Our Stories

The Latest by Tom Turner

Author & Historian

March 3, 2011

Pettiness Isn't Biodegradable

By Tom Turner

About three years ago I visited a friend who works for Henry Waxman, the Southern California congressman who was such a magnificent thorn in the side of the Bush administration. My friend proudly took me to lunch in the cafeteria. This was soon after the Democrats reclaimed the House and voted in Nancy Pelosi as …

March 2, 2011

You've Read the Headlines

By Tom Turner

You’ve probably read news stories, or seen reports on TV, or heard reports on the radio about how House Speaker Boehner has allowed dozens of amendments to come to the House floor to be voted on, congratulating himself on his transparency (is that his liver I see in there?) and openness. In response to this invitation, …

February 14, 2011

Wash. Judge Rejects Attack on New Building Energy Code

By Tom Turner  /  Northwest Office

On Feb. 8, a federal judge in Washington State sided with conservationists, energy efficiency boosters and the state’s building code council, upholding new standards for energy conservation in new home construction. The homebuilders’ association had challenged the new standards, which went into effect this past Jan. 1, claiming they were in conflict with federal law. …

January 24, 2011

Mark Rey, Green Lobbyist?

By Tom Turner

Thanks to an email from my old friend George Alderson, I nearly dropped my teeth the other day. You may remember. In the gallery of baddies service in the G.W. Bush administration, the one most reviled by the environmental movement—or certainly one of the most reviled—was Mark Rey, Under Secretary of the Department of Agricuture, …

January 18, 2011

Of Bikes and Jobs

By Tom Turner

We all know that cycling is good for your health. Turns out it’s good for the economy too.

January 6, 2011

Russian River Dredging Imperils Salmon

By Tom Turner  /  California Office

Coho and chinook salmon, along with their steelhead cousins, are making some promising headway in California’s North Coast streams. The San Francisco Chronicle carried a front-page story on Dec. 19 describing a higher-than-expected return of spawning coho in Lagunitas Creek. The same trend holds true for the Garcia and several other streams. This is not …

January 5, 2011

New Energy Scheme for the East River Gets a Green Light

By Tom Turner

A company called Verdant Power has just received permission to install up to 30 turbines in the eastern channel of the East River in New York to harvest the power of the natural currents and feed electricity into the grid for use mainly in New York City. The plan has been underway for 10 years, and stage three—the …

December 25, 2010

A New Chance for BLM Wild Lands

By Tom Turner  /  Northern Rockies Office, Northwest Office & Rocky Mountain Office

One of the more frustrating tactics used repeatedly by the Bush administration in environmental matters was something we called “sue and settle.” These were cases filed against the government by states, industrial interests, or others seeking, for example, to open up wild lands to development. The defendant—the government—would then capitulate to the demands of the …

December 17, 2010

White House Girds for Battles With Congress Over Science

By Tom Turner

Holdren lays down the law

December 12, 2010

Will Brown Be Green?

By Tom Turner

Or will the economic crisis swamp good intentions?