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Squander-Lust

Watchdog Groups Accuse Army Corps of Promoting Boondoggles Budget hawks and enviros are teaming up to criticize $12 billion worth of Army Corps of Engineers water projects that they say both squander taxpayer money and wreak havoc on ecosystems around the U.S. A report released yesterday by Taxpayers for Common Sense and the National Wildlife […]

Rotten to the Albacore

Feds Issue New Fish Consumption Guidelines Today the U.S. EPA and the Food and Drug Administration issued an official set of guidelines on eating fish, which attempts to balance the risks of mercury to children with the broader health benefits of seafood. Mercury can adversely affect children’s mental development, so pregnant (or soon-to-be-pregnant) women and […]

What’s Love Canal Got to Do With It?

Love Canal, First Superfund Site, Declared Clean Love Canal is clean and will be removed from the Superfund list, said the U.S. EPA yesterday. Extensive pollution in the working-class area of Niagara Falls, N.Y., prompted President Carter to declare environmental emergencies in 1978 and 1980, and led Congress to pass the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, […]

Tiger, Tiger, Dying Quick

Sumatran Tigers May Face Extinction Indonesia’s Sumatran tiger may well have the dubious distinction of being the first large predator to go extinct this century, unless rampant poaching and illegal trade are sharply curtailed. This is the grim conclusion of a report released this week by TRAFFIC, a network established by the World Wildlife Fund […]

Rockets’ Red Scare

California First State to Announce Perchlorate Limits Last week, California regulators announced a “public health goal” that will lead to formal regulations restricting levels of perchlorate — a toxic chemical used in rocket fuel that damages thyroid glands — in the water supply, thus becoming the first state to define such standards. The recommendation, 6 […]

Ready to Grumble

Congressional Leaders Chastise EPA Over Lead Contamination A bipartisan group of congressional leaders criticized the U.S. EPA yesterday in a letter for its handling of the Washington, D.C., lead-contamination crisis and called on the agency to strengthen its rules governing lead in drinking water. Embattled D.C. officials, struggling to react to findings of widespread lead […]

The Little Engine That Couldn’t Quite

French Inventor Builds Air-Powered Car Guy Negre, an inventor working out of an industrial park on the French Riviera, has developed a car that runs entirely on compressed air, producing only cold air as exhaust. While he’s attracted a number of investors and received a flurry of media attention, enviros shouldn’t dream airy dreams just […]

Sunday in the Park With George W.

National Parks Face Crippling Budget Shortfalls Two reports released this week document severe underfunding of U.S. national parks and warn that drastic budget shortfalls will affect park safety and visitor enjoyment. Two parks advocacy organizations — the National Parks Conservation Association and the Coalition of Concerned National Park Retirees — criticize the Bush administration’s parks […]

Economic Restoration

Study Shows Ecological Restoration Boosts Economy Efforts at ecological restoration have added some $65 million and 300 jobs to California’s Humboldt County economy between 1995 and 2002, concludes a study released yesterday by the nonprofit social science firm Forest Community Research. Over the last 25 years, government agencies, tribes, landowners, private contractors, and environmental groups […]

No Credit Where Credit Is Due

Wind Power Industry Idles, Waiting for Energy Bill After a three-year growth spurt that created more wind-energy capacity in the U.S. than came online in the two prior decades, the wind industry finds itself in an unwelcome state of suspension. Some $2 billion in economic development is on hold and thousands of jobs are being […]