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Tender Lovin’ Corps

Kerry Proposes Forest-Restoration Corps Speaking of forests: John Kerry today unveiled his own forest plan, which among other things would trim $100 million in timber-industry subsidies to fund the creation of a Forest Restoration Corps that would tend to the long-term health of America’s national forests. The corps, with its echoes of Roosevelt’s Depression-era Civilian […]

Ah, to Dell With It

Dell and HP Announce Computer Recycling Programs After years of pressure by enviro groups and shareholders, the world’s two biggest PC manufacturers Tuesday announced dueling free computer recycling programs. From July 18 to Sept. 6, Hewlett-Packard will recycle, free of charge, any computer, monitor, digital camera, fax machine, cell phone, or other gadget dropped off […]

Yucc’d Up Beyond All Recognition

Yucca Mountain Provokes Yet More Controversy The perpetually beleaguered Yucca Mountain federal nuclear-waste storage facility has become even more beleaguered. Try to stay with us: First, last week a federal appeals court ruled that the government had erred by failing to follow a National Academy of Sciences recommendation to plan for safety from radiation leaks […]

Comity Central

Fish Restoration Deal Model of Cooperation In a process marked by an eerie lack of lawsuits or public invective, a broad collection of divergent stakeholders — including state and federal agencies, local governments, more than 20 conservation groups, Portland General Electric, and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation (whew!) — have come to […]

The Teflon Precedent

DuPont to Be Fined for Toxic Chemical in Teflon The U.S. EPA has announced it will levy a substantial fine — perhaps the largest environmental fine in U.S. history — against chemical giant DuPont, charging the company with illegally concealing evidence that a chemical used to make Teflon endangered its employees and the public. The […]

Get Your Stinking Paws Off Me, You Damn Dirty AEP!

EPA Adds Charges to Lawsuit Against Power Company The U.S. EPA notified American Electric Power Co. today that it will be adding a new set of violations to its complaint — set to be heard in federal court in mid-2005 — that the company violated new-source review provisions of the Clean Air Act by updating […]

Methyl Addicts

U.S. Seeks Another Exemption from Methyl-Bromide Ban Over the past year, the U.S. requested and received a one-year exemption from the Montreal Protocol’s provision banning the use of ozone-depleting pesticide methyl bromide, sparking international controversy. International controversy, however, is like crack to the current administration, so here we go again: At international talks this week, […]

The Thin Green Line

Whistleblowing Chief of Park Police Fired Seven months after suspending her for speaking out about increased safety risks in national parks due to underfunding and under staffing, the Interior Department has fired U.S. Park Police Chief Teresa Chambers. Though she was pressured by her superiors last year to conceal the fact that patrols were being […]

The Ride of Your Life

Erin Simmons, an advocate for healthy oceans, answers questions

If Everybody Had an Ocean With what environmental organization are you affiliated? I am West Coast organizer for Oceana. What does your organization do? What, in a perfect world, would constitute “mission accomplished”? Oceana campaigns to protect and restore the world’s oceans. Currently, our North American offices are focused on two major campaigns, “Stop Destructive […]