– In April 2004, Bush’s USDA issued legally binding guidances allowing the use of antibiotics on organic dairy cows and synthetic pesticides on organic farms.

– Another 2004 guidance narrowed the scope of the federal organic certification program to crops and livestock, meaning that national organic standards would “not be developed for fish, nutritional supplements, pet food, fertilizers, cosmetics, and personal-care products.”

– Though then-Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman reportedly “rescinded the directives” after activist uproar, the vice chairman of the National Organic Standards Board told the Chicago Reader that the USDA “sticks to their interpretations, only now they are no longer posted.”

– In June 2007, the USDA greenlighted a proposal “allowing 38 new non-organic ingredients in products bearing the ‘USDA Organic’ seal, despite more than 10,000 e-mails and letters from concerned consumers and farmers.”

– This past September, the USDA “abruptly halted a government program that tests the levels of pesticides in fruits, vegetables and field crops, arguing that the $8 million-a-year program is too expensive.”

Right now most of [the] cost is paid by the people in small towns like Kingston, TN and Larado, WV and Inez, KY. It’s the towns near the plants that stockpile ash, and the towns near the mines that impound sludge. Towns like the one where I grew up. That’s where people pay the price so that politicians can talk about “clean coal.”

It’s worth a look …

UPDATE (January 8, 2009): Tennessee Republican Congressman Zach Wamp, who is said to be planning a run for governor in 2010, has called the spill “Katrina-like,” while Senate Democrats said Thursday they want stricter rules for toxic ash from coal-fired power plants.

The program, which critics say is largely symbolic, is part of a nationwide “re-greening” initiative launched by President Yudhoyono at the Bali Conference last November when million of trees were planted across the country. Deforestation has long been a major problem in the country, the result of illegal logging, mining, new oil palm plantations, and slash-and-burn land clearing. 

While it’s hard to argue with their number one choice, Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, the other rankings are quite interesting. Included on the list are a number of religious figures, e.g., Buddha (number 92), St. Francis of Assisi (47), Ghandhi (81) and the Dalai Lama (89). Al Gore comes in at number 9 and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (29) beat out Henry David Thoreau (49) and David Brower (31) but didn’t fare quite as well as John Muir (27).

Coming in at 100, dead last in the rankings but still number one in the hearts of many: Father Christmas aka Santa Claus, who keeps an incredibly sleek “no carbon” operation while on the road.