Environmental Politics

Democrats trying to move two huge legislative initiaties -- on climate change and health care -- may be forced to choose which gets top priority. Meanwhile, Republicans focus on using both issues to damage Democrats politically. Are Democrats biting off more than they can chew?

Having learned from past efforts to pass climate legislation, Senate Environment Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is trying to increase buy-in by encouraging six other committees to stake a claim on the bill.

"Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat, is not known for being a friend of fossil fuels. ...So it was a bit of a surprise this month when Ritter told oil and gas executives that natural gas should not be seen as simply a bridge fuel."

"Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster is investigating whether a state agency violated the law by not releasing data showing E. coli bacteria above safe levels in the Lake of the Ozarks."

Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA) penned a response criticising AK Gov. Sarah Palin's July 14, 2009, Washington Post op-ed slamming the Democrat's cap-and-trade plan. The blogosphere buzz built by Palin's foray into climate matters suggests she may still have a role to play in U.S. politics. Both Republicans and Democrats seem to hope so.

"The Senate confirmed on Wednesday retired astronaut Maj. Gen. Charles Bolden as administrator of NASA, just in time for the space agency's 40th anniversary celebrations of man's first steps on the moon."

Southern Virginia Democrat Rep. Tom Perriello voted for the House climate bill. Now both parties are waging a political war over his seat that may push the climate issue front and center in 2010 elections nationwide.

"Jonathan Jarvis, President Barack Obama's choice for director of the National Park Service ..., is winning support from environmental groups just a few days after the President nominated him for the post on Friday."

""The two key arguments that the oil and gas industry is using to fight federal regulation of the natural gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing -- that the costs would cripple their business and that state regulations are already strong -- are challenged by the same data and reports the industry is using to bolster its position."

An environmental advocacy group has charged that EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, when she headed New Jersey's environmental agency, sought to block publication of a study on the health effects of toxic chemical PFOA on grounds that it had not been sufficiently peer-reviewed. She later relented.