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The Brown Lagoon
Lagoons of animal waste from large factory farms are threatening drinking water and recreational waters across the country, according to a report released Tuesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clean Water Network. The groups want new lagoons to be banned and existing ones to be phased out within the next five years. […]
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Backstroke to the Future
Christopher Swain of Eugene, Ore., plans to swim all 1,243 miles of the Columbia River to call attention to what he describes as “a contaminated beauty.” The feds are now investigating the river for sources of mercury and other nasties. Swain, who works for Columbia Riverkeeper, will embark on the 160-day swim next summer; in […]
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Caffeine Fix
With the support of environmentalists and other activists, some eco-friendly coffees are hitting the big time. Borders Books, Hyatt hotels, Safeway, and Starbucks are all selling sustainable blends. Bird-lovers point consumers to “shade-grown” coffee that protects the trees used by migratory songbirds; other greenies talk up “organic” coffees; and still others tout “fair-trade” coffees that […]
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Lease Me Alone
Michigan Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus (R) made pit stops in three Great Lakes cities on Monday to spread the word that he doesn’t support the plan by his boss, Gov. John Engler (R), to end a moratorium on new leases for oil and gas drilling under the lakes. Engler says the drilling would be environmentally […]
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Hudson Hawk
General Electric is in the midst of a multimillion-dollar PR blitz to try to sway the Bush administration to withdraw a proposed plan to clean up the Hudson River. The Clinton-era plan calls for dredging a 40-mile stretch of the river to remove PCBs dumped there for decades by GE. The company would have to […]
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Turning Over a New Leach
After spending more than $80 million on the project, the U.S.’s largest gold-mining company has ended plans to open the first major open-pit, cyanide-leach mine in Washington state. The Crown Jewel Mine in northeastern Washington would have blown the side off a mountain to extract about 1.4 million ounces of gold. Houston-based Newmont Mining Corp. […]
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Irrigation Irritation
U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said yesterday that she had the legal authority to release a small amount of irrigation water for farmers to use in the Klamath Basin on the Oregon-California border. All irrigation water from Upper Klamath Lake has been cut off since April to protect endangered suckerfish and threatened coho salmon. Farmers […]
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Moby Dicks
A meeting of the International Whaling Commission that could end a 15-year-old ban on commercial whaling began yesterday in London, with Japan and Norway leading the charge for reopening the (legal) market to whale meat. Norway has lifted a voluntary ban on exporting whale meat and blubber, and is preparing to export a stockpile of […]
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Sen and Sensibility
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has thrown his weight behind legislation to protect the country’s remaining forests. The measure would set stricter logging regulations and allow courts to jail illegal loggers for up to 10 years. Illegal logging operations have been common in the past, supported by the Cambodian military and former Khmer Rouge members. […]
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Taking the "Force" Out of Enforcement
The U.S. EPA is moving ahead with plans to slash federal environmental enforcement programs and shift enforcement resources to the states. But the agency’s own inspector general and analyses of EPA data by the Environmental Working Group have shown that many states seem to have little interest in enforcing the nation’s clean air and water […]
