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Teed Time

Can you say, “Not in my backyard” with a British accent? That was the message villagers in southeastern England sent to the national government this week over a planned test site for genetically modified (GM) crops. In March, Environment Minister Michael Meacher announced that the government would test GM crops in Weeley Parish, Essex County, […]

Salmon Chanted Evening

The future of salmon in the Pacific Northwest is being jeopardized by foot-dragging on the part of the federal government, said Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) in a speech Tuesday evening. In December 2000, the National Marine Fisheries Service decided against aiding salmon populations by breaching dams on the lower Snake River; instead, the agency […]

Bill of Right Ons!

In a big victory for environmentalists and a blow to the auto industry, the California Senate yesterday handily passed the nation’s first bill to limit carbon dioxide emissions from the tailpipes of cars and light trucks. Enviros say the vehicles produce 40 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions; the bill (in stirring wording) would direct […]

Goodbye, Farewell, So Lung

About one in two Americans breathe unhealthy air, according to a report released today by the American Lung Association. In real numbers, that translates to more than 142 million Americans living in areas where the U.S. EPA has found smog levels to be unhealthful. A lot of those areas are in — you guessed it […]

Holy Sinkhole!

Central Florida’s main source of drinking water is being contaminated by a toxic leak from one of the nation’s oldest Superfund sites, according to federal authorities. Ten years ago, the U.S. EPA ended the cleanup of a Tower Chemical plant that manufactured pesticides for the citrus industry; now, an unidentified pesticide-related chemical has seeped from […]

Who, Moi?

Responding to criticism that his government has overseen the widespread destruction of forests, Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi announced yesterday a plan to strictly enforce bans on timber cutting. Moi also announced that he would seek support from the U.N. Development Programme for a campaign to plant trees. Sounds good, but Moi has not historically […]

From the Town of Bed Rock

In a triumph for environmentalists, a federal panel has reversed a U.S. Bureau of Land Management decision to grant three coal-bed-methane (CBM) mining leases in Wyoming’s Powder River Basin. The Interior Department’s Board of Land Appeals determined that the BLM granted the leases based on a 1985 resource management plan that addressed the potential impacts […]

Taking Them to Tusk

An agency in Kenya is calling for a world boycott of South Africa’s proposed sale of ivory stockpiles. The South Africa government is planning to submit a proposal to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species that would allow the country to sell off its ivory stockpiles, but Kenya Wildlife Services, as well […]

When the Latter Day Saints Go Marching in

Environmentalists are up against an unusual adversary in a fight over the sale of a national historic landmark in Wyoming: Mormons. Seven representatives in the U.S. House — all of them members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints — are cosponsoring a bill to sell Bureau of Land Management land to […]

Air Squawl-ity

We here at Grist have long since lost track of the score in the face-off between the snowmobile industry and people who like to be able to breathe in national parks, but at any rate, the latter earned a point yesterday when the U.S. EPA issued a report calling for a complete ban on snowmobiles […]