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Tuesday, August 29, 2006

A Victory for Wildlife
From Earthjustice:

A federal judge ruled that the Bush administration "plainly violated" the Endangered Species Act when it issued a regulation that eliminated reviews of new pesticides by federal wildlife biologists.
The ruling restored the previous standards, which provided greater protection for endangered plants and animals. The ESA mandates that the Environmental Protection Agency consult with wildlife specialists in the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure that the use of pesticides will not threaten the survival and recovery of species threatened with extinction.
The August 24 ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Helping Our Peninsula's Environment (HOPE), National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, and the Washington Toxics Coalition.

Read the decision.

Posted by Genevieve Smith, 10:48:43 AM

Friday, August 25, 2006

Bill Berkowitz: Dudley Do-Wrong
In a column for WorkingForChange, Bill Berkowitz compiles a pretty damning case against Susan Dudley. Berkowitz interviews a variety of advocates for public health, safety and the environment, all of whom express deep concerns about the nomination:

"If Dudley is confirmed by the Senate, she will further strip them of their ability to stand up to government secrecy, politicization and corporate interests," said Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook. "Throughout her career, Dudley has consistently fought against government safeguards and advocated a radical, hands-off approach.
"Dudley would be the most anti-regulatory zealot within the Bush Administration, bar none," Scott Silver, the executive director of Wild Wilderness told me in an e-mail exchange. "Her ideology is based upon a core belief that regulations are generally bad and there should be no regulation unless it can be proven to be cost effective and supported from within the market place."

Visit Dudley Watch and find out more about Bush's radical nominee.

Posted by Genevieve Smith, 10:35:39 AM

Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Industry-Backed Lobbyists Use YouTube to Attack Climate Change
Lobbyists are trying some new media tactics to sway public opinion about climate change. In the latest effort, a video released on the video-sharing site YouTube mocks Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. The short, entitled "Al Gore's Penguin Army," is a vapid animation that turns Gore into a fat penguin who bores audiences to death and hypnotizes them into thinking climate change must be stopped. The end lists things you can do to stop global warming including "stop exhaling" and "become a vegetarian." The video also tries to make climate change a partisan issue by showing a "red state" movie theater with a packed audience for X-Men 3 and an empty theater for An Inconvenient Truth.

The filmmaker listed on the site was a 29-year-old from Beverly Hills. Fortunately, a savvy reporter for the Wall Street Journal (subscription-only) checked the IP address of the film's creator following an email conversation and found that the email actually originated from inside DCI Group, a Washington DC public relations group who represents big business, including Exxon Mobile.

Did big oil really think we were that naïve? Tsk. Tsk.

More here.

Posted by Genevieve Smith, 03:36:39 PM

Saturday, August 05, 2006

A Look at Risk Assessment
Click here for Rachel's Precaution Reporter's reprint of a Nature magazine article covering the White House's Proposed Risk Assessment Bulletin.

Posted by Robert Shull, 07:12:29 PM

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