EPA Scientists Rip Political 'Interference'

Agency warns of effects from global warming

(NEWSER) - Climate change will bring longer, hotter, smoggier summers in the coming decades across the US, a new EPA reports says. Expect more wildfires and hurricanes, too, along with water problems in the West, the Washington Post reports. The federal report is noteworthy because it refutes the Bush administration's rosier outlook on global warming, the Post notes. More»

GOP as useless as 7 vowels in Scrabble, needs new letters

(NEWSER) - Just like you get to throw in your tiles when Scrabble gives you seven useless vowels, so too do Republican voters keep picking again—and coming up with the same useless tiles, says Thomas Friedman in the New York Times . That's because the GOP is an out-of-date "captive of conflicting ideological bases," including anti-abortion forces, anti-taxes, anti-immigration, libertarians, and more. What America really needs is a second party in its two-party system—ie, "a coherent Republican opposition" that is able to respond realistically to the true problems facing the United States. "We need a 'Different Kind of Republican' the way Bill Clinton gave us a 'Different Kind of Democrat,'" writes Friedman. And maybe that means a crushing defeat in this election to force a hard reboot. More»

They protect polluters on the false pretext of saving jobs: EPA chief

(NEWSER) - House Republicans claim that to create jobs, we need to loosen environmental regulations. To that end, they’ve “averaged roughly a vote every day” in session to weaken the rules—and have already cut back the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and other laws, writes EPA chief Lisa Jackson in the Los Angeles Times . “This pseudo jobs plan to protect polluters might well be called ‘too dirty to fail,’” she writes. More»

39 environmental rollbacks added to appropriations bill

(NEWSER) - Paul Simon knew 50 ways to leave your lover, but House Republicans are apparently working on 39 ways to ditch environmental protection, reports the New York Times . With the nation's energies focused on the looming debt ceiling, the GOP is loading up an appropriations bill with environmental deregulation—such as preventing new wilderness areas from being protected, restricting the policing of mountaintop-removal mining, and allowing uranium prospecting near Grand Canyon National Park. More»

(NEWSER) - Once considered a win-win for the environment and energy independence, America’s biofuel industry is sputtering to a halt, the Wall Street Journal reports. Thanks to the recession, lower oil prices, and government delays, two-thirds of American biodiesel refineries—dozens of plants—are idle, and companies across the country are shutting down. The crisis could scare investors away from newer technologies more promising than much-maligned corn-based ethanol. More»