Environmental Politics

The multi-billionaire Koch brothers have financed a big part of today's conservative surge in U.S. politics, and they have a penchant for secrecy. As a result the U.S. news media have reported their opposition to government regulation -- but not the fact that Koch companies have used bribes to win business in Africa, India, and the Middle East, and that they have "sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism."

"An ongoing federal investigation into last year's massive rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has found that a particularly lax U.S. regulatory regime was a significant factor in the events leading up to the disaster."

"Global warming-denying governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry can't escape a major reckoning at home."

"GLENDIVE, Mont. — The final days of rancorous public debate over a $7 billion oil pipeline that would snake from Canada through the midsection of the United States have taken on an unexpected urgency this week, as the economic and environmental stakes of the massive project snap into focus at a time of festering anxiety about the nation's future."

"The Environmental Protection Agency cut corners in its effort to regulate greenhouse gases but met rulemaking requirements, a federal watchdog found. The EPA, disagreeing strongly, countered the science - and the case for action - was unquestioned."

"They're arguing that a new study shows canned foods to be safe, even when lined with BPA. The problem? That's not what the study says."

Elizabeth Grossman reports for The Atlantic September 27, 2011.

SEE ALSO:

"BPA: What To Make of Pollutant-Laced Kids’ Foods" (Science News)


 

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor pressed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to send disaster aid funds to his own district even as he argued on the floor that all other parts of the US should not receive natural disaster aid from the general Treasury without offsets.

A new trade association launching a PR blitz on behalf of various big agriculture groups is portaying itself -- falsely, it seems -- as representing small-time farmers and ranchers.

"SEATTLE -- Utility crews have found a total of eight natural gas leaks in the north Seattle neighborhood where a home exploded, injuring two residents in a two-alarm fire."

"Foreign timber companies, Tea Party groups, and Gibson Guitar have turned illegal logging into Republicans' new cause célèbre."