Kate Sheppard

Reporter

Kate Sheppard is a staff reporter in Mother Jones' Washington bureau. She was previously the political reporter for Grist and a writing fellow at The American Prospect. She can be reached by email at ksheppard (at) motherjones (dot) com.

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Her work has also been featured in the New York Times' Room for Debate blog, the Guardian's Comment Is Free, Foreign Policy, High Country News, The Center for Public Integrity, the Washington Independent, Washington Spectator, Who Runs Gov, In These Times, and Bitch. She was raised on a vegetable farm in southern New Jersey (yes, they do exist), but has adapted well to life in the nation's capital. She misses trees and having a congressional representative with voting power, but thinks DC is pretty great anyway.

Friday Downer: BPA Substitute Is Still Bad For You

—By Kate Sheppard

| Fri Jan. 18, 2013 3:27 PM PST

Years of research have found evidence that Bisphenol A—also know as BPA—is making humans fat and anxious, screwing with our ovaries, and making us develop tumors in our breasts and brains. Those findings have prompted regulators in the US, Canada, and the European Union to ban BPA in baby bottles (though other products still contain it). But new research published this week in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives indicates that a major chemical substitute isn't much better.

BPA creates problems when it leaches into foods and liquids, since inside the human body it mimics estrogen and screws with your endocrine system. Given the ever-growing body of evidence that it's bad for you, manufacturers have been looking for BPA substitutes. One of those newer substitutes is Bisphenol S. While it is less likely to leach from the plastic when it comes in contact with heat or sunlight, it can still leach into food and liquids under normal use. This most recent study, conducted with rat cells, found once it got into their bodies, Bisphenol S behaved much like BPA. Like BPA, BPS also disrupts the endocrine system, making cells signal, grow, and die in ways they shouldn't.

Study co-author Cheryl Watson, a professor in the biochemistry and molecular biology department at the University of Texas, notes that both BPA and BPS can have a large impact even in small doses, much like hormones. "If hormones act that potently, it's not much of a surprise that componds that mimic hormones act very potently," Watson told Mother Jones.

Watson also suggested that there should be more testing of chemicals like BPS before they're put into consumer products. She's working with other biologists and chemists on an effort, called Tierd Protocol for Endocrine Disruption (or TiPED) to get the two branches of science to collaborate on this kind of testing. "Why not pretest chemical before someone does all the work and investment of putting them into a product, and then we spend the next 20 years fighting about it?" said Watson. "Think of all the money spent on lawsuits, human disease. There's an awful lot of societal expense in regulating these products after they are introduced."

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Farewell, Obama's "Green Dream Team"

—By Kate Sheppard

| Fri Jan. 18, 2013 10:02 AM PST

Energy Secretary Steven Chu speaks at a Bike to Work Day event in May 2009.

Another member of President Barack Obama's cabinet is on his way out the door. On Thursday night, Bloomberg News reported that Energy Secretary Steven Chu is planning to leave the Obama administration. The Nobel Prize winner plans to announce his intentions next week, according to sources "familiar with the matter."

Chu came to Washington from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, where he served as director. He's a nerd's nerd—a guy who does physics problems for fun and continued to bike to work in Washington (at least when the Secret Service would allow him to). He has been an advocate of a better energy policy and expanded government investment in research and development in his post at the department. But he often found himself stymied by the politics and bureaucracy of Washington, as The New Republic chronicled last year. He also found himself on the hot seat when the solar company Solyndra went bankrupt shortly after receiving a $528 million loan guarantee from the DOE.

With Chu's departure, there will be only one person left from Obama's original "Green Dream Team," a term environmental groups endowed upon the president's appointees to key departments. Green jobs guru Van Jones is long gone. Climate "czar" Carol Browner resigned two years ago, and the special post created for her was dissolved a few months later. Jane Lubchenco, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has said she plans to depart in February. EPA head Lisa Jackson also announced her plans to leave the agency at the end of December. And earlier this week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signaled that he, too, is signing off. Meanwhile, the change of leadership at the State Department—with John Kerry likely taking over for Hillary Clinton—is expected to shape our international climate policy as well as key decisions like the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline.

That leaves only one of President Obama's original "green" appointments in place (at least as far as we know right now)—Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy Sutley. This is pretty significant, as the appointees on in these posts have pretty major roles in shaping environmental policy. The administration keeps saying that climate and energy will be an important issue in the next term, but there's no question that a change of leadership in all the key agencies will impact what happens in the next four years.

The Way Green Groups Are Swooning, You'd Think Ed Markey Is Justin Bieber

Environmental advocates are über-enthusiastic about Rep. Ed Markey's bid for John Kerry's Senate seat in Massachusetts.

—By Kate Sheppard

| Fri Jan. 18, 2013 4:01 AM PST

Environmental groups are starting the push to get Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) elected to fill the vacant Senate seat should John Kerry be confirmed as the next secretary of state. Green advocates are convinced that a Sen. Markey would be their dream come true—no matter who the other contenders for the seat turn out to be.

Having represented the state since 1976, Markey has certainly had plenty of time to advance, but during most of the past four decades, there have been few opportunities for him to the leap to the upper chamber. "For so long the Senate seats were occupied so well by Sens. Kennedy and Kerry," said Melinda Pierce, deputy national campaign director for the Sierra Club. "[Markey] was forced to bide his time in the House, and yet created a real leadership positions for himself there."

Markey took leadership roles on a number of environmental issues over the years, from crafting new fuel economy standards to proposing renewable energy mandates to—perhaps most notably—coauthoring the 2009 American Clean Energy and Security Act, a cap-and-trade package aimed at dealing with climate-heating emissions. Water, air, nuclear safety, the BP oil spill—Markey has been all over all of them. When then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to create a special committee on global warming in 2007, she tapped Markey to lead it. Markey ran the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming until Republicans took over the House and dissolved it in 2011. Since then, he's served as the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee.

And it's not just Markey's voting and leadership record that environmental groups like—it's also his rhetorical flourish. He's known for arguing adamantly and often for action, usually with colorful metaphors. "The planet is running a fever," said Markey at a Climate Desk Live event cosponsored by Mother Jones last month. "There are no emergency rooms for planets. We have to use preventative care."

"If there was an environmental hall of fame, Markey would be in there," said Heather Taylor, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund, the group's political arm.

"He just stands head and shoulders above not just the Massachusetts delegation, but all of Congress," gushed one green group's senior vice president.

Which is why environmental groups are supporting his campaign even before other Democrats have formally declared whether or not they plan to enter the primary. Last Friday, the League of Conservation Voters—the biggest electoral force among the environmental groups—announced its endorsement of Markey, calling him an "environmental hero." The LCV has started raising money for Markey's campaign through its website, bringing in just over $30,000 since last Friday. The LCV is the heaviest hitter of the environmental groups; it spent $14 million on the 2012 election. With just the Massachusetts race to focus on this year, the group expects to direct significant support to Markey.

"He just stands head and shoulders above not just the Massachusetts delegation, but all of Congress," gushed Navin Nayak, senior vice president of campaigns at the LCV. "He's just the kind of guy you have to stand up with."

The NRDC Action Fund's Taylor said the group does not do many formal endorsements but has already started reaching out to its network of donors to ask them to support Markey. That NRDC supporters gave $3.9 million directly to candidates in the 2012 election bodes well for their fundraising effort for Markey's campaign.

Sierra Club is a membership-based organization and said that it will have to go through a formal process to determine when it might endorse Markey—and that won't begin until the special election is actually scheduled. (Right now, it will most likely be held in September.)

If Scott Brown is the Republican candidate—which remains unclear at this point—the state's environmentalists already have their knives sharpened. Last November's election saw a number of ads critical of Brown's environmental voting record, like this one from the LCV and another from the League of Women Voters.

Markey has also drawn early support from key Democratic players, including retiring Rep. Barney Frank, who is expected to fill Kerry's seat in the interim, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Markey is the only candidate to announce his intention to run so far, though other House members have indicated interest. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) is still considering throwing his hat in the ring, while Rep. Michael Capuano recently announced that he was not going to enter the race.

Most signs so far point to Markey as the candidate, a prospect enviros are pleased with. "It's finally Ed Markey's time," said Sierra Club's Pierce.

Are the Congressional Chaplains Attending an Anti-Obama Prayer Breakfast?

—By Asawin Suebsaeng and Kate Sheppard

| Thu Jan. 17, 2013 2:52 PM PST

Just before President Barack Obama's swearing in on Monday, a group of religious conservatives plans to hold a prayer breakfast featuring a number of anti-Obama conspiracy theorists. The Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast—billed as offering "prayer, worship, and reconciliation of the nation"—will feature the editor of the birther site WorldNetDaily and minister and media mogul Pat Robertson, according its website. The organizers of the prayer breakfast also claim the House and Senate chaplains will speak at their event—appearances that may conflict with the non-partisan nature of the chaplain job.

House Chaplain Rev. Patrick Conroy and Senate Chaplain Barry Black (who has been in the news recently for his prayers during the fiscal cliff negotiations asking God to "save us from self-inflicted wounds") are listed under the "Prayer for the Nation" portion of Monday's event, just ahead of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). But featured speaker Joseph Farah, the WorldNetDaily editor, has drawn the most attention, given his website's regular assertions that President Obama was actually born in Kenya and allegations that he is "the first Muslim president." The event also features "messianic rabbi-pastor and author" Jonathan Cahn, who believes that there are signs of the apocalypse encrypted in Obama's communications.

The group Faithful America started a petition on Thursday asking the chaplains to skip this "anti-Obama" event, which gathered more than 5,000 signatures in less than a day. But it got weird when Mother Jones asked the chaplains if they were actually attending the event. "Chaplain Black has NOT agreed to attend," Senate Chaplain Black's office responded via email. "We are working with the organizers planning the event to get his name taken off any promotional materials associated with this."

A spokeswoman for the prayer breakfast who declined to give her name told Mother Jones that Black is scheduled to deliver a prayer at the event. "He spoke directly with us and said he was," she said, adding that they will have to "clear up" any confusion.

We also reached out to House Chaplain Conroy's office, but he was traveling and had not responded to a request for comment at press time.

The breakfast organizers seem to be having a hard time figuring out who is actually speaking at the event. On Wednesday, Media Matters detailed a rather bizarre exchange with organizer Rev. Merrie Turner as to whether or not Farah is an official speaker at the event.

UPDATE: Elizabeth Flock at US News reported on Friday that Senate Chaplain Black will not be attending the inaugural prayer breakfast. However, House Chaplain Conroy's office said that Conroy will be in attendance and will recite a quick prayer. (Conroy's office stated that he will not "stay too long," though.)

As of 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday, the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast website continues to list the Senate Chaplain as a featured guest for their "Prayer for the Nation."

Roe at 40, in 2 Charts

—By Kate Sheppard

| Wed Jan. 16, 2013 3:48 PM PST

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has new polling data out about Roe v. Wade ahead of the decision's 40th anniversary next week. Here are two charts that say quite a bit.

The first shows public support for the decision. I've heard, again and again, that the pro-Roe crowd is "losing." (Look no further than the cover of the new issue of Time for the latest example.) But support for the decision has held pretty firm, Pew found:

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Millennials, meanwhile, apparently think "Roe" is something you do in a boat. Less than half of them could correctly identify it as a case dealing with abortion rights: