Uncategorized
All Stories
-
McChicken Sandwiched
Stung by a backlash from some farmers and consumers, Monsanto has been saying recently that it pursued the wrong course in trying to win market approval of genetically engineered foods without addressing concerns that the foods might pose risks to human health and the environment. Listen in on Monsanto CEO Hendrik Verfaille: "We tried to […]
-
O-oh, He's a Little Runway
The Bush administration wants to speed construction of more runways at major airports in the U.S. by streamlining reviews of their environmental impacts. The Federal Aviation Administration has done an about-face and now argues that more runways offer a quicker solution to airport gridlock than updating air-traffic-control computers. But the current process of obtaining federal […]
-
Do the Hustle
U.S. companies are hustling down to Mexico to build power plants to supply energy-starved California, and Mexican environmentalists aren’t happy about it. Mexican officials and the power companies say that the economic benefits of the new plants will outweigh the pollution they add to the air. Alejandro Calvillo, director of Greenpeace Mexico, counters that the […]
-
Dammed If You Do, Damned If You Don't
Nearly 500 dams in the U.S. have been taken down over the past 15 years, opening up fish runs and flushing out rivers. Campaigns to remove large-scale dams in the West garner most of the media attention, but Steve Higgs of American Rivers says more progress is being made knocking down smaller dams in the […]
-
Crack Pipe Epidemic
Betcha never knew that the U.S.’s system of water and sewage pipes and treatment plants is decaying and little money has been set aside to repair it. A-ha! Well, listen up. A report by the U.S. EPA concludes that the country will face a $23 billion shortfall each year for infrastructure needs by 2020. Ken […]
-
What Nerve!
Environmental groups and a commercial fishers group in the Northwest sued the U.S. EPA yesterday to protect salmon from small amounts of pesticides often found in rivers. The plaintiffs want the agency to review how pesticides might be harming the fish and to place tougher restrictions on pesticide use until the review is complete. Studies […]
-
Gale-force Wins
The U.S. Senate voted yesterday to confirm Gale Norton as Interior secretary and Christine Todd Whitman as top dog at the U.S. EPA. The 75-24 vote to approve Norton was a significant victory for President Bush, given the fervor with which environmental groups opposed her nomination. Norton has a long history of supporting the mining, […]
-
Reef It Alone
Australian Environment Minister Robert Hill put oil exploration in the Great Barrier Reef on hold this week, citing concerns that the testing might harm whales. Geologic exploration company TGS NOPEC had plans to conduct seismic testing some 30 miles from the reef, part of which is a U.N. World Heritage Site and breeding area for […]
-
Never Say Nader Again?
Ralph Nader is getting the cold shoulder from Democrats on Capitol Hill, and some liberal activists have stopped contributing to the groups he founded. For example, Joan Claybrook, president of the Nader group Public Citizen, said that members of Congress were refusing to work with her group. Polls have shown that about half of the […]
-
A Day in the Life of Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Russia’s environmental resources are being “plundered” and the current government has only made the problem worse, says Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the 81-year-old Nobel Prize winner. In a newspaper column last week, the writer criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for abolishing the country’s environmental protection and forestry agencies and shifting their responsibilities to the extraction-happy Natural Resources […]
