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Oily Sheen

Summoning the specter of national security threats, President Bush called on the U.S. Senate yesterday to pass an energy bill that would allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Earlier this week, Senate Democrats ended committee discussion of an energy bill, calling the subject too divisive to discuss during a national crisis. Republicans […]

To Boldly Clean Where No One Has Cleaned Before

Urging other countries to follow its lead, Australia began a massive cleanup of its Antarctic research base today. As many as 330,000 tons of waste, the detritus of decades of research and exploration, is strewn over the otherwise pristine environment of Antarctica. The waste includes chemicals, batteries, oils, and building materials. Australia contracted a French […]

Feeling Horny

One of the world’s rarest large mammals, the Javan rhinoceros, may have taken a baby step back from the brink of extinction, conservationists say. Information from tracking, DNA analyses, and rhino-tripped cameras hidden deep in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park suggests that four Javan rhino calves have been born in the last two years. The […]

This Is Not the Place

Utah’s teachers unions will consider resolutions tonight opposing the storage of radioactive waste in the state and the use of taxes from such waste to fund schools. The proposals are designed to counter efforts by lobbyists to convince Utah residents that nuclear waste storage would be good for the state and its students. Calling for […]

One month after Sept. 11, it's a whole new environment

Back in the pre-Sept. 11 era, or roughly a lifetime ago, when the word terrorism cropped up during discussions of environmental issues, it always seemed slightly out of context, an act of appropriation. Vandalism committed in the name of the environment (against SUVs, genetically engineered crops, sprawling housing developments) became eco-terrorism. Some environmentalists co-opted the […]

Coupe Coup

Less than 6 percent of 2002 model cars and trucks now hitting showrooms get better than 30 miles per gallon, according to a report released yesterday by the U.S. EPA. On average, the fuel economy for the cars (23.9 mpg) is a bit worse than the 2001 model year. The gas-electric hybrid Honda Insight, a […]

Moscowl

Not much of the northern forest in the European portion of Russia is still standing and many of the trees that haven’t been felled are in jeopardy, according to a report released by Greenpeace Russia and Global Forest Watch. Russian researchers who spent five years mapping the forest for the report say that the largest […]

Toodle-oo, Tuvalu

New Zealand has agreed to welcome an annual quota of immigrants from the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu, where rising sea levels are forcing residents from their homes. Tuvalu, a nine-island archipelago halfway between Hawaii and Australia, blames global warming for the higher ocean levels, as well as for coastal erosion, droughts, and unusually severe […]

Authority Figures

The Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation’s largest public power provider, announced late last week that it would invest $1.5 billion in reducing sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired plants. The money will be used to install five smokestack-scrubber systems at plants in Tennessee, Alabama, and Kentucky beginning in 2005. Stephen Smith, director of the Southern Alliance […]

Wave Hello

The ocean may supply Canada with power for the first time if the Canadian company B.C. Hydro proceeds with plans to build wave-energy plants in British Columbia. Although a few such plants exist in Europe and others are being tested in Washington state, the ocean is a relatively untapped energy source. The Canadian plants would […]