Cooney Lands Job With Exxon
Submitted by Bob Burton on
ExxonMobil has confirmed that it has hired Philip A.
No
Main Source:
Environment
BP: It's Not Easy, Feigning Green Cred
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"BP's reputation as one of the world's most environmentally progressive energy companies is on the line," writes the Independent. That's because BP refused to support mandatory carbon dioxide emissions limits in the energy bill, as proposed by U.S. Senator Bingaman. The energy bill will be debated by the Senate this week.
No
Main Source:
Mad Cow USA - The Cover-Up Begins to Unravel
The US government's elaborate cover-up of mad cow dangers in the United States has begun to unravel. Twenty-four hours after our successful protest (with Organic Consumers Association) of the US Department of Agriculture's mad cow dog-and-pony show in St. Paul, USDA Secretary Johanns was forced to admit that a cow tested last year and declared safe in fact DID have mad cow disease, or at least has tested positive on the definitive Western Blot test recently administered by USDA and considered the 'gold standard' for BSE testing.
I've often charged that the USDA is hiding US cases of mad cow by using the wrong testing procedures and by failing to conduct food safety tests on millions of animals and this announcement proves it. USDA finally used the correct test -- the Western Blot test -- on this suspect animal and it has proven to be a case of mad cow disease.
Oil Lobbyist Becomes White House Climate Science Editor
Submitted by Bob Burton on
In a lengthy memo Rick S. Piltz, a former senior associate in the Climate Change Science Program, revealed that U.S. government climate research reports had been edited by a White House official, Philip A. Cooney, to emphasize doubts about climate change.
No
Main Source:
Crashing the USDA's Dog-and-Pony Show
The online free encyclopedia Wikipedia defines "dog-and-pony show" as a public "display that is somewhat pathetically contrived." That's what the new U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, is convening this Thursday, June 9, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Secretary Johanns will lead a roundtable discussion dominated by the most powerful agricultural lobby organizations in the United States to spread the good news that mad cow disease is no longer a problem in North America. The invited participants include the American Farm Bureau, the American Meat Institute, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the National Meat Association, the National Milk Producers and the National Renderers Association. Not a single consumer, human health or public interest group was invited to speak, nor were any scientists who research mad cow and related diseases, such as Nobel laureate Dr. Stanley Prusiner. The USDA hopes to convince the assembled news media that it's time to open the U.S. border to Canadian cattle and time for Japan and Korea to accept U.S. beef and cattle.
Sowing Seeds of Discontent
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Close to 100 New England towns have passed resolutions opposing the unregulated use of GMOs (genetically modified organisms); nearly a quarter of these have called for local moratoria on the planting of GMO seeds.
No
Main Source:
Oiling The Wheels Of Fake News
Submitted by Bob Burton on
In a column for Digital Producer magazine, Steven Klapow recounts that a producer of video news releases for an oil company was under strict instructions to avoid including images, including on B-roll footage, that may not look good for the sponsoring company. "We have to avoid any shots that can be taken out of context," the producer said.
No
Main Source:
Topics:
Nuclear Energy's Green Glow
"Several of the nation's most prominent environmentalists have gone public with the message that nuclear power, long taboo among environmental advocates, should be reconsidered as a remedy for global warming," the New York Times' Felicity Barringer reports. And while environmentalists who support nuclear power as a supposedly "emission-free" alternative to fossil fuels are not representative of the larger movement, the buzz about them is mushrooming. "Their numbers are still small, but they represent growing cracks in what had been a virtually solid wall of opposition to nuclear power among most mainstream environmental groups," writes the Times.
British PR Firms Go Nuclear
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"In the year or so before the general election" in Britain, "the nuclear industry slowly but surely put together a classy public relations act," report Jonathan Leake and Dan Box. "Last October, British Energy appointed Craig Stevenson, formerly Monsanto's top UK lobbyist, as head of government affairs. ...
No
Main Source:
Ecomagine That: GE Stalls on PCB Cleanup
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"The National Academy of Sciences would investigate the effectiveness of dredging PCB-contaminated sediment under a directive written largely by General Electric Co. and attached to a House of Representatives spending bill last week," reported the Poughkeepsie Journal.
No
Main Source:
Pages
