WITH terrorism and its after-effects slowly moving out of the foreground of
day-to-day affairs in Washington, George Bush is becoming fair game again, and
he and his administration are providing new targets for scientists and
environmentalist.
His new head of NASA, Sean O鈥橩eefe, started his term by saying the
International Space Station would continue to be asked to do more with less
money. Bush鈥檚 top science adviser, John Marburger, was more pointed, describing
the station as 鈥渁 troubled project鈥�. Marburger also told scientists who depend
on NASA launching their experiments to get their scientific house in order and
manage themselves better.
Apparently, Bush staff have also been quietly busy reshaping environmental
policy over the past three months. In short order, they鈥檝e decided to give heavy
polluters at ageing power plants鈥攎ost of them coal-powered鈥攁 break
from the clean-up requirements the Clinton administration had planned for them.
Environmental lobby groups bellowed, but hardly had time to take a breath before
the next blow. The Department of Energy now says it won鈥檛 fund any more research
to improve the fuel efficiency of automobiles. For those who haven鈥檛 seen an
American car lately, attention to fuel efficiency ranks somewhere below colour
schemes and hubcap design. DOE officials say it鈥檚 much more important to
leapfrog gasoline engines and start designing hydrogen cars. Good thought, one
might say鈥攈ydrogen doesn鈥檛 pollute at all. But given that hydrogen
cars鈥攁nd stations where one can buy hydrogen for a car鈥攁re decades
away, it looks like an excuse to keep fiddling while oil continues to burn.
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The DOE seems to enjoy thinking long-term. After spending 20 years pondering
whether a huge cavern that鈥檚 been dug in the Nevada desert at Yucca Mountain is
suitable for a nuclear-waste dump, it now officially says: enough
talk鈥攍et鈥檚 use it! Some geologists and environmentalists argue that the
Yucca Mountain site is hopelessly wrong, despite the billions of dollars already
sunk into it. And Nevada politicians say they鈥檒l lie down in front of the
nuclear railcars to stop them (well, figuratively speaking鈥攖hey are
politicians after all). But the DOE says the Yucca Mountain will keep the waste
safe for 10,000 years . . . and that鈥檚 good enough for them.
RESTATING the obvious can sometimes seem exceptionally thoughtful, if you
release the statement at the right time. This month, the Food and Drug
Administration announced a new set of guidelines intended to harden the nation鈥檚
food supply against the threat of a terrorist attack. The guidelines cover both
food manufacturers and food purveyors, and FDA officials say the
recommendations, if carefully followed, will be effective in reducing risk. The
guidelines were warmly greeted in the press, although there was bleating about
the fact that following them is completely voluntary鈥攕ince 鈥済uidelines鈥�
are different from 鈥渞ules鈥�, which the industry would have no choice but to
follow.
But a quick look at the guidelines reveals no evidence that the FDA has
developed a new appreciation of the way terrorists operate. The recommendations
are quite explicit. Ship food in sealed containers, and use caution if the seal
is broken. Watch out for strange odours or suspicious powders in food shipments.
Conduct background checks on employees鈥攑resumably rejecting those who
trained at the Taliban Culinary Institute in Kandahar. Make certain that
employees or their friends do not go into unauthorised areas. Use video
surveillance and security patrols at food manufacturing plants.
These are all suggestions the food industry needs to hear. But looked at in
the cold light of day, they seem, well, obvious.