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The Methane Is the Message

Bush Unveils Methane Plan Yesterday, Bush administration officials unveiled a plan that would encourage the manufacture and export of technology to harvest methane emissions for use as a fuel. The administration pledged up to $53 million as seed money (expected to be matched by considerably more private investment) to help private companies develop the technology […]

Kerry, Kerry, Not Contrary

Kerry Set to Unveil Swing-State-Friendly Energy Proposals As Grist revealed yesterday, energy — or more specifically, the national-security and economic dangers of dependence on foreign oil — is to be one of John Kerry’s top four campaign issues. Kerry has traditionally sided with the conservation folks against the drill-drill-drill folks, and that has included support […]

Around the World in 28 Ways

Intrepid Travelers Highlight Green Issues And now we take a break for a moment from our customary gloom and doom to bring you a little inspiration — two tales of travel and eco-activism. First we have Chris Swain, who yesterday finished his eight-week, 315-mile swim down the Hudson River, during which he developed a rash […]

Stuporfund

Superfund Project Funding Still Inadequate According to the U.S. EPA’s own data, some 111 of the nation’s 1,230 Superfund toxic-waste sites may pose ongoing risks to nearby residents of exposure to health-threatening chemicals, and 251 may pose ongoing risks to groundwater. Superfund program analyst Melanie Hoff notes that at “about 80 percent [of Superfund sites] […]

Batting Cleanup

Fed Audit Finds Hanford Cleanup Not Working According to a federal audit released yesterday, efforts to clean up the contaminated groundwater around the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in southern Washington state have basically sucked — “largely ineffective” was the report’s more delicate phrase. Thus far the Department of Energy has spent $85 million attempting to clean […]

I’m Gonna Git You, Succor

Panel Report Recommends Monitoring of GM Foods A new report from a 13-member panel of the influential National Academy of Sciences is serving as a bit of a Rorschach test in the debate over genetically modified foods. GM opponents found succor in the panel’s warning that modifying the genetic structure of foods could “create unintended […]

Species Freezies

Scientists Preserve DNA of Endangered Species A consortium of U.K. research centers and scientists has launched an ambitious project to preserve the DNA of thousands of endangered species. The Frozen Ark Project will start with creatures expected to disappear within five years — like North Africa’s scimitar-horned oryx and Mexico’s Socorro dove — and then […]

Wet Suit

Northeast States Sue EPA Over Power-Plant Water Rules Attorneys general from Northeast states seem to have taken it upon themselves to lead the battle against Bush administration environmental rollbacks. Last week they filed suit against power companies for fouling the air; this week, six states are filing suit against the U.S. EPA over proposed new […]

Criticize It, Don’t Legalize It

Groups Take EPA to Task Over Pesticide Evaluation The U.S. EPA is under fire from several directions over its procedures for approving pesticides. A report released today by the Center for Biological Diversity claims that the EPA “has shown reckless disregard for the impact of its pesticide regulation program on wildlife, and most importantly, endangered […]

Shrub Reduction

Bush Fuel-Reduction Plan Shortchanges Rural Communities Many small, rural Western communities have been devastated by the decline of the logging industry, with unemployment high, poverty rampant, and drug use (particularly of methamphetamine) rising. Some of those communities found hope in the Economic Action Program, created by the first Bush administration, which offered money for retraining […]