As yet another sign of how far the Congress is taking the country off track, keep an eye on how Congress fills the time while the debt ceiling debate stalls. To fill the time, the House of Representatives is busy adopting riders on the Interior Appropriations bill.  Many of these riders explicitly defund or deauthorize the government’s ability to protect the public from dangerous pollution. The irony of all this has been recognized memorably by Rep. Ed Markey, who notes that “while the DEBT ceiling remains frozen, the DEATH ceiling is being raised” by these anti-environment appropriations riders. Read more

In the wake of the House Majority’s extreme budget bill, which made severe cuts to conservation, it’s clear that we need a better blueprint for the budget going forward.  The Wilderness Society, working together with a host of other conservation groups, has created that blueprint with the release of the Green Budget. Read the group release on the Green Budget Read more

Pika are one of many species threatened by climate change. Photo by William C. Gladish.

In the early summer heat of 2009, the House of Representatives passed a historic, comprehensive, climate and energy bill called the American Climate and Energy Security Act. Now, more than year later, as a record heat wave is cooking Washington DC, the Senate will (hopefully) pick up where the House left off last summer and begin debate on its own comprehensive climate and energy bill. Read more