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What Offshore Oil Drilling Means To Me
This has been quite a week for proponents of offshore oil drilling. It’s as if last week’s Jim Cramer Today Show appearance lit a fuse. Or more likely, as if Jim Cramer is privy to major pols’ backroom strategizing sessions. Both Bush and McCain have called for an end to the moratorium on offshore drilling…
Read MoreOut of Kansas: A Path to Clean Energy
There was more hope than lamentation in a New York Times editorial when it concluded this about the Senate’s recent failure to address climate change: The country needs a new occupant in the White House. We agree—Congress is not likely to take the necessary actions on climate change without strong White House leadership. Fortunately, neither…
Read MoreEarthjustice Antidote to Seagrass 'Poison Pill'
Earthjustice’s Florida team has saved the state’s seagrasses and fishing grounds from a legislative poison pill. David Guest, managing attorney of the Florida office, tells this tale of midnight chicanery… The bill in the Florida Legislature seemed like a good thing: For the first time, Florida would impose fines on boaters who carelessly trashed seagrass…
Read MoreNew Report… Same Old Gloom
This is for people who are just in too good a mood and need to be brought down a little. Or a lot. We speak of a new report from the Heinz center, available here. John Heinz, for those who don’t remember, was a Republican senator from Pennsylvania, who died rich and young, heir to…
Read MoreBush Wrapping Final Gift for Wilderness Foes
Utah land management plans – covering 11 million acres – will invite off-road vehicle destruction, energy development in spectacular, fragile landscape. The Denver Post reported last Sunday about a series of nasty schemes that the Bush Administration hopes to finalize in its remaining 200-odd days in power. The article, entitled "Bush prepares parting shots," describes…
Read MoreColorado, Kansas Governors at Earthjustice Event
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr., has just announced that he will join Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius at "Out of Kansas – A Clean Energy Agenda," a clean energy forum sponsored by Earthjustice on June 26 in Denver. Open at no charge to the public, the program is at the Denver Athletic Club, 1325 Glenarm Place. …
Read MoreRead the Fine Print
I got a call the other day from a fellow in Alabama who is a keen student of The Washington Times and its influence on right-wing politics in the U.S., the paper being owned and operated by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, otherwise known as the Moonies. My caller was incensed by something…
Read MoreBut We're Used To Playing David
The State of Colorado is about to adopt new rules governing oil and gas development in the state. The strangely named Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will soon change the state’s permitting process for oil and gas extraction. (If the Commission is supposed to conserve oil and gas, why is everything it does concerned…
Read MoreLet the Debates Begin
One recurring theme among environmentalists, regularly confirmed by pollsters, is that concern over environmental issues seldom guides the way people vote, especially for president. People care, no doubt about that, but generally something else—crime, war, the economy, party loyalty—tips the balance one way or another. This time will be interesting to watch. There’s little question…
Read MoreH-Hour Approaches for Roan Plateau
The Bush administration has had a strange way of uniting folks in the West. In particular, hunters, sportsmen, local communities, local businesses and enviros have come together to fight back when the "drill it all" mentality of the oil businessman president ran into treasured publc lands. And in surprising places, this coalition has staved off…
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