On the list of noxious chemicals you’d rather not find in your drinking water, perchlorate ranks pretty high. The chemical - found primarily in rocket fuel, but also used in fireworks and some fertilizers - attacks the thyroid gland, reducing its ability to absorb iodine from the bloodstream. In adults, that can affect the body’s ability to regulate its metabolism; in children - and, most troublingly, in unborn fetuses - it can cause serious developmental problems, including deafness, reduced IQ, and motor problems.

You’d think that federal regulators would be pulling out all the stops to keep perchlorate our of our water supplies - right? Er, wrong: There are currently no federal restrictions on the amount of perchlorate in our drinking water, despite studies that have found the chemical in drinking water in 35 states, affecting a minimum of 11 million people. And what gets into the water also gets into the food-chain: Worrying levels of perchlorate have been found in everything from lettuce to cow’s milk, and a 2005 study found that “virtually all” human breast milk is now contaminated to some degree.

Posted by Ben Whitford on May 9, 2008 at 12:46 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Another day, another lawsuit: Alaskan natives and green activists have joined forces in a bid to slam the brakes on the Bush administration’s rush to permit oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea. According to their complaint, federal officials gave oil companies the go-ahead to use powerful acoustic devices to test for seismic activity - without waiting for legally mandated reports on the tests’ potential environmental impact.

The tests - which give a whole new meaning to the phrase “oil boom” - involve firing massive air-guns at the Arctic seabed, creating a noise ten times louder than a rocket launch. The din, which can carry for hundreds of miles, is repeated every 10 to 15 seconds, sometimes for weeks or months at a time.

Posted by Ben Whitford on May 6, 2008 at 2:35 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Since taking control of Congress two years ago, the Democrats may not have rolled back climate change or put a halt to the Bush administration’s erosion of America’s environmental safeguards - but they have managed to make the Capitol itself greener than it’s ever been.

Last year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi launched a major new initiative aimed at turning Congress into a model of environmental best practice. Some of the changes were small, simple things: Meeting-rooms had their lights rigged to motion detectors, vending machines were ordered to be turned off at night, and a bike share program was set up for staffers. Even the House cafeteria got a face-lift: Freedom fries were swapped for organic arugula and free-range eggs, and styrofoam containers gave way to biodegradable plates and cutlery.

Posted by Ben Whitford on May 2, 2008 at 12:23 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Last week, I bashed John McCain’s plan for a moratorium on the federal gas tax, which would cut gas prices by about 18 cents. Now Hillary Clinton appears to have drunk the gas-tax Kool-Aid: She’s joined McCain in calling for a summer-long tax holiday. “At the heart of my approach is a simple belief,” she said yesterday. “Middle-class families are paying too much and oil companies aren’t paying their fair share to help us solve the problems at the pump.”

That means that of the presidential hopefuls, only Barack Obama wants the gas tax to remain in place. He’s learned the hard way that gas-tax cuts don’t work: In 2000, with gas prices weighing in at a whopping $2 a gallon, he supported the Illinois Senate’s move to slash the state’s 6.25 percent gas tax.

Posted by Ben Whitford on Apr 29, 2008 at 12:49 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Of all the Bush administration’s environmental sins, perhaps the most egregious is its erosion of the public’s right to know. Consider the following - a smorgasbord of censorship and suppression:

• Ironically, the Environmental Protection Agency - the very body charged with defending our environment - has been one of the worst offenders. Exhibit A: The agency’s evisceration of the Toxic Release Inventory, a vital database requiring companies to report spills and leakages of toxic chemicals.
• The EPA also closed its libraries, limiting public access to information and preventing its own employees from doing their job. Adding insult to injury, agency officials falsely claimed the library holdings would be made available online, then blamed the closures on non-existent budget cuts.

Posted by Ben Whitford on Apr 28, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)