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The Latest by Tom Turner

Author & Historian

June 3, 2008

The Long and Winding Roadless

By Tom Turner

I’m into the last stages of a book on the roadless rule—you remember, the rule that protects unroaded areas on the national forests, the one put in place toward the end of the Clinton administration and walked away from by the Bushniks. It’s a long, tangled, and fascinating tale and I have two more weeks …

May 30, 2008

Out of Kansas – a National Clean Energy Agenda

By Tom Turner

We have just learned that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius will appear June 26 in downtown Denver at an Earthjustice program to tell the story of how her bruising fight with coal power interests has helped create a national clean energy agenda. Seating is limited for the breakfast presentation, and reservations are recommended. The governor rose …

May 27, 2008

No One Said This Would Be Easy

By Tom Turner

First we had the skeptics, the nay-sayers, who denied that the climate is heating up, or, if it is, it’s natural and not our fault. Rush Limbaugh still spouts this line, as does Senator Jim Inhofe, but their ranks are dwindling, have in fact dwindled to insignificance. So now the next wave, as in this …

May 22, 2008

The Looming Choice: Fuel or Food?

By Tom Turner

I’ve never been quite sure what ‘a perfect storm’ means (didn’t see the movie), but it seems to mean a situation where everything gangs up on you. If so, we seem to be already in perfect storm territory in the building competition between hungry people and thirsty vehicles for corn and other grains. Just the …

May 15, 2008

Alaska Wants to Buy a Few Scientists

By Tom Turner

As everyone knows by now, the administration has moved to give Endangered Species Act protection to the polar bear—sort of. The bear goes on the list, but there a big footnote that says that energy development can proceed unhindered. Interior Secretary Kempthorne proclaimed that the Endangered Species Act must not be used to combat global …

May 8, 2008

It’s a Gas War, Let's Ration

By Tom Turner

We are strictly nonpartisan and apolitical here at Tom’s Turn, so we will be naming no names today. Let’s put it this way. Two powerful and influential figures with overweening political ambition have suggested that the federal government should suspend federal gasoline taxes between Memorial Day and Labor Day this year to provide some relief …

April 28, 2008

Color of Most Politicians: Sickly Green

By Tom Turner

We don’t get very many comments here at Tom’s Turn—please comment!—so when we do, we pay attention. To this one, for example, from Brenda Hixenbaugh: "Considering the track records of certain officials, isn’t it time that we get people elected who are directly connected to all of this planet’s and our needs? Surely there are …

April 17, 2008

The Weekly Outrage

By Tom Turner

"Some courts are taking laws written more than 30 years ago to primarily address local and regional environmental effects, and applying them to global climate change. The Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act were never meant to regulate global climate change." —George W. Bush, April 16, 2008 The …

April 8, 2008

How Do You Describe…Bush?

By Tom Turner

What’s the best expression to describe the Bush administration these days? Pig-headed? Stubborn? Incorrigible? Mulish? Headstrong? Dogged? Intractable, Recalcitrant, Rigid? Willful? Indeed, all those adjectives apply to the outgoing (not soon enough) Bush administration, particularly with respect to its environmental activities. A handful of illustrations. A year ago, the Supreme Court ruled that greenhouse-gas emissions …

April 1, 2008

Exclusive—You Read It Here First!

By Tom Turner

The Bush administration, highly placed sources have revealed exclusively to Tom’s Turn, is putting the final touches on one last, sweeping reorganization of the federal environmental bureaucracy. Elements of the plan include: Selling the national parks in order to reduce the national debt and prop up the investment banking system and hedge fund operators. Existing …