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Watershed Down

California Law Threatens Watershed Restoration Projects An obscure California law may threaten watershed restoration efforts across the state. At issue are the use of volunteers — a common practice by watershed-restoration groups perpetually strapped for cash — and a 2001 law mandating that all workers on public-works projects be paid the prevailing market wage for […]

No Chemical Left Behind

U.S. State Department Helping Chemical Industry Fight E.U. Regulation Last year, the European Union proposed a plan that would have forced all manufacturers to test industrial chemicals and report on their public-health effects before selling them in Europe. The Bush administration immediately began a lobbying campaign to forestall the move, including several messages sent directly […]

The Agony of Beef Eat

Amazon Deforestation Driven by Brazilian Beef Industry The explosive growth of cattle farming in Brazil seems to be the primary culprit behind an increase in destruction of the Amazon rainforest, says a report released today. While spreading soybean cultivation and logging frequently get the headlines, the Center for International Forestry Research report says that it […]

Freedom From Misinformation Act

Federal Judge Orders Release of Energy Task Force Documents The legal wrestling match between Vice President Dick Cheney and critics of his secretive energy task force took a dramatic turn yesterday, when a federal judge ordered several federal agencies to release thousands of documents relating to their work with the task force. The order stemmed […]

Critical Massey

Bushies Let Political Contributor Off Easy for Spill, Says Whistleblower The Bush administration suppressed an inquiry into a massive 2000 coal-slurry spill to protect a political contributor, says a whistleblower involved in the investigation. The accusation — the latest in a growing string from ex-administration officials — comes from Jack Spadaro, former head of the […]

Riders on the Storm

Massive Asian Sandstorms Threaten Environment, Health Massive sandstorms in Asia are on the rise and pose a growing threat to the environment and human health, say experts at the United Nations Environment Program. The storms — which generally originate in desert regions of northern China and Mongolia and rage southeastward across the Korean Peninsula, Japan, […]

We Just Don’t Have Chemistry

Bush Administration Hampers Crackdowns on Toxic Chemicals For decades, the U.S. was a key player in international efforts to regulate the use of highly toxic chemicals, but under the Bush administration the country is acting mainly as a roadblock to these efforts, say critics. President Bush started off on the right foot with an announcement […]

Stop Us If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before

Clean Water Act Violations Widespread, EPA Enforcement Down Violations of the Clean Water Act are rampant, but enforcement of the act by the U.S. EPA is down sharply in the last three years. According to a new study by the U.S. Public Research Interest Group, more than 60 percent of all major plants and factories […]

LEEDing Light

Green Building Is Booming Once a fringe movement, born of the 1970s energy crisis, green building is going mainstream with a vengeance. Through its four-year-old Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, the U.S. Green Building Council has certified 149 million square feet of commercial and high-rise residential space as green, up from 8 […]

Rubber Ducking

On Family Planning, the U.S. Faces International Isolation As if the rest of its international agenda weren’t unpopular enough, the Bush administration is further isolating itself from the global community with its positions on family planning and women’s reproductive rights in developing countries. To appease its socially conservative political base at home, the administration has […]