TCS Daily : February 2001 Archives
High Court's Air-Standards Finding Drains Reason From Environmental Rule-Making
A unanimous Supreme Court handed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a victory this week, overturning a federal appeals court's findings of fault with the air pollution standards EPA passed in 1997. The High Court found that EPA does not...
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The strong are surviving dot.com shakeout
"The good news is that Darwin is alive and well in this industry, and the strong are surviving and the weak are failing," Founder, Chairman and CEO Raul Fernandez of the fast-growing Internet consulting firm Proxicom tells TechCentralStation host James...
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Hawk Mountain: Conserving Birds Of Prey
The creation of the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Beerks and Schuykill counties of eastern Pennsylvania has been one of the most significant private conservation success stories to date. Atop the Kittany Ridge, eastern most range of the Valley-and Ridge province...
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Politics foils objective U.N. Climate Change Report -- again
Once again, climate change is in the news, as the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has released a "Summary for Policymakers" based on the massive second volume of its "Third Assessment Report" on climate change. IPCC...
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Federal 'guidance' poses greatest threat to state toxic site cleanups
Next week, Congress will, again, convene hearings on "brownfields." By one estimate, more than 500,000 of these contaminated, old industrial sites -- so-called brownfields -- dot the American landscape. Both the Senate and House already have draft legislation to..
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Human immortality is not necessarily one for all, all for one
"Individual immortalists" vs. "species perpetualists." That's the titanic struggle of the future. This debate is coming because not everyone will agree that the best interests of the human race, as opposed to individual humans, will be best served by spreading...
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Ronald Reagan: No ship can match the man or the memory
Next Sunday's March 4th christening of the new aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) will prompt much attention to "the Reagan legacy." This will be the focus of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who will preside, possibly along with President...
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Genome Investing: Where To Satisfy A Genetic Itch
Now that scientist Craig Venter of Celera Genomics has sequenced the human genome, clearing the way for greater study of our genes and potential new treatments, there's a big question for tech investors. How do we profit from what...
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Are Investors Making A Market Bomb Out Of An Economic Blip?
With all the negative talk about earnings, and the continued threat of recession, it may be useful to pause for a minute and think about blips. If history is any guide, recessions have always been blips, little downturns that are...
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Bill's And Larry's Continued Political Misadventures
Oral arguments in the federal government's antitrust case against Microsoft began on Monday. Anyone reading the two new books about the battle would have to conclude that the case never would have been brought without the political intervention of some...
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Brian Lamb May Not Use the Internet, but C-SPAN Sure Does
Lamb May Not Use the Internet, but C-SPAN Sure Does The Internet and cable consolidation doesn't threaten C-SPAN, the public-affairs cable channels' founder Brian Lamb tells TechCentralStation host James Glassman. But must-carry rules for over-the-air broadcasters
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SEC Can Avert a Great Leap Backward
Part of Arthur Levitt's legacy as the longest-serving chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission is a decision punted to his successor. Later this year, the commission will get to decide whether to impose old-fashioned utility regulation on a...
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Can Farmers Put a Lid on Animal Waste?
For three decades, the environmental spotlight has shone on pollution-belching factories. Now agriculture faces increased scrutiny. In March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will hold eight hearings across the nation to present proposed new regulations fo
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To Control Risks, Use Precaution With Care, Says Risk-Expert Charnley
Though it rarely makes the front page of most newspapers, an international debate is raging over the approach societies take to controlling environmental risks. The most obvious environmental risks include potential exposure to chemicals that have been released int
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Napster Decision No Substitute For Competitive Pricing
Protecting the intellectual property of artists and writers is something any artist, or writer, or citizen ought to appreciate. The Constitution of the United States provided for copyright and patents more than two centuries ago in recognition that for...
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Chips on the Dips?
You may have heard of the "chips on the dips" investment strategy. The idea is to buy stock in the major semiconductor firms whenever their shares fall more than 50 percent below their previous highs. While the computer-chip business is...
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How Tauzin Can Keep His Word And Stop Telecom "Remonopolization"
Go to the official website of U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin, the new chairman of the broad and powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce. There's a big, bold, italic headline that says, "Je suis fier de representer le troisieme...
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Enforce The Telecom Act Or Face Telecommunications Remonopolization
"Who do they think is going to compete?" AT&T CEO C. Michael Armstrong asks of regulators. In an interview with TechCentralStation Host James K. Glassman, Armstrong says that the telecommunications system will end up remonopolized if state and federal regulator
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The Scots Centuries-Old Way to Conserve Salmon Privately
"A salmon fishery pays a rent, and rent, though it cannot well be called the rent of land, makes a part of the price of a salmon as well as wages and profit." - Adam Smith, The Wealth of...
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California Must Streamline Regulation to Provide Power and Protect the Air
As Californians battle to keep their lights on, the state's environmental lobbyists worry about air quality. They fear that lawmakers in the midst of the crisis will weaken environmental regulations so that older generating plants can come back on line...
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Climate-Change Scientists Confront an Ancient Elephant
Sometimes, reality enacts a great folktale with stunning clarity. That's what happened at a Rice University-James Baker Institute conference on climate change a few months ago, when six reputable scientists brought the story of the blind men and the elephant...
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Tauzin Acknowledges Danger of 'Remonopolization' at Tech Conference
WASHINGTON, DC - "We must do everything we can to insist that remonopolization not happen," House Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-La., said Monday. But Tauzin refused to assure investors that his committee would not "drastically change" the Telecommunic
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Want Privacy? Dont Look To New Laws; Seek Self-Protection
Should people who live in glass houses seek a ban on binoculars? Or fines for neighbors who talk about them? Or penalties for passersby who look in instead of away? Or should people who live in glass houses simply buy...
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Economy Enters The Twilight Zone; Is It In Recession, Too?
One of the joys of exploring must certainly be the thrill of turning a corner and seeing a world filled with unfamiliar and exotic flora and fauna. Lately, as I have been watching economic developments, I have started to...
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Consumers, Wake Up! Middlemen Are Ripping You Off
For a year now at TechCentralStation.com, we have been warning of a menace we call "the revenge of the middleman." The Internet gives consumers the ability to buy directly from producers. That's one of the great gifts of technology. Go...
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New FCC Chairman Says Innovation, Deregulation Are Top Priorities
Promoting innovation and a greater reliance on deregulation and markets will be his top guiding principles, new Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell said on Tuesday at his first press conference, during which he also called the Telecommunica
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Free-Marketer Furchtgott-Roth To Leave; Foresees More Market Oriented FCC
Current commission's "overly aggressive interpretation" of its discretion has led to paralysis in deregulation under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, says Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth. He tells TechCentralStation host James Glassman, "A lot of power has a
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Private Plantation Reclaims Nature While Meeting Human Needs
Located in the piney woods and bottomlands of the southeastern corner of South Carolina's coastal plain, between Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., is Cypress Bay Plantation of Cummings, S.C. This private forestland, owned by Skeet Burris and his family, is...
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Science Matters - Even for the Environment
Over the last 20 years, there has been a quiet revolution in the environmental movement. Where those wanting to document and resolve environmental problems once embraced scientific methodologies, the passion for science has cooled. As the large, easily characterize
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States Clean Up Hazardous Waste While Federal Superfund Dithers
During his campaign for the presidency, then Gov. George W. Bush's first environmental speech took place at an industrial site in Pennsylvania. The former hazardous waste site had been cleaned up, but not with leadership from Washington, and not...
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Government Puts Energy Off Limits With No Environmental Purpose
Gale Norton's fractious nomination as secretary of the Interior Department is now safely behind her. Her battle, though, may represent just a curtain raiser for struggles to come as she tries to implement Bush administration land use policies - particularly...
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By Aiming At Profits, Amazon Misses Opportunity
After the bell sounded Tuesday afternoon, Amazon.com, Inc., reported that it would cut 1,300 employees, or 15 percent of its workforce. In itself, this reduction is not unusual. Chrysler, bought out by the German automaker Daimler-Benz at a peak price,...
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The Telecom Act, Five Years Later: Deregulation or Remonopolization?
On Feb. 8, 1996, President Clinton signed a sweeping revision of the laws governing telecommunications services - the first major overhaul since the early days of Franklin Roosevelt's administration. Now, five years later, it's time to assess it. The most...
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