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Burned Biscuit

Siskiyou Forest Salvage-Logging Proposal Is Sign of Conflicts to Come With another oppressive drought settled over the Western U.S. and a rough wildfire season on the horizon, conflicts like the one over salvage logging in the Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon could be a sign of things to come. The Forest Service has proposed a […]

Downward-facing Smog

EPA Announces New Air-Quality Standards and Offenders Today the U.S. EPA made two long-awaited announcements, the first a list of U.S. counties in violation of new, stricter air-quality standards, the second a set of rules meant to improve air quality. Both were the result of legal wrangling stretching back for years, with enviro groups suing […]

You’re Fired!

Fire Panel Says California Must Make Tough Choices Californians must choose which to protect: the developments rapidly advancing into its once-wild hinterlands, or the hinterlands themselves. So said a report released yesterday by a commission formed to develop policy recommendations in the wake of last year’s devastating wildfires in the state. While the report recommended […]

I Smell a Rat

Rat Poison Industry Had Undue Influence on EPA Regs, Say Critics Makers of rat poison were allowed to influence, and in some cases rewrite, two U.S. EPA regulatory initiatives meant to make their products safer, according to environmental and consumer-safety organizations. The first initiative was proposed by the EPA under President Clinton in 1998, when […]

May We Suggest the Bermuda Triangle?

U.K. Ponders How to Rid Itself of Nuclear Waste The U.K. is stuck with nearly 500,000 tons of nuclear waste, which will be dangerous for 250,000 years, and it is flummoxed about what to do with it. A government commission assigned to study the problem is considering a range of options including, we kid you […]

I Guess He’d Rather Not Be in Colorado

Colorado River Is Nation’s Most Endangered, Says Group The Colorado River is the country’s most endangered river, announced enviro group American Rivers today in its annual assessment of U.S. waterways. The threats come from three sources of pollution along the river’s route. An abandoned mine just outside Moab, Utah, features a 12-million-ton pile of uranium […]

My Own Public Idaho

Improbable Coalition Proposes New Idaho Wilderness Area An unlikely coalition of ranchers, off-road vehicle enthusiasts, politicians, and environmental groups has, after years of discussion and negotiation, united to propose the first new federal wilderness area in Idaho in more than 20 years. The official wilderness designation would give 511,000 acres of land in and around […]

Live at the Apollo

Renewable-Energy Push Would Create Heaps of Jobs, Study Says Federal policies favorable to renewable energy could yield up to 240,000 jobs by 2020 nationwide, whereas continued focus on new fossil-fuel development would yield only some 80,000 jobs, according to a new study by researchers from the University of California at Berkeley. The research was released […]

Back to the Salt Mines

Desalination Plants Cause Controversy on U.S. Coasts With water sources increasingly under pressure — running low, contaminated, or too costly to transport — some cities on the U.S. coasts are turning to desalination plants to provide their drinking water, eliciting protests from some enviros and consumer advocates. New filtering technology has made the once-prohibitive costs […]

Bloody Mediocre

New Report Critiques U.K. Environmental Performance Efforts by the U.K. government to address environmental problems show promise, but it must try harder, says a new report entitled, um, “Shows Promise: But Must Try Harder” issued by the government’s Sustainable Development Commission. The commission was established by Prime Minister Tony Blair five years ago to assess […]