Just say “no” to greenhouse
gases. New Mexico has joined the growing number of states
that have sued the Environmental Protection Agency for weakening
the federal Clean Air Act (HCN, 10/27/03: West Coast states tackle
global warming). So far, 13 states, 20 cities and 14 environmental
or public health groups have decided to fight the Bush
administration’s claim that the EPA can’t regulate
greenhouse gases (HCN, 9/29/03: Who’s at the
helm?).
They might not have a plan, but
at least they have a schedule: The U.S. Department of
Energy and the state of Washington have agreed to a cleanup time
frame for both high- and low-level waste at Hanford Nuclear
Reservation (HCN, 11/11/02: Feds find shortcuts in nuclear
cleanup). While the dispute over who will regulate the cleanup
remains to be decided in court, the state has agreed to the Energy
Department’s cleanup “milestones.” These range
from treating stored low-level waste by 2009 to figuring out how to
treat certain high-level wastes by 2012.
It’s official: Wastewater by any other name is still
wastewater. Last spring, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled that wastewater from coalbed methane drilling is
“industrial waste” that must be regulated under the
Clean Water Act (HCN, 4/28/03: The Lastest Bounce). Industry groups
fought the decision, but in October, the U.S. Supreme Court
declined to hear their appeal. Now, the lower court ruling will
stand, and gas drillers will have to follow federal cleanup laws
and obtain state permits before dumping the dirty water into
rivers.
Despite their initial
grandstanding and grumbling, the Democrats have wimped
out: After threatening to block President Bush’s nomination
of Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to head the Environmental Protection
Agency, all but eight Senate Democrats voted to confirm him (HCN,
9/1/03: Mr. Middle Ground gets called to Washington). Four of
Leavitt’s loudest critics — Sens. John Edwards, D-N.C.,
John Kerry, D-Mass., Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Jeff Bingaman,
D-N.M., — didn’t even bother to vote.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Follow-up.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
