"Lawmakers at Impasse on Incentives for Renewable Energy"

Author: Robert Pear

Published: Sept. 29, 2008 with a print version in the Times on Sept. 30

The article covered the controversy between the House and Senate over a proposal to offer tax incentives for using renewable energy. With its large number of sources and quotes, it would seem that the article is relatively unbiased, presenting the partisan sides of the story equally. However, upon investigating the sources from which Pear pulled, this article takes on an undeniably liberal spin. His sources are as follows:

-Rhone Resch, President of the Solar Energy Industries Association

-Gregory S. Wetstone, director of government affairs at the American Wind Energy Association

-Jerry M. Howard, executive Vice President of the National Association of Home Builders

-Representative Mike Ross, democrat

-Senator Charles E. Grassley, senior Republican of the Finance Committee

-Steny H. Hoyer, House Democratic leader

-Max Baucus, Democratic chairman of the Finance Committee



Pear also mentioned the Sierra Club, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and Harry Reid, the Democratic Senator Majority leader. The average reader would take no notice of Pear's sources since the seems to pull from both sides of the fence, however further reasearch demonstrates otherwise. Considering their ties to environmental issues, organizations such as the AWEA and SEIA obviously lean to the left and support the liberal side of the issue, however their partisan nature is muted and generally harmless. The Sierra Club, on the other hand, is so blatantly liberal that it tags John McCain as a "bad guy" on their website and promotes Barrack Obama as his "good guy" counterpart. Additionally, the article cites four Democratic politicians and only one Republican. Although the environment tends to be a Democratic subject, this article was not fair or balanced in its representation of the issue at hand. By favoring liberal points of view and mentioning almost solely liberal companies and associations, Pear created a clear bias.

Although I would like to mention that the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association clearly noted on its website that it will "support congressional candidates regardless of party." So, Pear got at least one bipartisan point of view.

Links:
American Wind Energy Association - http://www.awea.org/
Solar Energy Industries Association - http://www.seia.org/
National Association of Home Builders - http://www.nahb.org/
National Rural Electric Cooperative Association - http://www.nreca.org/
Sierra Club - http://www.sierraclub.org/
Article - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/washington/30energy.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"No More Plastic Bags" - Editorial

The New York Times published the editorial entitled "No More Plastic Bags" on Sept. 29 on the internet and on Sept. 30 in the actual paper. The article's main focus is a movement in Connecticut to ban some plastic bags due to their environmental unfriendliness and ability to last forever in landfills. Although this is an important topic that I believe has a significant impact on the environment, the author's scope was far too narrow. Additionally, the evidence in the editorial was backed up with no concrete facts. For example, the article states, "Although the plastics industry points out that plastic grocery bags are made more from natural gas than petroleum, natural gas is not a renewable resource and contributes to global warming." Where is the factual evidence behind this claim? What source ensures that natural gas is a contributing factor to global warming? No matter how simple the fact, it should be backed up with a reliable source and this article gave no attribution to any of its claims.

Overall, I am disappointed in the New York Times for allowing this editorial to run in its current state. To view the article, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/opinion/30tue4.html?th&emc=th.