Boozhy: a blog

Boozhy Headlines: RICH! Rich, I Tell You!

Scheduled to become law in January is a $20 a month Federal tax credit for bike commuters. 

Come January, bike commuters will receive a monthly credit of up to $20 that can be spent on maintaining, repairing or buying bicycles. Employers, many of whom have long provided tax-free parking and transit benefits, will establish how they administer the cycling tax credit.  Employers will be able to deduct the credit from their corporate taxes...  The idea was to level the playing field for cyclists.

Boozhy Headlines: The Department of Interior Gets It Right!!!

In an effort to streamline the process for the Federal endangered species list, the Department of Interior has decided to take a new approach to adding endangered species to the Federal Government's "protected" list.  From the AP:

The federal government took a new, ecosystem-based approach to the endangered species list on Tuesday, proposing an all-at-once addition of 48 species, including plants, two birds and a fly, that live only on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

"For more than three decades, we've been struggling with one species at a time," said Dale Hall, Fish and Wildlife Service director, in a conference call with news media. "This gives us a chance to look at groups of species and at the same time be economical in the way we designate critical habitat."

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, in Honolulu for an island health conference, said the new "holistic approach" will benefit not only the listed species but also the rest of the ecosystem.

By citing ecosystems as endangered as opposed to individual species, the Federal government is finally beginning to understand the intricate web or relations that scientists have understood for decades.  Federal officials have indicated a similar approach will be used for the Arctic and similar ecosystems of the Southwest and large American river systems.  Hooray for an administration that has gained a reputation for manipulating science to meet their political and moral agendas to make such a radical 180!

Boozhy Headlines: Focus Focus Focus

Obama released a five point plan for clean up of the Great Lakes today, promising to make the area a priority of his administration and pledging $5 Billion trust to make all of the lakes once again acceptable for fishing and tourism dollars.  It's also a smart political move to focus economic development and environmental plans on those areas which are perceived as swing states.  I love it when smart political moves coincide with my beliefs!  As for the McCain camp, aside from promising to make the Lakes a priority they have issued no plans and have not commented on Obama's. 

The chairs of the Republican Party in the Great Lakes states said in a statement that McCain has a long record of working in a bipartisan manner, which they said is what's needed to bring about real reform and solutions. "Obama's solution throws taxpayer money at the problem instead of reaching across party lines and working towards a comprehensive solution."  Huh?  Since when did Obama say he wasn't going to reach across party lines?  And better yet, when did environmental clean up become free?  Sounds to me, the Republicans are all grasping for the straws the Obama campaign tidily bound and put out of reach.

Boozhy Headlines: Posture Posture Everywhere

Boozhy has held a fairly candid discussion of the Federal Government's refusal to allow California to pass stricter air quality laws than the EPA requires, so imagine how happy we were when we read the following headline in the LA Times:

Senate panel overturns EPA on state's effort to curb greenhouse gas

The fact that the Senate was taking up the fight to overturn the EPA and W's block of California's push to curb greenhouse emissions is commendable.  But as we read the article we realize it's actually more of the same in the Senate, a whole lot of posturing and no real action.  The LA Times explains that while the panel voted to turn over the EPA's block:

Boxer said that she wouldn't push for full Senate consideration of the legislation because President Bush would veto it. Plus the Senate already has a busy schedule, she said, including planned consideration in June of global warming legislation that her committee is writing.  Still, "This shows that the environment committee, on a bipartisan vote, stood up for the California waiver," Boxer said.

Boxer chalks it up as a victory, but we beg the question: And that Pyrrhic victory and colossal waste of time helps who? 

Boozhy Headlines: Sabatoging Green

We blogged last month about the EPA's refusal of a waiver allowing California to impose more stringent fuel economy and emissions standards in California and Arnold's threats to sue the Federal government.  Well, now it seems there is more to the story...

Turns out, that the White House and the EPA met on the waiver refusal prior to the EPA's rejection of California's waiver.  The weak scientific reasoning for rejecting the waiver and the reluctance of the EPA or the Bush administration to discuss the conversations they had regarding the waiver lead to a fairly obvious deduction that the rejection was based more firmly in Politics and (likely) the administrations close ties to the Oil Lobby rather than science. 

Boozhy Headlines: W Stands in the Way of the Environment (and Arnold)

In what can only be heralded as gross indifference to global warming, Bush and his EPA Chief, Stephen Johnson, have denied California the ability to implement more stringent fuel efficency and emissions standards than are upheld in the US national plan.  However, this decision has a much wider net effect than just California, in that 16 States have "either adopted California's tough standards or announced plans to", according to CNN. 

Federal law, to be signed today, would: "increase fuel efficiency standards by 40 percent by 2020, requiring automakers to bring their fleets to an average of 35 miles per gallon." 

In comparison, the California plan: cuts emissions by nearly 30 percent by 2016, raising fuel efficiency standards in the state to 43.7 miles per gallon for passenger cars and some SUVs and trucks, while larger vehicles would need to reach 26.9 mpg by that year.

Schwarzenegger intends to sue the federal governement, stating (and rightly so) that "anything less than aggressive action on the greatest environmental threat of all time is inexcusable."