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Worse for the Tern

Here’s another possible casualty of the war on terrorism: migrating birds. An Indian ornithologist announced today that more than 200 species of birds that migrate from central Asia to India every year could be adversely affected by chemicals in the bombs exploding in Afghanistan. Such birds, including the Siberian crane, the shoveller duck, the crested […]

Clean Your Boom

The global economy may be sagging, but residents of the Pacific Northwest should take heart: A study released late last week suggests that the region will benefit from a boom in the next 20 years in the clean energy industry. In Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia, clean energy is currently a $1.4 billion business; the […]

Hill and Dale

U.S. Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth upheld a Clinton-era plan on Friday that would increase protection for much of California’s Sierra Nevada, although he also called for a review of how the plan would affect fire control in the area and whether it would conflict with a congressionally approved management scheme. The plan, which was […]

Mulholland Drive, Bye

Almost 90 years too late, Los Angeles is finally making partial amends for one of the most infamous acts of water theft in history: the diversion of the Owens River to supply water to the then-infant city. The diversion caused the 110-square-mile Owens Lake to dry up, leading to dramatic and sometimes deadly dust storms […]

Day of Antiquity

A federal judge yesterday upheld former President Clinton’s designation of six national monuments in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, dashing the hopes of the Denver-based Mountain States Legal Defense Fund. The conservative group challenged the constitutionality of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the president the power to designate monuments, and argued that Clinton had […]

SUV in the Ditch

Ford has ditched plans to use a form of gas-electric hybrid technology to significantly improve the fuel-efficiency of the Explorer, the world’s best-selling SUV. Ford insiders said the decision was made because of a cash shortage and less success than expected with the “integrated starter-generator” technology, which would have saved gas when the vehicle was […]

Back in Black

Thirty-one black-footed ferrets were released into the wild in Colorado yesterday, 58 years after the animal was last sighted in the state. The release near Rangley, Colo., was the ninth on the continent since the U.S. began a captive-breeding program to save the species 14 years ago; the animals have also been set loose in […]

Soothing the Savage Breasts

We’ve been derelict in our duties: Only now are we telling you that the largest known environmental striptease in the history of the world took place last Friday. Nine bare-breasted women briefly halted logging near Northern California’s Headwaters Forest, at a stand of second-growth redwood trees that didn’t make it into the 1999 forest protection […]

Round, Round, Get Around, I Get a Round

The latest round of World Trade Organization negotiations concluded yesterday with delegates from 142 nations agreeing to an agenda for the next round of trade talks and glossing over environmental disagreements for the moment. The agenda, which includes cutting tariffs on industrial goods, phasing out farm subsidies, reducing foreign investment barriers, and limiting anti-dumping laws, […]

You're Not Doing Fine Oklahoma

Demonstrators paraded around the annual Governor’s Water Conference in Oklahoma City yesterday to protest a deal struck behind closed doors to sell millions of gallons of water from southeastern Oklahoma to drought-stricken Texas. The deal, which is subject to approval by the Oklahoma legislature, has the backing of state officials and the Chickasaw and Choctaw […]