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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 […]

Arctic National Wildlife Rorschach

Energy Department Study Fuels Arctic Refuge Controversy A new Energy Department study on the prospect of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has both sides in the long-running controversy claiming vindication. According to the study, oil production in the refuge would peak in about 2025 and at that point would reduce U.S. dependence […]

Grile-y Coyote

New Report Critical of Interior’s Griles Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles has repeatedly had dealings with mining and energy companies represented by his former lobbying firm, which is still sending him payments amounting to some $1 million over four years. While his actions signify an “institutional failure” to avoid the appearance of impropriety, they […]

Dispatches from a field trip to study water systems in West Africa

Sarah Lynn Cunningham works for the Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District in Kentucky, implementing the principles of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES). This week, she’s doing reconnaissance in Tamale, Ghana, to assess ways to improve water and waste management. Tuesday, 16 Mar 2004 TAMALE, Ghana. My colleague Steve Hubbs, an environmental […]

Regulate First, Ask Questions Later

Flurry of Charges Leads EPA to Revisit Mercury Regs Amid a swirl of angry charges from states, environmental groups, and its own employees, the U.S. EPA is promising to revisit controversial proposed regulations on mercury emissions from power plants. Several EPA staffers — who remain anonymous to avoid retaliation — revealed what enviro groups have […]

Good Label Manners

Today’s conscientious consumer has a plethora of choices at the supermarket: “Free-Range,” “Farm-Friendly,” “Organic,” and that warmest and fuzziest of warm-fuzzies, “Natural.” These labels all sound wonderful, but what do they mean? Some of them, it turns out, mean quite a bit, while others mean almost nothing. Bewildered shoppers can get the scoop on which […]

China “R” Us

China’s booming economy is straining the country’s energy resources to the breaking point. Last year its oil imports rose by a third, it became the world’s largest steel importer (surpassing the U.S.), its domestic coal production rose by 100 million tons — and still there were intermittent blackouts as electricity consumption jumped by 15 percent. […]