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Roadless Travailed

The Bush administration was hoping to have more time to figure out how to roll back rules approved by the Clinton administration to ban road-building and logging on a third of the country’s national forests — but a federal judge threw a kink into that plan yesterday. The judge denied the administration’s plea to delay […]

No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Die

In yet another decision deemed yucky by environmentalists, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is proposing to suspend mining regulations approved by former President Clinton to protect the environment. The rules give the BLM more flexibility to deny mining permits that seem likely to lead to lots of pollution and they require companies that mine […]

Arsenic Haul

The U.S. EPA said yesterday it would revoke a Clinton administration rule to reduce the acceptable level of arsenic in drinking water by 80 percent. EPA Administrator Christie Todd Whitman said that there is “no consensus on a particular safe level” of arsenic in drinking water, and that the Bush administration would base its decision […]

A Life of Easement

In a deal involving the largest conservation easement ever, the New England Forestry Foundation paid more than $28 million yesterday to protect 762,192 acres of forestland in Maine. In exchange for the money, which came from other foundations, a few millionaires, and more than 1,200 other individuals, the Pingree family will give up its development […]

The Bus Stops Here

India’s Supreme Court may order some 12,000 public buses off roads in Delhi at the beginning of next month because they emit too much pollution. In 1998, the court ruled that the buses must be converted from diesel to natural gas by the end of March of this year. But the Delhi government, which runs […]

The Shining Pathogen

Infectious diseases are on the rise in wildlife populations around the world, threatening Florida’s manatees and other endangered species. Although the diseases may not get as much media attention as those affecting domesticated livestock, nasty microbes of all sorts are becoming more active in previously unexposed wild areas, says Peter Daszak, a wildlife disease researcher. […]

Venues Rising From the Waves

Despite concerns raised by environmentalists, the International Olympic Committee backed organizers of the Athens 2004 games this weekend and said that venues proposed for water sports would not harm rare wetlands. The IOC environmental commission held three days of meetings in Athens during which enviros claimed that a development planned for the rowing and canoeing […]

Relax? Don't Do It!

As blackouts swept through California yesterday, President Bush and his advisers continued to talk about a national energy policy that would open up federal lands to more oil and gas drilling. However, neither Bush nor Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham outlined any specific plans that would help California or other states tackle energy woes in the […]

How Crude

The world’s largest oil rig sank off the coast of Brazil today, and workers for the state oil company Petrobras are racing to prevent oil from spilling into the sea. Some 400,000 gallons of crude oil and diesel were stored on the rig or in nearby pipelines, and a company spokesperson said ships were standing […]

Soft Woods, Hard Heads

An environmental dispute between the U.S. and Canada is coming to a head, with a lumber trade agreement between the two countries set to expire at the end of the month. Enviros and many U.S. policymakers say the Canadian government unfairly subsidizes the logging of old-growth timber, undercutting the market for wood in the U.S., […]