Month: July 2011

CPSC votes for even sillier lead standards

The Consumer Product Safety Commission voted yesterday to require that toys be 99.99% lead-free, versus the current standard of 99.97% lead-free. Like the old standard, however, the new standard will have no impact on any child’s health.

As we pointed out previously, the only children harmed by lead in toys have been kids who have swallowed solid lead trinkets. There is no evidence that anyone has ever been harmed — not even a single IQ point lost — by exposure to trace lead levels in consumer products or ambient lead levels.

Another win: Utility pulls plug on carbon capture project

American Electric Power has pulled the plug on its carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at its Mountaineer facility in West Virginia reports the New York Times — and we helped. Continue reading Another win: Utility pulls plug on carbon capture project

Cellulosic ethanol not working out for BP — or anyone else

Remember that “Beyond Petroleum” TV ad with the pudgy farm boy who wondered if biofuels were the future of fuel (or some such nonsense)? Well, the answer is looking like, “no.” Continue reading Cellulosic ethanol not working out for BP — or anyone else

EPA riders sabotaged from within House GOP?

Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-KY) thinks someone within the GOP-controlled House Energy and Commerce Committee sabotaged efforts to rein in the EPA through the appropriations process. We have an idea for where to start looking. Continue reading EPA riders sabotaged from within House GOP?

What makes a scientific expert? Congressional Democrats offer a shocking answer

What makes a scientific expert? Knowledge? Expertise? Accomplishment? Respect of one’s colleagues? A new bill introduced in Congress has a shocking new answer. Continue reading What makes a scientific expert? Congressional Democrats offer a shocking answer

Update: High extinction risk from climate change?

When last we left Ilya Maclean’s claim that ongoing climate change represented a major threat to biodiversity, our probe had been put off by an autoresponder e-mail from Maclean:

I am out of office until Tuesday 12th July.

But true to his word, Maclean got back to me this morning: Continue reading Update: High extinction risk from climate change?

Study: Taxpayers subsidize rich enviro groups to sue feds

A new study in the Journal of Forestry reports that the U.S. Forest Service paid $6.1 million in attorney’s fees to enviro groups that sued it between 1999 to 2005. During the same period, the enviro group recipients had $116 million in revenues. The study concludes that “Frequent [Equal Access to Justice Act] claimants often possess considerable financial resources calling into question how the purposes of the law have evolved in the last 20 years.”

High extinction risk from climate change?

A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claims to “provide strong empirical support for the assertion that anthropogenic climate change is now a major threat to global biodiversity”… just don’t ask for an example. Continue reading High extinction risk from climate change?