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FOCUS:
Special
Reports
9-11
Meta Index September 11 2001
CLONING
NEWS
STEM
CELL NEWS
ENRON
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MICROSOFT
NEWS
WORLDCOM
NEWS
Quad
Cities
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News
_A-Z.Gif's_
A-Z text
Top
|
  
  
 
"Rewriting
The Science." ... [NASA climate scientist Dr.James
E. Hansen] "... tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the
[Republican President] Bush administration is restricting who he can talk
to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the
science." ... "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."" -60
Minutes -CBSNews
~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
WEATHER News:
20081110
 Al
Gore -  Barack
Obama -  Global
- Climate
- Technology
-  Money
- Environmental
- Emissions
-  Law
- Politics
-  San
Francisco -  California
"Gore
urges US to try for 100% renewable energy within a decade."
... "[Democratic President-Elect] Barack Obama should set drastic targets
to force the US [United States] to switch to renewable energy in an effort
to slow down climate change, according to the former [Democratic] vice
president Al Gore. Gore said that one of Obama's first acts as US president
should be to demand a move to 100% renewable energy within 10 years." ...
""We can do that," he said during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco [California]
last Friday. "The declaration from [Democratic] President [John F] Kennedy
that we would land a man on the moon and bring him back safely was thought
by many to be impossible."" ... "During his presidential campaign, Obama
promised to invest $150bn (£96bn) in renewables over 10 years as
part of the plan to increase US energy security amid fear of oil shortages,
while also cutting carbon emissions. Many hope to see those policies enacted
with a far-reaching climate-change bill that would bring the US back into
the global environment fold." -By Bobbie Johnson
-Guardian.co.uk
20081108
Barack
Obama -  John
Boehner
-  Karl
Rove - 2008
Election -  Media
- Politics
- Corporate
-  Healthcare
-  Ohio
-  US
-  Iraq
- Global
- Climate
"Sunday
Roundup." ... "In the wake of [2008 Election Democratic
President-Elect Barack] Obama's overwhelming victory, and Democratic gains
in the House and Senate, conservatives are desperately trying to convince
the world that these results are meaningless. "Democrats should not make
the mistake of viewing Tuesday's results as a repudiation of conservatism,"
insisted
[Ohio Republican Representative] John Boehner. "Barack Obama understands
this is a center-right country,"
claimed
Karl Rove. "This country remains every bit as center-right as it has for
a generation," parroted
Brent Bozell. And David Brooks dreamed
of an Obama administration that understands "this was an election where
the middle asserted itself." Drunk on self-delusion, a staggering GOP whistles
past the electoral graveyard, missing the whole point of this election:
the center
has shifted, and positions that used to be considered "left-wing" --
on healthcare, on global warming, on corporate responsibility, on Iraq
-- are now solidly mainstream." -By Arianna
Huffington -HuffingtonPost.com
20080925
 Jobs
-  History
- Weather
- Disasters
-  Louisiana
-  Texas
"Jobless
claims soar near 7-year high: First economic report
since financial meltdown shows initial unemployment claims rose by 7%,
boosted by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike." ... "According to a study by the
Department of Labor, initial filings for state jobless benefits increased
by a seasonally adjusted 32,000 to 493,000 in the third week of September.
It was the highest number of weekly claims since Sept. 29, 2001, when unemployment
soared in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." ... "The Labor Department
said about 50,000 of the new claims were due to the effects of Hurricanes
Gustav and Ike. There were 18,400 more claims from the week before in Louisiana
alone, and Texas added 1,200." ... "Earlier this month, the government
reported that there were 84,000 jobs lost in August, bringing to 605,000
the number of jobs cut from payrolls by U.S. employers in the first eight
months of the year." ... "The unemployment rate surged to 6.1% last month,
a nearly five-year high and up from 5.7% in July. In the last recession,
unemployment reached a high of 6.3%." -By David Goldman
-CNN
20080831
 Sarah
Palin -  John
McCain - Political
-  Investigation
- Attorney
- Government
-  Transportation
-  Construction
- Money
-  Alaska
- Oil
- Global
- Climate
- 2008
Election
"What
McCain Didn't Know About Sarah Palin." ... "They've
[the 2008 Election Republican Presidential campaign of John McCain] bragged
that [Alaska Republican Governor Sarah] Palin opposed the famous "Bridge
to Nowhere," only to learn that Palin
supported the project and even told residents of Ketchikan [Alaska]
that they weren't "nowhere" to her. After the national outcry, she decided
to spend the funds allocated to the bridge for something else. Actually,
maybe it's more fair to say that coincident with the national outcry, she
changed her mind. The story shows her political judgment, but it is not
a reformer's credential." ... "Likewise, though she cut taxes as mayor
of Wassila [Alaska], she raised the sales tax, making her hardly a tax
cutter." ... "She denied pressuring the state's chief of public safety
to fire her sister-in-law's husband even though there's mounting evidence
that the impetus did indeed come from her. Ostensibly to clear her name,
Palin
asked her attorney general to open an independent investigation—the
legislature had already been investigating. (I am told that the campaign
was aware of the ethics complaint filed against her but accepts Palin's
account.)" ... "McCain's campaign seemed unaware that she supported a windfalls
profits tax on oil companies and that she is more skeptical about human
contributions to global warming than McCain is." ... "They did not know
that she took trips as the mayor of Wasilla to beg for earmarks." ... "They
did not know that she told a television interviewer this summer that she
did not fully understand what it is that a vice president does." -By
Marc
Ambinder -TheAtlantic.com
John
McCain -  Joe
Biden - Barack
Obama -  Hillary
Clinton - Hurricane
Katrina - Weather
- Emergency
- Investigation
- Legislation
- Politics
- History
- Federal
-  NY
- New
Orleans - Louisiana
-  Communications
- Funds
-  Children
- Transportation
- 2008
Election
"McCain
To Katrina Victims In 2005: You're On Your Own."
... "It doesn’t really come as a surprise to those of us who have watched
[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain over the
years that he's about to make a campaign
stop in New Orleans [Louisiana] after Hurricane Gustav hits this week.
After all, he's been exploiting the troops for years, what's a few hurricane
victims after that?" ... "What does seem odd is that McCain thinks Gulf
Coast residents will forget how he, [Republican President] George W. Bush
and the then-Republican Congress turned their backs on them so many times
in the months after Katrina thundered ashore in 2005." ... "Too bad he
spent the months to follow leading the Republican charge against every
Senate bill that would have actually helped Katrina victims or mandated
investigations on how the Bush administration could have blown disaster
response so thoroughly." ... "[2008 Election] Democratic Vice Presidential
nominee Joe Biden jumped immediately to the aid of hurricane victims in
the week after the 2005 disaster, authoring S.Amdt.
1661 "…to provide emergency funding for victims of Hurricane Katrina.""
... "Biden's legislation would have provided many things including money
to purchase interoperable communications equipment to help first-responders
dealing with the disaster, $10 million "to find, unite, and transport children
impacted by Hurricane Katrina to their parents, legal guardian, or next
of kin" and funding to assist victims of domestic violence in affected
areas." ... "But with John McCain's help, the Republican-led Senate shot
down the funding on a 41-56
vote with McCain voting against, while Biden and Democratic Presidential
nominee Barack Obama voted for the funding." ... "When [New York Democratic]
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY[ Democratic-New York]) proposed the creation
of a Congressional Commission to "examine the Federal, State, and local
response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.. and make immediate
corrective measures to improve such responses in the future," John McCain
was once again exactly where [Republican President] George W. Bush wanted
him to be: On the "nay" side of a straight party-line vote (44-54)
that killed that legislation." ... "And lest you think it was McCain taking
a stand against what might become a Democratic witch hunt on the failures
of his bosses in the White House, the bill called for a wholly bipartisan
panel, stating
specifically of the 10-member group that "not more than 5 members of
the Commission shall be from the same political party."" ... "Unlike McCain,
Barack Obama was one of the cosponsors of that bill and both he and Biden
voted for immediate oversight on the bungled Katrina response." ... "But
that's not all." -By Bob
Geiger
20080829
Sarah
Palin - Science
- Politics
- Global
- Climate
- Atmosphere
- 2008
Election - John
McCain - Alaska
-  Arizona
"Palin
Not Convinced on Global Warming." ... "Some scientists
believe Alaska will be among the first to feel the impact of global warming,
but [2008 Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate] Sarah Palin
told voters there she wasn't sure climate change wasn't simply part of
a natural warming cycle." ... ""I will not pretend to have all the answers,"
Palin said about global warming, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
Her spokesman clarified at the time that "she's not totally convinced one
way or the other. Science will tell us . . . She thinks the jury's still
out."" ... "Palin shared her views in the run-up to the 2006 governor's
race, at an Alaska Federation of Natives convention, where delegates passed
a resolution calling for a mandatory reduction in pollution affecting the
atmosphere." ... "Answering a question from the Daily News, Palin cautioned
against "overreaction."" ... "Those were among the comments that brought
condemnation today from Greenpeace to her selection as [2008 Election Republican
Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain's running
mate on the Republican ticket. The environmental group's Alaska Global
Warming Campaigner, Melanie Duchin, described Palin as "one of the most
anti-environment records of any governor in the United States." -By
Matthew Mosk and Juliet Eilperin -WashingtonPost
Sarah
Palin - Alaska
- Lawmakers
- Investigation
- Global
-Climate
- Ice
- Environment
-  Species
- 2008
Election
"Palin
candidacy raises eyebrows in Alaska." ... "State
lawmakers have launched a $100,000 investigation to determine if [2008
Election Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah]
Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan last month because
Monegan wouldn't fire a state trooper involved in a messy custody battle
with her sister." ... "She also is under fire from environmentalists for
opposing the [Republican President] Bush administration's decision in May
to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species
Act because global warming is melting the polar ice cap." ... "Dermot Cole,
a longtime columnist for Alaska's second-largest newspaper, the Fairbanks
Daily News-Miner, called McCain's choice of Palin reckless and questioned
her credentials." ... ""Sarah Palin's chief qualification for being elected
governor was that she was not Frank Murkowski," Cole said of her enormously
unpopular predecessor, who lost favor with Alaskans in part because of
unpopular budget cuts. "She was not elected because she was a conservative.
She was not elected because of her grasp of issues or because of her track
record as the mayor of Wasilla [Alaska]."" -By Dan
Joling with contributions by Sharon Theimer and H. Josef Hebert
-AP via -Chron
John
McCain - Sarah
Palin - Science
- Politics
- Oil
- Money
- Wildlife
- History
- Global
- Climate
- Ice
- Law
- Alaska
- Arizona
- 2008
Election - US
-  Canada
"McCain
VP Pick No Friend to Polar Bears." ... "Alaska [Republican]
Governor Sarah Palin has ignored research showing that polar bear populations
are declining in the quest to plumb new sources of energy, according to
scientists, and environmental groups who fought to put the bears on the
endangered species list." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate
and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain tapped Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
to be his vice presidential candidate Friday. Palin is only the second
woman to be on a major party's ticket as VP -- the first was Geraldine
Ferraro, who ran with Democrati Walter Mondale in 1984." ... "The 44-year-old
Palin, a beauty pageant winner and former mayor of a small town in Alaska,
is an advocate of drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
She has infuriated environmentalists for her support of the aerial
shooting of wolves as a way to build up herds of moose and caribou. She's
also sued the Interior Department for putting
polar bears on the endangered species list." ... "In the lawsuit, filed
this month in federal district court in the District of Columbia, Palin
argues that the government's move to list polar bears as endangered is
not based on sound science, and restricts oil and natural gas development.
The Interior Department had put the bears on the list in response to a
lawsuit filed by environmental groups, who argued that the bears are being
threatened by global warming." ... "In an interview on the conservative
CNN talk show hosted by Glenn Beck earlier this year, Palin said that she
was worried that environmentalists are using the Endangered Species Act
to block the extraction of oil and gas." ... ""In fact, the number of polar
bears has risen dramatically over the past 30 years," she said. "Our fear
(is) that extreme environmentalists will use this tool, the ESA, to eventually
curtail or halt the North Slope production of very rich resources that
America needs."" ... "But biologists who have studied polar bear populations
counter that the facts simply do not support Palin's assertion that polar
bear populations are on the rise." ... ""Polar bear populations have not
been increasing for the past 30 years, and that's a well-known fact," said
Ian Stirling, an emeritus scientist with Canada's Department of the Environment
and an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta in an interview.
Stirling has studied polar bears for 37 years -- the longest of anyone."
... "In fact, the polar bear population has actually declined by 20 percent
in Alaska's Southern Beaufort Sea since the mid-1980s, he says, referring
to peer-reviewed research that he's conducted with other scientists for
the US Geological Survey. The reason: Loss of their habitat in the form
of melting ice." -By Sarah Lai Stirland
-Wired
20080828
Global
- Climate
- Ice
- Science
- History
"Arctic
ice shrinks to second-lowest level ever." ... "Arctic
sea ice, which melts partly during each polar summer, has shrunk more this
year than in any on record except for 2007, the National Snow and Ice Data
Center has found." ... "Scientists said the data provided more ominous
indications that a global warming "tipping point" in the Arctic seems to
be happening before their eyes: Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is now at its
second lowest level in about 30 years." ... "With several weeks left of
the melting season, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported yesterday
that sea ice in the Arctic now covers about 2.03 million square miles.
The lowest point since satellite measurements began in 1979 was 1.65 million
square miles, measured on Sept. [September] 16, 2007." ... "Declining ice
as a result of warmer temperatures in the air and ocean threatens to amplify
global warming because the sea is darker than ice and absorbs more sunlight."
-Newsday.com
20080825
 WATCH
- 2008
Election - Politics
- Noteworthy
- US
- Iraq
-  Military
- Global
- Climate
- Environment
- Fiscal
- History
-  Iowa
"Full
Text: Former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach Speech to Democratic National Convention."
... [Speech by Iowa Republican Representative Jim Leach:] "In troubled
times, it was understood that country comes before party, that in perilous
moments mutual concern for the national interest must be the only factor
in political judgments. This does not mean that debate within and between
the political parties should not be vibrant. Yet what frustrates so many
citizens is the lack of bipartisanship in Washington and the way today’s
Republican Party has broken with its conservative heritage." ... "The party
that once emphasized individual rights has gravitated in recent years toward
regulating values. The party of military responsibility has taken us to
war with a country that did not attack us. The party that formerly led
the world in arms control has moved to undercut treaties crucial to the
defense of the earth. The party that prides itself on conservation has
abdicated its responsibilities in the face of global warming. And the party
historically anchored in fiscal restraint has nearly doubled the national
debt, squandering our precious resources in an undisciplined and unprecedented
effort to finance a war with tax cuts." ... "America has seldom faced more
critical choices: whether we should maintain an occupational force for
decades in a country and region that resents western intervention or elect
a leader who, in a carefully structured way, will bring our troops home
from Iraq as the heroes they are. Whether it is wise to continue to project
power largely alone with flickering support around the world or elect a
leader who will follow the model of General Eisenhower and this president’s
father and lead in concert with allies." ... "Whether it is prudent to
borrow from future generations to pay for today’s reckless fiscal policies
or elect a leader who will shore up our budgets and return to a strong
dollar. Whether it is preferable to continue the policies that have weakened
our position in the world, deepened our debt and widened social divisions
or elect a leader who will emulate John F. Kennedy and relight a lamp of
fairness at home and reassert an energizing mix of realism and idealism
abroad." ... "The portfolio of challenges passed on to the next president
will be as daunting as any since the Great Depression and World War II.
This is not a time for politics as usual or for run-of-the-mill politicians.
Little is riskier to the national interest than more of the same. America
needs new ideas, new energy and a new generation of leadership." ... "Hence,
I
stand before you proud of my party’s contributions to American history
but, as a citizen, proud as well of the good judgment of good people in
this good party, in nominating a transcending candidate, an individual
whom I am convinced will recapture the American dream and be a truly great
president: the senator from Abraham Lincoln’s state—Barack Obama. Thank
you." -By Jim Leach via
-Clips&Comment
WATCH:
Jim Leach, Republican of Iowa at the Democratic National Convention
20080619
Disaster
- Environment
-  Human
-  Agriculture
-  Land
- Science
- Iowa
- History
- Weather
"Iowa
Flooding Could Be An Act of Man, Experts Say." ...
"[Cedar Falls, Iowa college professor and City Council member Kamyar] Enshayan,
director of an environmental center at the University of Northern Iowa,
suspects that this natural disaster wasn't really all that natural. He
points out that the heavy rains fell on a landscape radically reengineered
by humans. Plowed fields have replaced tallgrass prairies. Fields have
been meticulously drained with underground pipes. Streams and creeks have
been straightened. Most of the wetlands are gone. Flood plains have been
filled and developed." ... ""We've done numerous things to the landscape
that took away these water-absorbing functions," he said. "Agriculture
must respect the limits of nature."" ... "Officials are still trying to
understand all the factors that contributed to Iowa's flooding, and not
everyone has the same suspicions as Enshayan. For them, the cause was obvious:
It rained buckets and buckets for days on end. They say the changes in
land use were lesser factors in what was really just a case of meteorological
bad luck." ... "But some Iowans who study the environment suspect that
changes in the land, both recently and over the past century or so, have
made Iowa's terrain not only highly profitable but also highly vulnerable
to flooding." ... "" (1, 2)
-By Joel Achenbach with contributions by Kari Lydersen
-WashingtonPost
20080605
 Mitch
McConnell -  James
Inhofe - Gas
- Emissions
- Global
-Climate
- Environment
-  Nevada
-  Kentucky
-  Oklahoma
- US
- Law
"Republicans
stall climate change bill to punish Reid." ... "When
[Nevada Democratic Senator] Sen. Harry Reid rose to become the majority
leader in 2007, many believed he had met his match in the Republicans’
new Senate leader, [Kentucky Republican Senator] Mitch McConnell of Kentucky."
... "Shrewd parliamentarians both, they brought the prospect of each trying
to outsmart the other on the Senate floor, promising good viewing." ...
"Those skills were on display Wednesday when McConnell brought the Senate
to a standstill." ... "Just as the chamber was about to begin a feisty
debate on the most sweeping effort yet to address climate change, McConnell
shut down the Senate by forcing full reading of the 491-page bill." ...
"Rather than hearing a spirited battle over carbon emissions, gas prices
and new fees for polluters, one lonely clerk after another read page after
page of minutia to a nearly empty chamber." ... "In his own statement,
Reid said: “Republicans are yet again doing everything in their power to
slow, stop and stall. These petty, partisan tactics waste the American
people’s time, and ignoring the crisis of global warming endangers all
of us.”" ... "By early evening, with a few remaining tourists in the gallery
watching the nearly empty floor, Republican [Oklahoma Senator] Sen. James
Inhofe of Oklahoma, the chamber’s leading global warming skeptic, sat in
waiting, prepared to object should Democrats ask for the hours-long reading
to end." -LasVegasSun.com
20080603
 Brazil
-  Satellite
- Photographs
- Global
-Climate
- Gases
-  Food
- Animals
- Farming
- Illegal
- Business
"New
satellite photos show Amazon deforestation exploding."
... "New satellite photographs show that the destruction of Brazil's fragile
Amazon rainforest has exploded this year, fueling fears that the government's
efforts to stop deforestation have been fruitless." ... "Brazil's DETER
real-time monitoring system found that more than 430 square miles of forest,
an area a bit smaller than the city of Los Angeles, vanished in the month
of April, while about 2,300 square miles, larger than the state of Delaware,
were destroyed between last August and April." ... "That nine-month total
surpassed the entire acreage in the Amazon that was destroyed over the
previous 12 months, according to DETER data. What's worse, the satellites
couldn't see about half of the forest in April due to cloud cover, suggesting
that actual deforestation likely was much greater." ... "That's raised
red flags among environmentalists, who say that soybean farming, cattle
production and illegal logging are destroying the world's largest rainforest
despite the government's attempts to halt the deforestation." ... "Chopping
down and burning the rainforest releases tons of carbon dioxide and other
greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change.
Brazil is the world's fourth-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, largely
because of deforestation, according to the U.S.-based World Resources Institute."
... "Worse is yet to come, environmentalists said." ... "The Amazon's dry
season, when farmers do most of their burning and clearing, starts this
month." -By Jack
Chang -McClatchyDC.com
20080523
-
Oceans
- Global
- Climate
- Science
- Environmental
- Atmospheric
- Industrial
-
 Factories
-  Cars
- History
- Animals
- Seattle
-  Washington
- California
-  Oregon
- US
- Canada
-  Mexico
- "Acidified
seawater showing up along coast ahead of schedule."
... "Climate models predicted it wouldn't happen until the end of the century."
... "So a team led by Seattle [Washington] researchers was stunned to discover
that vast swaths of acidified seawater already are showing up along the
Pacific Coast as greenhouse-gas emissions upset the oceans' chemical balance."
... "In surveys from Vancouver Island [British Columbia, Canada] to the
tip of Baja California [Mexico], reported Thursday in the online journal
Science Express, the scientists found the first evidence that large amounts
of corrosive water are reaching the continental shelf — the shallow sea
margin where most marine creatures live." ... "Off Northern California,
the acidified water was only four miles from shore." ... ""What we found
... was truly astonishing," said oceanographer Richard Feely, of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental
Laboratory in Seattle. "This means ocean acidification may be seriously
impacting marine life on the continental shelf right now."" ... "All along
the coast, the scientists found regions where the water was acidic enough
to dissolve the shells and skeletons of clams, corals and many of the tiny
creatures at the base of the marine food chain. Acidified water also can
kill fish eggs and a wide range of marine larvae." ... ""Entire marine
ecosystems are likely to be affected," said co-author Debby Ianson, an
oceanographer at Fisheries and Oceans Canada." ... "Though it hasn't received
as much attention as global warming, ocean acidification is a flip side
of the same phenomenon. The increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from
power plants, factories and cars that is raising temperatures worldwide
also is to blame for the increasing acidity of the world's oceans." ...
"Normally, seawater is slightly alkaline. When carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere dissolves into the water, it forms carbonic acid — the weak
acid that helps give soda pop its tang. The process also robs the water
of carbonate, a key ingredient in the formation of calcium carbonate shells."
... "Since the Industrial Revolution, when humans began pumping massive
amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, Feely estimates the oceans
have absorbed 525 billion tons of the man-made greenhouse gas — about one-third
of the total released during that period." ... "By keeping some of the
carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, the oceans have blunted the temperature
rise due to global warming. But they've suffered for that service, with
a more than 30-percent increase in acidity." ... "The acidified water upwelling
along the coast today was last exposed to the atmosphere about 50 years
ago, when carbon-dioxide levels were much lower than they are now. That
means the water that will rise from the depths over the coming decades
will have absorbed more carbon dioxide and will be even more acidic." -By
Sandi Doughton -SeattleTimes
20080511
-
John
McCain - DCI
Group -
 Burma
(Myanmar) - Military
- Money
- Politics
- People
- Human
Rights - Weather
- Disaster
- Arizona
- US
- 2008
Election - "Two
McCain Aides With Ties to Burma Junta Resign." ...
"ABC News’ Jan Simmonds reports: Two of [2008 Election Republican Presidential
Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain' campaign aides resigned
this weekend after media reports brought to light their ties to a lobbying
group [DCI group] that once represented the military junta of Burma, which
the regime calls Myanmar." ... "The aides, Douglas Goodyear, who was tapped
as the GOP Convention Coordinator, and Doug Davenport, a regional manager
focusing on the mid-Atlantic states, both worked for DCI. The firm was
hired in 2002 to represent Burma’s military junta to try to begin a dialogue
of political reconciliation with the United States." ... "The Burmese government
has been strongly condemned by the State Department for its human rights
record and has in recent days aroused an international outcry for its handling
of the relief efforts in wake of a cyclone that according Oxfam [charity]
could eventually claim 1.5 million lives if food, clean water and medical
supplies are not rushed in to the devastated region. Relief agencies and
governments that have offered assistance, including the United States,
say the regime has frustrated their attempts to help the survivors of the
disaster, tying up visa applications for aide workers in bureaucratic red
tape and not allowing shipments of food and medical supplies into the country."
-ABCNEWS.com
20080507
-
Water
- Infrastructure
- Human
- Health
-
 Safety
- Enforcement
- Environment
- Underground
- Money
- History
- Weather
- Animals
-  Plants
- "Aging
systems releasing sewage into rivers, streams." ...
"America's aging sewer systems continue to dump human waste into rivers
and streams, despite years of fines and penalties targeting publicly owned
agencies responsible for sewage overflows, a Gannett News Service analysis
shows." ... "The analysis of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data
found that since 2003, hundreds of municipal sewer authorities have been
fined for violations, including spills that make people sick, threaten
local drinking water and kill aquatic animals and plants." ... "DATABASE:
Sewer
treatment plant reports by state[.]" ... "Local governments across
the USA plan to spend billions modernizing failing wastewater systems —
some of which are more than 100 years old — over the next 10 to 20 years,
EPA, state and local sewer authority officials said." ... "Those improvement
efforts face a huge challenge mitigating problems in what the EPA estimates
to be 1.2 million miles of sewers snaking underground across the USA."
... "Waste gurgles from manholes and gushes down streams and rivers somewhere
in the USA almost every day, the EPA estimates." ... "Gannett News Service
analyzed enforcement and compliance records compiled by the EPA and state
regulators from January 2003 to February 2008." ... "The analysis found
that at least one-third of the nation's large, publicly owned sewage treatment
systems were the subject of formal enforcement actions by the EPA or state
regulators for sewage spills or other violations. Those enforcement actions
included fines as well as orders to fix problems or expand treatment capacity.
Fines totaling $35 million were assessed against 494 of the nation's 4,200
municipal facilities that treat at least 1 million gallons of sewage daily,
the analysis shows." ... "An EPA 2004 report to Congress estimated that
850 billion gallons of storm water mixed with raw sewage pour into U.S.
waters every year from older, combined sewer systems that were designed
to overflow in wet weather. These combined systems, built by cities in
the 19th and early 20th centuries, are now considered antiquated and a
threat to public health and the environment, according to the EPA and environmental
groups." ... "The EPA's 2002 Clean Water and Drinking Water Infrastructure
Gap Analysis reported the nation's municipal sewer authorities' capital
needs to meet clean water requirements from 2000 to 2019 ranged from $331
billion to $450 billion. Based on that data, the National Association of
Clean Water Agencies now puts that range at $350 billion to $500 billion
for the next 20 years, association spokeswoman Susan Bruninga said." -By
Larry Wheeler and Grant Smith with contributions by Robert Benincasa and
Dan Klepal -USATODAY
20080423
-
Noteworthy
- Government
- EPA
- Opinion
- Science
- Politics
- Food
-
 Drug
- Oceanic
- Atmospheric
- Climate
- Health
- California
- Investigation
- "Hundreds
of EPA Scientists Report Political Interference Over Last Five Years:
UCS [Union of Concerned Scientists] calls for strengthened protections
for federal scientists." ... "An investigation of the Environmental Protection
Agency released today found that 889 of nearly 1,600 staff scientists reported
that they experienced political interference in their work over the last
five years. The study, by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), follows
previous UCS investigations of the Food and Drug Administration, Fish and
Wildlife Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and
climate scientists at seven federal agencies, which also found significant
administration manipulation of federal science." ... ""Our investigation
found an agency in crisis," said Francesca Grifo, director of UCS's Scientific
Integrity Program. "Nearly 900 EPA scientists reported political interference
in their scientific work. That's 900 too many. Distorting science to accommodate
a narrow political agenda threatens our environment, our health, and our
democracy itself."" ... "The UCS report comes amidst a flurry of controversial
activity swirling around the EPA. Congress is currently investigating administration
interference in a new chemical toxicity review process as well as California's
request to regulate tailpipe emissions. And in early May, the House Oversight
and Government Reform Committee is expected to hold a hearing on political
interference in the new EPA ground-level ozone pollution standard." ...
"UCS's investigation revealed political interference is most pronounced
in offices where scientists write regulations and at the National Center
for Environmental Assessment, where scientists conduct risk assessments
that could lead to strengthened regulations." ... ""The investigation shows
researchers are generally continuing to do their work," said Dr. Grifo.
"But their scientific findings are tossed aside when it comes time to write
regulations."" ... "Nearly 100 scientists identified the [Republican President
Bush's] White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the primary
culprit." -UCSUSA.org
-
Government
- Environmental
- Science
- Politics
- Human
- Health
- Law
- Air
- Ground
- Water
-
 Homes
- Workplace
- Industry- US
- Global
- Climate
- Free
Speech - Censorship
- "Interference
at the EPA: Science and Politics at the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency." ... "The U.S. [United States] Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has the simple yet profound charge "to protect human health
and the environment." EPA scientists apply their expertise to protect
the public from air and water pollution, clean up hazardous waste, and
study emerging threats such as global warming. Because each year brings
new and potentially toxic chemicals into our homes and workplaces, because
air pollution still threatens our public health, and because environmental
challenges are becoming more complex and global, a strong and capable EPA
is more important than ever." ... "Yet challenges from industry lobbyists
and some political leaders to the agency's decisions have too often led
to the suppression and distortion of the scientific findings underlying
those decisions—to the detriment of both science and the health of our
nation. While every regulatory agency must balance scientific findings
with other considerations, policy makers need access to the highest-quality
scientific information to make fully informed decisions." ... "Concern
over this problem led the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to investigate
political interference in science at the EPA. The investigation combines
dozens of interviews with current and former EPA staff, analysis of government
documents, more than 1,600 responses to a survey sent to current EPA scientists,
and written comments from EPA scientists." ... "The results of these investigations
show an agency under siege from political pressures. On numerous issues—ranging
from mercury pollution to groundwater contamination to climate change—political
appointees have edited scientific documents, manipulated scientific assessments,
and generally sought to undermine the science behind dozens of EPA regulations."
... "These findings highlight the need for strong reforms to protect EPA
scientists, make agency decision making more transparent, and reduce politicization
of the regulatory process. Congress, the next president, and the next EPA
Administrator must restore independence and scientific integrity to the
EPA by:"
-
"
* Protecting EPA Scientists: Scientists
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