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There goes the neighborhood

Buried in Robert Novak's latest column is this gem:

George W. Bush moved a step closer to Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman's re-election bid in Connecticut as an independent candidate when Tom Kuhn, the president's college roommate and close friend, co-sponsored a Lieberman fund-raising luncheon Thursday in downtown Washington.

Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, raised more than $100,000 for Bush in the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns. Also among the Lieberman event's sponsors was Rick Shelby, a longtime Republican operative who currently is executive vice president of the American Gas Association.

The luncheon's sponsors pressed fellow Republican lobbyists to pay a minimum of $1,000 a ticket. Lieberman has announced he will stay in the Democratic caucus if re-elected. But Republicans backing him against antiwar candidate Ned Lamont, the Democratic nominee, hope for a change of heart by Lieberman.

Have a look at this information about the Edison Electric Institute's lobbying.

Lieberman's making his bed. Do Connecticut voters think he won't sleep in it after the election?

Welcome, we’ve been waiting

Print media catches up.

Big renewable energy purchase

The headline says it all: "Wells Fargo commits to largest-ever corporate purchase of renewable energy in US."

From the press release:

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) said today it will buy renewable energy certificates (RECs) to support generating 550 million kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable wind energy a year for three years.  With this action, Wells Fargo becomes the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the United States according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

...

The purchase will offset 40 percent of Wells Fargo’s electricity consumption with 100 percent Green-e® certified wind energy.  It will help develop renewable energy and prevent the emission of  380,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year, the equivalent of reducing the CO2 emissions of 75,000 cars annually or by reducing the equivalent CO2 emissions associated with  40,000,000 gallons of gasoline each year.

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Myths shot down

If you hang around much with conservatives, you've no doubt heard the charge that environmentalists, inspired by Rachel Carson, led the charge to ban DDT and thereby "mass murdered" millions of Africans the pesticide could have saved.

It's bullshit.

Jeff Dorchen explains why.

(via Tim Lambert, who owns the DDT issue)

Environmental justice groups gathered in Seattle this weekend

Unfortunately, I only got to catch the tail end of the Environmental Justice for All solidarity event up here in Seattle on Saturday. I missed the tour though ... 'cause I got lost. Hey, I'm new here, OK? But as the national tour drew to a close, it was good to see activity up in our corner as well.

The event, hosted by the Community Coalition for Environmental Justice, led folks on a tour of some of the most polluted areas here in the generally-conceived-of-as-green city of Seattle. South Seattle neighborhoods deal with a disproportionate number of environmental woes, including 22 facilities that have been found to release air pollutants, six hazardous waste treatment facilities, and 35 facilities that have reported toxic releases.

Meta

Sorry to be so AWOL from the blog. I'm afraid it's going to stay that way for a few days. I'm working furiously on a few different things.

One of them is a series of interviews on the subject of God & the Environment, focusing for the most part on the recent evangelical environmental movement. All this is in conjunction with a Bill Moyers special on PBS on the same subject.

More -- much more -- on that Wed. Until then, well, keep each other company.