Flotsam and Jetsam

This week's bits and pieces are three items from the wonderful world of Washington, stuff that will affect the future of our environment in one way or another.

The first, and my personal favorite, is the story of the money and jobs that were restored to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in a frantic scramble to restore face as the Prez was coming for a visit. You will remember Dubya's fine words in the SOTU about the big renewable energy push this country was about to undertake. You probably also remember that the next day or so, because of budget cuts to the agency, a good number of research jobs were whacked from the NREL. Whoops! Oh dear. So, quick like a rabbit, the jobs were restored last Tuesday, thanks to $5 million that was transferred over from programs that had never come to fruition (renewable energy never having been a very high priority evidently, before this). This quick fix is still a drop in the bucket, compared to the $28 million shortfall for the NREL in the Financial Year 2006 budget.

Also this past week saw the beginning of the first environmental cases of the Roberts SCOTUS. They have to do with wetlands, and federal jurisdiction over them. The fate of millions of acres of wetlands hangs on the outcome of this Michigan case, and thus the fate of the animals and plants who depend upon this habitat. Thousands of acres of these sensitive sites have already been lost, to the detriment of people and environment. Think the lost wetlands around NOLA, once the natural buffers against hurricanes. This will be our first chance to see how Roberts' and Alito's presence on the court affects its enviro stance. The two cases are: Rapanos v. U.S. , No. 04-1034, and Carabell v. US Army Corps of Engineers , No. 04-1384. More info here.

Item number three is from Grist magazine, one of the best places online for environmental news. "Performance Anxiety" is about the EPA Performance Track program for companies who have somehow qualified (it's a pretty low bar that's set, evidently) as "top environmental performers." A chorus of environmental agencies is protesting this preferential treatment for companies like DuPont, 3M, Monsanto, Union Carbide. The point of the program is that once a company is in it, the reward is "more lenient federal oversight, including looser hazardous-waste storage requirements, less frequent monitoring by the EPA of their air emissions, and placement on a 'low-priority' list for routine inspections by EPA officials." Yes, carrots are offered and sticks are removed. The EPA is considering expanding the program, although opponents say many of the companies already safely tucked into it have broken federal environmental law at least once in the past year. An interesting footnote to all this is that EPA officials with any sense of honor and purpose are jumping ship from the agency right and left.

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