Edward Flattau

Which environmental policies reflect the real Mitt Romney? Those he displayed as Massachusetts governor, or the ones that the Republican Party is asking him to embrace as a presidential candidate?

How Romney responds to the Republican National Committee's (RNC) request to denounce a United Nations non-binding environmental protection action plan...

Legislators in Arkansas, Kansas, and Louisiana are seeking to pass bills condemning a United Nations non-binding action plan that would have all countries collaborate to protect the environment and eradicate poverty.

Lawmakers in these states seem to fear that the blueprint -- known as Agenda 21 -- is merely the...

Two time-worn sayings come to mind in relation to merchants' complaints that the National Park Service is unfairly reducing public access to popular destinations in its system. The sayings are: do not "kill the goose that lays the golden egg" nor "lose the forest for the trees".

The destinations at...

From a moral standpoint, there is no question that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney should retract opposition to the Obama Administration's 61-cent federal excise tax increase on cigarettes. For starters, the revenue from this "onerous" tax is used to help fund health coverage for uninsured children.

The GOP candidate's...

Worldwatch Institute (WWI), the renowned Washington-based environmental think tank, is at odds with the Republican Party. In its annual State of the World report, WWI makes a documented case that we are on an unsustainable path, with an estimated one and a half earths needed to support humanity's...

The House Republican majority recently passed the "Preserve Land Freedom for America Act" which would severely restrict President Obama's statutory authority to establish conservation-oriented national monuments.

In case you didn't notice, the bill's title inferentially pits "America" against Mr. Obama. This is in keeping with the Republicans' subliminal...

Will environmental issues play a role in the 2012 presidential campaign, and if so, how? Keep in mind that in previous White House contests, environmental concerns rarely surfaced in the exchanges between candidates.

Past presidential nominees -- regardless of political persuasion -- who had any environmental baggage successfully diffused the...

As the chairman of the House Energy Subcommittee on Investigations, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., is a powerful force in Republican congressional ranks. That said, when he recently suggested the federal government sell off some of our national parks to reduce the budget deficit, was he reflecting the prevailing...

The Republican Party appears incapable of actively addressing the fundamental challenges posed by the onset of the 21st century.

Go down the list of challenges and necessary changes to which the GOP has turned a blind eye.

The challenge -- Reducing human generated greenhouse gas emissions pouring into the atmosphere...

A lawsuit to award whales and dolphins the legal right to defend themselves against human abuse was recently thrown out of court. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) had filed the complaint against Sea World, claiming that captive cetaceans should be released from the marine park...

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh recently dismissed President Obama's "green energy" program as a mirage based on non-existent solar and wind industries. Limbaugh's claim would certainly be news to those participating in the well documented explosive renewable energy growth occurring in the global marketplace.

If anyone could ever...

The Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the Virginia coast is one of the nation's most popular wilderness destinations, so why is its mission threatened by nearby commercial interests who profit from their proximity?

You need to know the Refuge's statutorily defined purpose to understand the apparent paradox....

Congressional Republicans are more interested in exploiting soaring gasoline prices for political gain than they are in providing immediate emergency relief for suffering American motorists. While lamenting drivers' plight at the pump and heaping the blame on President Obama, the GOP lawmakers have displayed their true intentions in a bill...

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum's dismissive stance towards environmental concerns crucial to the future quality of life leaves him unfit to lead.

Speak of "whistling past the graveyard." As glaciers recede, heat waves intensify and the fate of succeeding generations grows more at risk, an oblivious Santorum blithely maintains that...

President Obama's proposed conservation-oriented Jobs Corps for unemployed veterans (VJC) is demeaning to the soldiers and a waste of money we don't have. That is the view of the conservative Washington Times newspaper (WAT) as expressed in a Feb. 6 editorial -- and it's no surprise.

In the...

The American Cancer Society (ACS) and to a lesser extent the federal government are low balling the threat of our involuntary exposure to suspected cancer-producing substances of industrial origin.

That is the view of Dr. Samuel Epstein, professor emeritus of environmental health at the University of Illinois and...

Not so fast, BP. The giant oil company is running TV ads trumpeting that the Gulf Coast is well on its way to recovery from the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Iris Cross, a public relations executive with 29 years of service at BP, is featured in the ads....

Why are congressional advocates of the Canadian Keystone XL oil pipeline resorting to so many deceptive claims when there is no dispute the project would create American jobs and bring business to our Gulf Coast refineries?

The answer is that there is much more to the story than its face...

I'm responding to the Obama Administration's request for public comment by March 5 on a proposed five to 10 year plan to reduce global warming's impact on wildlife, ecosystems, and the people who depend on them.

Some members of Congress requested the White House prepare this plan. Whether the lawmakers...

Capitalism is great, unfettered capitalism, not so much. Put another way, profits are desirable, but the same cannot be said for profits at any price.

Making money through premeditated destruction of a company and its employees' livelihood, or by financing a project that severely damages the environment might be technically...