which focuses on drilling only in the Gulf of Mexico. The House bill sets a 50-mile drilling buffer throughout the entire U.S. coast, but would allow state Legislatures to expand that barrier to 100 miles." -By Mark K. Matthews -OrlandoSentinel  via -MercuryNews 

---

World - Fuel - Ocean - Animals - Food - Science - Seattle - Washington - "High acidity infiltrates the oceans." ... "Corals and shelled sea creatures face an uncertain future in oceans made increasingly corrosive by the industrial emissions that fuel global warming, a government report warned Wednesday." ... "Human activities, chiefly the burning of fossil fuels, have upset a natural balance in ocean acidity, concludes the report called Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers: A Guide for Future Research." ... "From corals to sea snails to microscopic plankton, the creatures affected underpin many ocean food chains, say the authors of the report, a document reflecting the views of 50 top experts in ocean chemistry. The research was sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other federal agencies." ... ""We have very clear evidence, and there is no doubt this is occurring," says report co-author Richard Feely of the NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle [Washington]." -By Dan Vergano -USATODAY

---

Fuel - World - Animals - Ocean - Science - History - "Report Warns about Carbon Dioxide Threats to Marine Life." ... "Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning are dramatically altering ocean chemistry and threatening marine organisms, including corals, that secrete skeletal structures and support oceanic biodiversity. A landmark report released today summarizes the known effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on these organisms, known as marine calcifiers, and recommends future research for determining the extent of the impacts." ... ""It is clear that seawater chemistry will change in coming decades and centuries in ways that will dramatically alter marine life," says Joan Kleypas, the report's lead author and a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. "But we are only beginning to understand the complex interactions between large-scale chemistry changes and marine ecology. It is vital to develop research strategies to better understand the long-term vulnerabilities of sensitive marine organisms to these changes."" ... "The report, "Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers," warns that oceans worldwide absorbed approximately 118 billion metric tons of carbon between 1800 and 1994. Oceans are naturally alkaline, and they are expected to remain so, but the interaction with carbon dioxide is making them less alkaline and more acidic. The increased acidity lowers the concentration of carbonate ion, a building block of the calcium carbonate that many marine organisms use to grow their skeletons and create coral reef structures." ... ""This is leading to the most dramatic changes in marine chemistry in at least the past 650,000 years," says Richard Feely, one of the authors and an oceanographer at NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) in Seattle." -UCAR.edu

---

World - Animals- Ocean - Environment - Health - Fuel - [9.5 MB PDF] - "Impacts of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reefs and Other Marine Calcifiers: A Guide for Future Research." [+] ... "Research findings of the past decade have led to mounting concern that rising atmo-spheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations will cause changes in the ocean’s carbonate chemistry system, and that those changes will affect some of the most fundamental biological and geochemical processes of the sea. Thanks to the efforts of large-scale physical and biogeochemical ocean programs such as WOCE, JGOFS, and OACES, ocean-wide changes in the carbonate system are now well documented. Since 1980 ocean uptake of the excess CO2 released by anthropogenic activities is significant; about a third has been stored in the oceans. The rate of atmo- spheric CO2 increase, however, far exceeds the rate at which natural feedbacks can restore the system to normal conditions. Oceanic uptake of CO2 drives the carbonate system to lower pH and lower saturation states of the carbonate minerals calcite, arago-nite, and high-magnesium calcite, the materials used to form supporting skeletal structures in many major groups of marine organisms." -By Joan A. Kleypas, Richard A. Feely, Victoria J. Fabry, Chris Langdon, , Christopher L. Sabine, Lisa L. Robbins and et. al. -UCAR.edu

---

Fuel - Air - Health - Environment - Law - "EPA: Special Fuels Not to Blame for Costs: EPA Report Concludes 'Boutique' Fuels Not Culprit in Climbing Gas Prices As Bush Has Suggested." ... "Facing growing public outrage over soaring gasoline prices, Bush ordered the study on April 25 in a speech in which he attributed high gas prices in part to the growth of special fuels." ... "But the task force found otherwise, according to its report to be released possibly as early as Friday." ... "According to a late draft, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, the task force concludes that suggestions of a connection between boutique fuels and supply or price concerns cannot be supported." ... "The state-required fuels "have served an important role" in helping states meet federal air quality standards, the report said, and will be equally important in meeting future clean air requirements." (1, 2) -By H. Josef Hebert -AP via -ABCNEWS.com 

---

Karl Rove - Oil - Industry - Political - Water - Science - Law - "EPA Rule Loosened After Oil Chief's Letter to Rove: The White House says the executive's appeal had no role in changing a measure to protect groundwater. Critics call it a political payoff." ... "A rule designed by the Environmental Protection Agency to keep groundwater clean near oil drilling sites and other construction zones was loosened after White House officials rejected it amid complaints by energy companies that it was too restrictive and after a well-connected Texas oil executive appealed to White House senior advisor Karl Rove." ... "The new rule, which took effect Monday, came after years of intense industry pressure, including court battles and behind-the-scenes agency lobbying. But environmentalists vowed Monday that the fight was not over, distributing internal White House documents that they said portrayed the new rule as a political payoff to an industry long aligned with the Republican Party and President Bush." ... "Environmentalists pointed to the Rove correspondence as evidence that the Bush White House, more than others, has mixed politics with policy decisions that are traditionally left to scientists and career regulators." (1, 2) -By Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten -LAtimes 

---

Global - Industry - Climate - Disaster - Politics - Earth - Environment - Entertainment - UN - Seattle - Washington - "Does Gore overheat global warming?" ... "Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," continues to trigger heated discussions about global warming, as well as Mr. Gore's political ambitions, real or imagined." ... "But how close to the mark is his representation of the science tying humanity's industrial activity to changing climate aka anthropogenic global warming?" ... "In short, say several climate researchers, he basically gets it right, although one can question some aspects of the presentation." ... ""I worry that the movie is a little heavy on disaster scenarios," says David Battisti, professor of atmospheric science at the University of Washington in Seattle and director of the university's Earth Initiative. Over the course of the coming century, he says, average conditions are likely to change in ways that should prompt action now; it doesn't require extreme examples to make the point." ... "After viewing the film, he says, his impression is that nothing in it "misstated the science in a qualitative way."" ... "Indeed, his colleague Eric Stieg, also with the University of Washington, has noted that the film includes research that is only a few months old and clearly relevant to the discussion - research that won't appear in the next UN summary of climate science, slated for release early next year. The newest studies were too late to be included in the next UN summary, which is published about every six years and widely cited in public debates." -By Peter N. Spotts -CSMonitor

---

Gas - Car - Company - Environment - Alaska - Water - "Conflicting Loyalties as Republicans Confront High Gas Prices." ... "Under pressure to deal with high gasoline prices, President Bush and Republican leaders in Congress are struggling to marry a newfound zeal for energy conservation with their traditional loyalty to big cars and Big Oil." ... "Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are also renewing their wish list for the oil industry — opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [Alaska] for exploration and drilling, as well as millions of additional acres in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast. They are also blocking calls for a windfall profits tax on the major oil companies." ... "The political pressures created by soaring gasoline prices have pulled Republicans in Congress and the administration in different directions. While blocking higher taxes on the oil industry, for example, the While House and Senate Republicans are likely to try to eliminate or at least cut back on $2 billion in tax incentives for oil and gas drilling that Congress passed less than a year ago." ... "At the same time, unlike Democrats, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly defeated proposals for higher fuel-economy requirements on passenger cars. Indeed, in the 2004 presidential election, they ridiculed such proposals as job-losing Democratic ideas." ... "In five years, House Republicans have defeated three bills to raise the average fuel efficiency of cars to 33 miles a gallon, from 27.5." -By Edmund L. Andrews -NYTimes 

---

New York - Air - Environment - Science - Government - Terrorism - Law Enforcement - "Official: 9/11 Health 'Warning'." ... "The government's point man on Sept. 11 health programs said he is worried that an autopsy linking a retired detective's death to recovery work at ground zero may be a warning sign of other life-threatening cases." ... "Dr. John Howard also said it will take time to determine whether there is a scientific link between deaths and exposure to toxic dust. Some epidemiologists have said it will take 20 years or more to prove such a link." -AP -CBSNews

---

Montana - Colorado - Wyoming - Energy - Economic - Water - Health - Politics - "Montana Pollution Rules Draw Federal Objections." ... "Federal energy officials are opposing new rules by Montana to force companies that extract methane gas from underground coal beds to clean up the water pollution caused by drilling operations, even as state officials cite an unreleased 2003 federal report that says cleanup costs are relatively inexpensive." ... "The Denver [Colorado] office of the Environmental Protection Agency produced the report but never published it, saying it related to a proposed drilling application that was dropped." ... "A Montana consulting firm obtained a copy of the EPA report, however, and handed it over to Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D). Last month, Montana's Board of Environmental Review, citing the EPA paper and other economic studies, voted to force coalbed methane companies to leave the state's streams as clean as they were before drilling started, although the companies do not have to clean up existing pollution." ... "The Energy Department and the Wyoming congressional delegation are backing companies that are trying to block Montana's new rules, on the grounds that they could hamper energy development." -By Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost

---

Government - Animal - Environment - Politics - Wyoming - Montana - Idaho - "Court Upholds Dismissal of Wyo. Wolf Suit: Federal Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Wyoming's Wolf Lawsuit." ... "A federal appeals court upheld the dismissal of Wyoming's lawsuit against the federal government over how wolves should be managed in the state after their removal from Endangered Species Act protection." ... "Wyoming filed suit after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected its plan for managing wolves in 2004. The agency is requiring Montana, Idaho and Wyoming to submit acceptable plans for managing the animals before it will remove them from the endangered species list." ... "The Montana and Idaho plans were accepted. Wyoming's was rejected in part because it would classify wolves as a potential nuisance that could be shot on sight outside the Yellowstone area." ... "An intervener in the case on Wyoming's side did not rule out appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court." (1, 2) -By Mead Gruver with contributions by Jennifer Byrd -AP via -ABCNEWS.com 

---

James Inhofe - Corporate - Government - Environmental - Science - Politics - Okla - US - Global - Planet - Climate - Air - Legislation - "Senator Inhofe's Climate Of Confrontation." ... "The Reverend Richard Cizik is an evangelical Christian and a die-hard Reaganite. So he was surprised that a closed-door meeting called late last year by conservative [Oklahoma Republican] Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla. [Republican-Oklahoma]) was all about Cizik's evil deeds. Inhofe called Cizik, government affairs chief at the National Association of Evangelicals, a liberal wolf in sheep's clothing. "I sat there with my mouth open," recalls a meeting participant." ... "Cizik's sin? He believes that climate change is a growing problem, and that Christians have a duty to protect the planet by cutting emissions of greenhouse gases. In contrast, Inhofe, the chairman of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, has famously derided global warming as a "hoax." He has been on the offensive against those he considers heretics. That has left business in doubt about the regulatory environment." ... "Seeking Tax Records:" ... "Last year, Inhofe demanded six years of tax and membership records from two groups of state and local air-pollution control officials after they testified that his proposed clean air legislation was too weak. On [February] Feb. 7, the day before evangelicals kicked off a campaign for carbon controls, Inhofe sent a preemptive letter to senators asserting "there is, in fact, no movement in that direction" among evangelicals. Now he is requesting information on all employees and projects at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Inhofe is "using the power of government and the power of office to threaten," says Donald Kennedy, editor-in-chief of Science." - By John Carey -BusinessWeek

---

Government - School - Money - Politics - Montana - Oregon - "Democrats: Land Sales for Schools Unneeded." ... "Two Democratic senators said Thursday they have found a way to pay for a program to fund rural schools without selling 300,000 acres of national forests, as the Bush administration has proposed." ... "Sens. Max Baucus of Montana and Ron Wyden of Oregon said their plan would raise $2.6 billion over the next 10 years for the rural schools program by closing a tax loophole they said allows some government contractors to avoid tax obligations." -By Matthew Daly -AP via -HoustonChronicle.com

---

Terrorism - Enforcement - Environment - Food - Civil Liberties - Free Speech - Privacy - Law - Politics - 2004 Election - Seattle - WA - CO - "FBI Keeps Watch on Activists." ... "The FBI, while waging a highly publicized war against terrorism, has spent resources gathering information on antiwar and environmental protesters and on activists who feed vegetarian meals to the homeless, the agency's internal memos show." ... "For years, the FBI's definition of terrorism has included violence against property, such as the window-smashing during the 1999 Seattle [WA] protests against the World Trade Organization. That definition has led FBI investigations to online discussion boards, organizing meetings and demonstrations of a wide range of activist groups. Officials say that international terrorists pose the greatest threat to the nation but that they cannot ignore crimes committed by some activists." ... "The FBI's encounters with activists are described in hundreds of pages of documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act after agents visited several activists before the 2004 political conventions." ... ""They don't know where Osama bin Laden is, but they're spending money watching people like me," said environmental activist Kirsten Atkins. Her license plate number showed up in an FBI terrorism file after she attended a protest against the lumber industry in Colorado Springs [CO] in 2002." (1, 2) -By Nicholas Riccardi -LAtimes 

---

Gordon Smith - Oil - Money - Politics - Environment - Alaska - Oregon - "Once again, Gordon Smith votes for Arctic oil drilling." ... "Once again, the Oregonian [newspaper] has been silent when [Oregon Republican Senator] Gordon Smith voted FOR oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge [Alaska] -- after saying repeatedly during his 2002 campaign that he would not." ... "The drilling provision was included in the budget reconciliation bill. The vote passed 51-49. Senator Smith cast the tiebreaking vote." ... "And just in case you think that he's "just another senator" in this whole mess, here's what [Iowa Republican] Senator Chuck Grassley -- the budget master of the Senate -- had to say:"

"Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said his panel ... is deeply divided over reconciliation, and he cautioned that moderate Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., hold all the cards. Reconciliation will be decided by "the extent to which I get Snowe and Smith to agree to it," Grassley said."

Government - Climate - Fuel - Air - Ice - Environment - Science - Politics - "Rewriting The Science." ... "As a government scientist, James Hansen is taking a risk. He says there are things the White House doesn't want you to hear but he's going to say them anyway." ... "Hansen is arguably the world's leading researcher on global warming. He's the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate. But this imminent scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration is restricting who he can talk to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the science." ... "Asked if he believes the administration is censoring what he can say to the public, Hansen says: "Or they're censoring whether or not I can say it. I mean, I say what I believe if I'm allowed to say it."" ... "What James Hansen believes is that global warming is accelerating. He points to the melting arctic and to Antarctica, where new data show massive losses of ice to the sea." ... "Those human changes, he says, are driven by burning fossil fuels that pump out greenhouse gases like CO2, carbon dioxide. Hansen says his research shows that man has just 10 years to reduce greenhouse gases before global warming reaches what he calls a tipping point and becomes unstoppable. He says the White House is blocking that message." (1, 2, 3) -Produced By Catherine Herrick and Bill Owens -60 Minutes -CBSNews 

---

Gov - Mil - Intel - Terrorism - Environment - Religious - Civil Liberties - Politics - Pennsylvania - "FBI Took Photos of Antiwar Activists in 2002." ... "An FBI agent in Pittsburgh [Pennsylvania] photographed members of an antiwar activist group in 2002, according to documents released yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union, which said the disclosure marks the latest incident in which the FBI has monitored left-leaning groups." ... "An FBI report from November 2002 indicates that an agent photographed members of the Thomas Merton Center as they handed out leaflets opposing the impending war in Iraq. The report called the group a "left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism."" ... "The incident is the latest disclosure by the ACLU involving antiwar protesters, environmental groups and religious organizations that have been monitored by FBI agents or other anti-terrorism investigators." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost 

---

New York - Police - Air - Environment - Terrorism - "Tale Of The 'Walking Dead'." ... "Last month, James Zadroga, a 34-year-old New York City police detective, died of a respiratory disease he contracted during rescue and recovery operations at Ground Zero — the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center." ... "Shortly after finishing his rescue and recovery work at the World Trade Center, Zadroga developed a chronic cough, shortness of breath and acid reflux. He was plagued by nightmares and headaches. Within months, he needed oxygen tanks, antibiotics and steroid injections on a regular basis." ... "More than four years after hijackers rammed passenger jets into the twin towers, at least a dozen people who worked at Ground Zero have died of diseases attributed to the witch's brew of deadly chemicals and toxic substances that filled the air at the disaster site." ... "Thousands of other Ground Zero workers are suffering from serious respiratory ailments. The victims include police officers, firefighters, construction workers and even immigrant laborers. Some call these forgotten men and women the "walking dead."" ... "Estimates vary, but tens of thousands of workers and residents have reported some lingering effects from Ground Zero exposure. Of the roughly 70,000 people currently enrolled in Mount Sinai's World Trade Center health study, more than 60,000 suffer some kind of respiratory problem." (1, 2, 3) -By Stephen Smith -CBSNews

---

Business - "Lands Potentially Eligible for Sale by State and National Forest." -US Forest Service 

---

Government - Political- Business - Oregon - "Forest sale would target land throughout Oregon." ... "The Bush administration plan to sell off 300,000 acres of public land is expected to include more than 10,000 acres in Oregon — from a parking lot in The Dalles to land in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area." -AP  via -OregonLive.com

---

Government - Business - School - Politics - South Dakota - "S.D. delegation opposed to land sale idea." ... "A plan by the Bush administration to sell public land in South Dakota and elsewhere to help pay for rural schools is meeting opposition from the state's congressional delegation." ... "Some 300,000 acres of national forest and other public lands would be sold. Included is 14,000 acres in the Black Hills National Forest, the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, and the Fort Pierre National Grasslands." -AP  via -SeattlePI.NWsource

---

Abramoff - Pombo - DeLay - Texas - California - Animal - Environmental - Legislation - Money - "Foe of Endangered Species Act on Defensive Over Abramoff." ... "After finally getting a bill through the House last fall that would eliminate habitat protections on more than 150 million acres, [California Republican Richard] Pombo has never been closer to reaching his goal. But as the Senate prepares to take up his measure this year, Pombo finds himself on the defensive, with his ideology increasingly viewed as extreme and his connections to industry and to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff under scrutiny." ... "Pombo's critics have focused on his campaign's reliance on donors from industries that stand to benefit from his legislation. Just months before the mining proposal made it out of Pombo's committee, a former committee aide who once worked for Abramoff's firm and is now a lobbyist for mining interests hosted a $1,000-a-head fundraiser for Pombo." ... "The Times reported earlier this year that Pombo joined forces with former House Majority Leader [Republican] Tom DeLay of Texas in efforts to squelch a federal banking investigation of Texas financier Charles Hurwitz. Pombo, who had previously received a campaign contribution from Hurwitz, has contended that the investigation was unfounded and abusive." ... "A Massachusetts tribe and client of Abramoff's that donated $20,000 to Pombo received the congressman's help seeking federal tribal recognition. Pombo supported the resumption of commercial whaling while accepting thousands of dollars in international travel from a private foundation funded by the seafood industry and a whaling association." ... "According to data compiled by the Campaign Finance Analysis Project, Pombo has, during his congressional career, collected more than $800,000 from agriculture, timber and fishing interests. The building industry has given him $205,000; oil and gas, $169,000; mining, $55,000; and casinos and gambling, $147,000." ... "Pombo denies any improprieties and says he has no fear of being tainted by the Abramoff scandal. "I met the guy a few times. He never lobbied me on anything. Never set foot in my office." -By Bettina Boxall with contributions by Maloy Moore -LAtimes 

---

Government - Business - School - Politics - History - "Large Sale of Forest Planned: The White House wants to help pay for rural roads and schools by auctioning 300,000 acres of what it considers non-vital parcels." ... "Congress must approve the plans, which several experts said would amount to the largest land sale of its kind since President Theodore Roosevelt established the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 and created the modern national forest system." (1, 2) -By Janet Wilson with contributions by Julie Cart and Stephen Clark -LAtimes 

---

Government - Business - School - Politics - California - "California environmentalists oppose Bush plan to sell forest land." ... "Environmental groups sharply criticized the Bush administration's proposal to sell up to 85,000 acres of national forests in California to pay for rural schools, saying the loss of protected land in an already crowded state would be devastating." ... "California would lose the most acreage of any state under the plan, which calls for the sale of more than 300,000 acres in 34 states. The list includes up to 500 parcels in 16 national forests located across the Golden State, with the Central Valley and Northern California potentially losing the most open space." ... "The plan also lists possible, smaller, sales in seven national forests in Southern California, including the Los Padres, Angeles and San Bernardino forests." -By Gillian Flaccus -AP  via -MercuryNews 

---

Government - Business - Politics - California - "Bush administration moves to sell national forest land." ... "The Bush administration will unveil a proposal Friday to sell up to 200,000 [other sources report 300,000] acres of national forest land in "isolated parcels" ranging from a quarter of an acre to 200 acres, much of it in California." ... "Details about what plots of land would be put up for sale are expected to be revealed at a noon press conference by Undersecretary of Agriculture Mark Rey, a former timber industry lobbyist." ... "Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., attacked the plan as "crazy," saying: "Here the administration wants to pass more tax cuts for the rich, and to pay the bill, they want to sell off public land - our nation's natural heritage."" -By Seth Borenstein -KnightRidder via -RealCities 

---

New York - Terrorism - Government - Environmental - Air- Health - Science - Politics - Noteworthy - People - "Judge Blasts EPA Ground Zero Appraisal." ... "A judge attacked former Environmental Protection Agency chief Christine Todd Whitman for reassuring Manhattan residents soon after the 2001 terrorist attacks that the environment was safe to return to homes and offices while toxic dust was polluting the neighborhood." ... ""No reasonable person would have thought that telling thousands of people that it was safe to return to lower Manhattan, while knowing that such return could pose long-term health risks and other dire consequences, was conduct sanctioned by our laws," U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts wrote, calling Whitman's actions "conscience-shocking."" ... "The EPA's internal watchdog found the agency, at the urging of White House officials, gave misleading assurances there was no health risk from the dust in the air after the towers' collapse." ... "Quoting a ruling in an earlier court case, the judge said a public official cannot be held personally liable for putting the public in harm's way unless the conduct was so egregious as "to shock the contemporary conscience."" ... "Given her role in protecting the health and environment for Americans, Whitman's "reassuring and misleading statements of safety after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks are without question c