What’s Uncle Sam Up To? Environmentally Involved Bureaucratic Agencies: Part 1

After finishing the Bureaucracy chapter, the effectiveness and overall competency of the bureaucratic agencies still seemed more of an abstract idea than a concrete system in relation to environmental policy. Some agencies are efficient and do their job well, while others are poorly managed and under funded. Both types of agencies, whether they were doing a good or poor job, gave feedback that had to be accounted for in the future by whomever they had oversight with. In light of this massive and confusing system of sub-governments, I utilized Grist.org to research the various agencies and their current issues that specifically deal in some way with the environment. I have broken my findings into two sections because of the vast amount of information.
Currently, the Army Corps of Engineers are working to decide the best course of action for planning and building the Mississippi flood basin protections. One of the main issues deals with the necessity of considering the environmental impact. For the Corps, focusing partially upon mitigating their effect upon the surrounding environment would mean more money; more time; and the organizational ability to implement, monitor and complete the task at hand. The later aspect, organization, has been a problem for the Corps in the past and this attribute could force decision makers to opt out of environmental consideration. Another issue facing the planners comes from the poor communication between the ten states that access the Mississippi River. The lack of communication has led to a neglect of water quality and a slow decline in basic operational needs (prevention of high toxin levels, river overflows, and other publicly hazardous problems). As the Corp continues to deal with the increasing number of problems, there will be a need for drastic and creative changes that balance transportation needs (needs that drove legislative permission for the Corps to be “let loose on the river” in the 1820’s) and environmental as well as public safety (needs which are currently the basis for, or at least included in the consideration of, decisions about the future of the Mississippi River).
Recently, the Rural Utilities Service, a section of the Department of Agriculture, cut 1.3 billion dollar loan to coal-fired power plants that was granted in 2001. The cuts were prompted by concerns about the changing climate, and will not be considered for re-granting until 2010. Because of this ruling, the government has set a precedent for all currently operating plants, and those planned for construction, that they can no longer turn to Uncle Sam for funds. Another issue being considered by the Department of Agriculture deals with converting Conservation Reserve Program land into land for farming biofuels. Environmental groups are strongly opposed to the idea, arguing that converting the land would undermine the CRP program’s entire purpose. In a previous Grist report, I reported on the benefits of the biofuels that could be created from this type of conversion, but as the government converts more and more land that was previously under the CRP program into farmable land, I am skeptical about the justifiability of these biofuels, especially when the rest of our legislators are still stuck on their obsession with corn.
Eight members on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have recently reneged on their commitment to lobby for a cap on carbon emissions. The members who originally pledged to help reduce carbon have not taken steps to pressure organizations to comply with the carbon cap. This lack of effort contradicts USCAP’s purpose, part of which includes using the board as a tool to gain support for a carbon reducing policy.
The Department of the Interior has had a suit filed against it under the claim that the Bush administration “deliberately stalled Endangered Species Act listing decisions to appease developers and other interests”. This effort from WildEarth Guardians (a sufficiently radical environmental group) filed the suit hoping to reestablish a need to keep up with listing species. One specific animal currently under consideration is Ursus Martimus, the polar bear, which environmental groups have been attempting to list with little success and miles of red tape to get past. Not only are groups like Greenpeace facing red tape, but also resistance from Eskimos who argue that the listing of the polar bear would threaten the livelihood of subsistence hunters that rely upon the polar bear for food. Currently, the Bush administration has listed 59 species where as Clinton listed about 62 each year, and Bush Senior listed about 58 each year. Also an issue for the endangered species is the inability of currently listed animals to receive protection. The Bush administration has “disregarded scientific advisers and barred the use of information from agency files to support new listings”. It could be argued that the Bush administration has priorities to consider in their war against terror; however, the lack of national knowledge and focus on the war seems to prove that the public and even some private sectors are willing to make time to complete other tasks that need to be addressed.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved a 700 million dollar floating liquefied-natural-gas terminal to be built on Long Island Sound. The terminal would provide about four million homes with energy each day, but opponents to the project believe the cons will out way the pros. Arguments included, the negative impact of industrializing a recreation area, giving an easy terrorist target, and the project being an “environmental atrocity”. Connecticut’s attorney general has promised to take the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval to court if it receives the needed approval from other New York agencies that have not yet given their word of confirmation on it.
In this new year, Japan has take over as the leading country for G8 and recently proposed a fifty percent cut in emission by 2050 from what they were in 1990. Although this is ambitious, Japan is simply trying to play the good guy, knowing that it reality, the U.S. will oppose such a restriction on emissions. Japan also proposed a climate conference that would come shortly before the G8 Summit in July. This pre-game meeting that would include China, India, Indonesia, and South Korea would promote a G8 summit agenda focused largely upon the climate. For the time being, however, the G8 seems to remain unable to accomplish any significant changes. The Government Accountability Office recently reprimanded the EPA for its closure of research libraries. The EPA’s failure to correctly organize and carryout the task resulted in a loss of much of the governmental information contained in the libraries. Due to copyright issues, only ten percent of the information that the EPA promised to make available online was able to be digitized. Because the information in the libraries is now inaccessible, several additional agencies will be hindered in their ability to complete their work. One million was approved in December for the reopening of the libraries, but the EPA has yet to solve the problem.