Anti-environment riders in the budget deal agreed to by Obama are not substantially about deficit reduction, because the programs and positions they create are related to only a very small expense. Republicans oppose them because of their contribution to environmental protections, not because of spending issues.
An informally assembled anti-wolf caucus in Congress is working to allow gray wolves in the United States to be hunted to the point of extinction.
If H.R. 6028 passes, the wolf may once again be treated as mere vermin to be exterminated, and this time, the extermination may be complete.
The legislation introduced by John Barrasso and David Vitter actually forbids the Secretary of the Interior from taking scientific observations into account, for no other reason than that Barrasso and Vitter regard the consequences of those observations to be inconvenient.
Congressman Tom Allen of Maine, who is running for U.S. Senate this year, has introduced legislation that would confront the Bush White House’s evasions, and specifically require federal government regulations to reduce the number of collisions between ahipping vessels and North Atlantic right whales. Economists have already run the numbers, and concluded that the expense to the trans-Atlantic shipping industry would be very slight.
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