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Byline: Margaret Kriz Special ReportIssues Series: Energy IndependenceMargie Kriz Has Obama held his position steady since the presidential campaign, made a course change from his 2008 promises, or pursued an [...]

Byline: Margaret [...]

Byline: Margaret Kriz SPECIAL REPORTObama's Agenda: Global WarmingMargaret Kriz Has Obama held his position steady since the presidential campaign, made a course change from his 2008 promises, or pursued an [...]

Byline: Margaret Kriz In the midst of its January 14 confirmation hearing on two Obama administration nominees, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee found itself focused on an appointee [...]

A LOOK AT SOME 30 PROPOSALS TO COM BAT TERRORISM. ARE THEY WORTH THE TRADE-OFFS? As traders returned to the New York Stock Exchange this week, they passed through metal […]

In 1990, when the House was debating legislation to overhaul the Clean Air Act, an aide to Rep. John D. Dingell was asked why the Michigan Democrat relentlessly fought every […]

For the past four years, Rep. Joseph Knollenberg, R-Mich., has had a thing about the Environmental Protection Agency's environmental justice program--he's hated it. Year after year, Knollenberg has attached a […]

HAMILTON, Mont.--Dyrk Krueger, lean and sandy-haired, stood at the bottom of the mountainside and explained the operations of the expensive piece of heavy equipment anchored in a stand of charred […]

On many of the Senate's committees, the Democrats who are poised to take over as chairmen would depart significantly from the policy positions of their Republican predecessors. Here's a look […]

John R.E. Bliese completed The Greening of Conservative America well before the November presidential election (and the somewhat later verdict on who had won), and so his book obviously can't […]

WITH CALlFORNIA'S POWER PROBLEMS RAPIDLY SPREADING TO OTHER STATES, LAWMAKERS ARE STARTING TO FEEL THE HEAT. In early June, Marsh Smith, a member of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, expects […]

John E. Kane, a lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute, likes to describe nuclear power as the nation's "Cinderella" energy technology. Like nuclear power, he says, "Cinderella toils away for […]

IN MID-MARCH, Republicans and Democrats presented two very different views on what the federal government is likely to do to help alleviate the nation's energy problems. Speaking at a U.S. […]

Energy consultant Chris Seiple has some startling numbers concerning the nation's electricity supply. At a time when the Bush Administration is warning that the United States could face crippling electricity […]

At a time when Washington is vigorously debating whether to open Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, one lawmaker is trying to get the public stirred up about […]

Never underestimate the ability of Beltway mavens to turn something in the headlines into an argument for what they want. So it has been with the economic downturn, as lawmakers, […]

PRESIDENT BUSH'S AMBITIOUS ENERGY AGENDA IS WINNING KU DOS FROM INDUSTRY BUT CRITICISM FROM ENVIRONMENTAL ADVOCATES WHO SAY HE'S TRYING TO CREATE A PANIC. In early January, Sierra Club Executive […]

In late February, a group of business lobbyists was summoned to Capitol Hill to help rally support for a massive energy bill written by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee […]

Jack N. Gerard, president of the National Mining Association, has nothing but good things to say about the political transformation going on in Washington. In his view, former President Clinton […]

THE CALIFORNIA POWER CRISIS HAS SPARKED A NATIONAL DEBATE ON DEREGULATION. In December, when electricity supplies in California became desperately low, Ellen Garvey began negotiating a pact to keep 12 […]

Last April, George W. Bush made the first environmental speech of his presidential campaign at a former Superfund site in Pittsburgh. Bush's handlers chose the location to spotlight the Pennsylvania […]

The Bush Administration's new Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham, is about to learn one of Washington's dirty little secrets: Congress and the public will hold him responsible for the nation's energy […]

In early January, an agitated group of environmental, labor, and civil rights advocates launched a media attack on Gale Norton, President Bush's choice to head the Department of the Interior, […]

DESPITE ALARMS FROM THE LEFT, RALPH NADER WANTS THE GREEN PARTY TO FIELD 1,000 CANDIDATES IN 2002. In a tattered, pre-Civil War town house in Washington, former Green Party presidential […]

A LOOK AT SIX ISSUE AREAS WHERE BUSH COULD MAKE SOME HEADWAY AS PRESIDENT. What would George W. Bush be able to accomplish as President? Some of his campaign pledges, […]

THINGS COULD GET EVEN WORSE NEXT YEAR IN THE ALREADY-STALEMATED CHAMBER. Senatorial work stoppages were so frequent this year that congressional reporters, those for this publication included, groped for ways […]

On Nov. 7, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on two lawsuits that attorneys from industry, public-interest groups, and the government all agree could roll back the executive branch's […]

In late September, George W. Bush had some good news and some bad news for the nuclear power industry. In his high-profile national energy blueprint, Republican presidential candidate Bush gave […]

The nuclear power industry has long argued that the Energy Department is sitting on a nuclear-waste powder keg that could have expensive consequences for taxpayers. And in late August, industry […]

When it comes to the environment, few candidates can claim better credentials than Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo. The son of environmental activist and former Rep. Morris K. Udall, D-Ariz., Mark […]

In what has become an annual game of legislative cat and mouse, congressional Republicans, frustrated at not being able to enact their conservative agenda in the environmental arena, are once […]

Five years ago, the Sierra Club was the political equivalent of the 95-pound weakling. The San Francisco-based environmental group had little influence on Capitol Hill, where the new Republican majority […]

ABORTION BUSH SUMMARY Consistently opposes abortion. PUBLIC FUNDING Opposes the use of public funds to provide or to advocate abortions. Can be expected to cut federal funds for domestic family-planning […]

AS DEMANDS ON THE NATIONAL POWER GRID RAISE THE POSSIBILITY OF OUTAGES, CONGRESS STRUGGLES TO RESTRUCTURE THE ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY In early March, former Sen. J. Bennett Johnston, D-La., now a […]

The Environmental Protection Agency's water pollution control program got a vote of confidence in late March when a U.S. district court judge in San Francisco ruled that the agency has […]

It is taken as fact in environmental circles that one of Texas Gov. George W. Bush's worst political fears is that Houston will have code-red air quality problems this summer. […]

This spring, two congressional committees are planning to hold hearings on the Project on Government Oversight, a Washington-based watchdog group known as POGO that for seven years pushed the federal […]

On March 27, when the ministers of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries meet in Vienna to decide how much oil they'll sell during the next year, U.S. Energy Secretary […]

AS CONSUMER FEAR OF GENETICALLY ALTERED FOOD RISES, SUPPORTERS PUSH FOR INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE. Pity the poor American farmer trying to decide what kind of seed to plant this spring. For […]

Whatever happened to the environment as a core Democratic political issue? On the campaign trail, neither Vice President Al Gore nor his Democratic rival, former Sen. Bill Bradley of New […]

Sen. Bob Smith, R-N.H., makes no secret of the fact that he brings a conservative agenda to his new job as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. […]

Eight of the nation's largest electricity providers are waging aggressive legal, public relations, and lobbying campaigns against the Environmental Protection Agency in response to government allegations that the companies' oldest, […]

HOW FAR WILL POLICY BEND TO SAVE THE SALMON? These days, folks in the Pacific Northwest may be excused if they're experiencing a little deja vu. Just a decade ago, […]

The ocean power gained from tides and waves could eventually provide 10% of electricity requirement of the United States. But overlapping regulatory jurisdictions among various sectors hamper emerging projects along with a lack of tax breaks for ocean-power projects.

The 2005 Energy Policy Act, which required oil refiners to blend specified amounts of ethanol into gasoline from 2012, instigated the explosion of ethanol production. By signaling that ethanol is a promising fuel and facilitating ethanol production by providing subsidies on corn, the government of the United States is enabling the expansion of the corn-based ethanol industry.

The Endangered Species Act that provides protection to endangered species has created partisan confrontation for long due to its restrictions on private-property owners. However, a bipartisan compromise proposal called the Endangered Species Recovery Act allowing tax-breaks to landowners willing to protect endangered species on their property is creating harmony among lawmakers and is appreciated by both landowners and environmental groups.

Environmentalists are taking advantage of the changed political climate to push for legislation to control global warming. Green groups are broadening their alliances and working with lawmakers on legislation to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, promote cleaner energy technologies and expand the farm bill's conservation programs.

Coastal industries and shrimping in the United States are threatened by dead zones under the sea, which are the hypoxic or oxygen-starved regions due to excess nitrogen where marine life cannot survive. The nutrient pollution, which occurs due to nitrogen-based fertilizers and wastewater discharges being washed into waterways, should be controlled by a concerted and collaborative effort by government regulators, farmers and businesses.

TWO MILLENNIAL MOVEMENTS-SAVING THE PLANET AND UNSHACKLING WORLD COMMERCE-SEEM, INCREASINGLY, TO BE AT ODDS. When the World Trade Organization meets in Seattle this month and next, perhaps the most forceful […]