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More bad news for the environment from today's
GRIST eZine...
THE LAY OF THE LANDSLIDE
Senate Gives Thumbs-Up to Leavitt to Head EPA Senate Democrats put up quite a fuss over the nomination of Mike Leavitt to head the U.S. EPA, but in the end, the Utah governor was overwhelmingly confirmed for the post in an 88-8 vote yesterday. Republicans had to do a little behind-the-scenes wrangling to get to a final floor vote on the matter and satisfy senators who had placed holds on the nomination; in the process, Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) managed to squeeze some concessions out of the Bush administration on the matter of air pollution at Ground Zero in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001. Get the story on the final Leavitt brouhaha, plus news about San Francisco's new green Public Utilities Commissioners and an EPA effort to sell GOP governors on a federal clean-air rollback -- only in Muckraker, on the Grist Magazine website. only in Grist: A look behind the Senate's thumbs-up on Leavitt -- by Amanda Griscom in Muckraker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/muck/muck102903.asp?source=daily> BIG GULP
Ford May Restart Production of Its Biggest SUV Ford Motor Co. disappointed enviros with an announcement this week that it may resume production of its monster-sized Excursion SUV, dubbed the Valdez by the Sierra Club. Last year, Ford said it would stop producing the Excursion after the 2004 model year because of falling sales, but now the company is reconsidering because, it says, the market for large SUVs is looking strong. The 3.5-ton Excursion gets about 10 miles to the gallon, or a little more with a diesel engine. Ford CEO William Clay Ford, Jr., has long talked about incorporating environmental values into the company, but he's been short on action. "We've been waiting to applaud Ford for doing something right, but it's getting to be a rather long wait," said Dan Becker of the Sierra Club. Meanwhile, Toyota is considering adding its first-ever night shift at a Japanese factory in order to dramatically boost production of its efficient hybrid Prius; demand is running at almost double initial estimates. straight to the source: New York Times, Danny Hakim, 28 Oct 2003 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=1663> straight to the source: Financial Times, James Mackintosh, 28 Oct 2003 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=1664> only in Grist: Sport utility verdict -- Elizabeth Grossman reviews "High and Mighty" by Keith Bradsher -- in Books Unbound <http://www.gristmagazine.com/books/books022003.asp?source=daily> --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.530 / Virus Database: 325 - Release Date: 10/22/2003 |