This week, I see two stories you should be apprised of if you are following the environment. These are important for the longterm implications they may have on our environment.
The first story I would like to outline for you in this week’s news section is an effort to change rules in the Endangered Species Act that would effectively strip it of most of its effectiveness by allowing more projects to go forth that do not completely annihalate a species. Currently, projects deemed to put into danger habitat or any species on the endangered species list is not allowed to move forth. That’s the move in a nutshell, but for a spectacular article with description of the change and plenty of insight, check out George Lakoff’s article on this matter.
That’s a major language change! And it’s the same kind of sneaky changes we’ve seen over the last eight years, with signing statements at the time of signing laws, essentially explaining the intention to go ahead and not enforce a law.
The other change is by the Environmental Protection Agency regarding its rules governing the engines of lawnmowing and trimming machines and engines for personal boats. In order to have these engines fall within range of the new regulations, set to be enforced begining in 2011 and 2010 respectively, manufacturers will likely begin adding catalytic converters, which would reduce the amount of particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide are released (they’re standard on car engines). Read the whole article here.
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