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Another Bombshell

The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Muhammad el-Baradei, warned yesterday that the events of Sept. 11 have increased concerns that terrorists might try to fashion nuclear weapons or launch attacks directly against nuclear facilities. El-Baradei’s remarks came one day after the U.S. restricted airspace around all nuclear power plants due to security concerns, […]

"Failure to Act" — Can We Blame Hollywood?

A coalition of California environmental, health, and community organizations sued the U.S. EPA yesterday for neglecting to enforce clean air standards in the state’s infamously smoggy Central Valley. An EPA official acknowledged that the agency had “failed to act” on a 1997 plan to improve air quality and said the lawsuit would force the agency […]

Oak Ridges: Boy!

Almost 1.2 million acres of threatened land north of Toronto would be protected by legislation to be announced today by the Ontario government. The conservation effort would protect more than 90 percent of the Oak Ridges Moraine, which is the source of groundwater for much of southern Ontario. The province plans to establish a $250 […]

Our Snicker

The Bush administration tucked its tail between its legs and decided yesterday to toughen the limit for arsenic in drinking water from 50 parts per billion to the 10 ppb. The stricter standard was originally approved by the Clinton administration, but then rejected by current U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman, who questioned the science behind […]

Climate Contrail

Of the many unprecedented events of Sept. 11, one of them — the near-absence of airplanes in the skies that day and the next — has given scientists important clues for studying the impact of aviation on climate change. Normally, the sky above 25,000 feet is full of contrails, cloud-like phenomena that form when ice […]

The Persistence of Mercury

Anyone who’s ever broken an old-style thermometer knows it’s tough to clean up mercury, but the state of Washington is undeterred. The state’s Ecology Department has created the nation’s only program to battle persistent bioaccumulative toxins, or PBTs, and mercury will be the first target. Found in substances ranging from eye makeup to industrial waste […]

Cold Comfort Farm Bill

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will introduce a farm bill today that he describes as "good for family farmers and the environment and rural communities." Harkin, who is chair of the Senate Agricultural Committee, is generally well-liked by environmentalists, but not all of them agree with his assessment of the bill. Ken Cook of the Environmental […]

Level-heads Prevail

The government of Kenya plans to level more than 170,000 acres of forest, much to the dismay of environmentalists, who say the logging is politically motivated and would be an ecological disaster. Although green organizations have gathered signatures and initiated legal actions, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources is forging ahead with the plan, […]

Environmental news has been hard to find since Sept. 11

I was lounging at my local coffee shop, wondering how the barista got that giant nose ring out each night, when Flym Wyntrobski barged through the door, all flapping elbows and gangly legs. He plopped down in a chair at my table, pulled something crunchy from his unkempt beard, examined it, and popped it in […]

Not OK Corral

The Earth Liberation Front has claimed responsibility for the Oct. 15 firebombing of a corral owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management near the California-Nevada border. The bomb started a blaze that caused $85,000 of damage to the Litchfield horse facility, 80 miles north of Reno. No one was injured in the fire, and […]