By John Collins Rudolf
New York Times Green Blog
March 28, 2011
The Republican assault on the Environmental Protection Agency, including a proposed bill to repeal the agency’s recent finding that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases pose a threat to human health and welfare, goes too far, write two former E.P.A. chiefs, both appointed by Republican presidents. “Amid the virulent attacks on the E.P.A. driven by concern about overregulation, it is easy to forget how far we have come in the past 40 years,” William D. Ruckelshaus and Christine Todd Whitman write. “We should take heart from all this progress and not, as some in Congress have suggested, seek to tear down the agency that the president and Congress created to protect America’s health and environment.” [The Washington Post]
The Australian prime minister suffers an electoral setback, dimming chances for the passage of controversial taxes on mining profits and carbon dioxide emissions. “This is doom and gloom for Julia Gillard,” a political analyst says. “If federal-state relations break down, it will be very difficult for Gillard to get runs on the board — particularly on climate and mining laws.” [Bloomberg]
A Navy training exercise using underwater explosives has killed several dolphins off the California coast, a military spokesman confirms. “They saw the dolphins before the explosives went off, but it came so late it would have put humans at risk to stop the process,” says a spokesman for the Navy’s Third Fleet. “After the detonation, despite all required protective actions taken to avoid marine mammal impacts, three dolphins were found dead in the area.” [The Los Angeles Times]