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Slurry With the Dinge on Top

A huge spill of coal slurry into streams in eastern Kentucky has caused water shortages and school closings and prompted Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton (D) to declare a state of emergency in 10 counties. About 250 million gallons of coal waste with the consistency of wet cement have spilled out of a retention pond at […]

Poll Bearers

Sixty-three percent of likely American voters say they favor government action that would force automakers to improve the gas mileage of SUVs, according to a Christian Science Monitor poll. Fifty-seven percent say they would pay an extra $1,000 for a vehicle with greater fuel efficiency. Enviros might be pleased by these responses, but are likely […]

Fairy, Fairy, Quite Contrary

In a decision that could curb sprawl and development in Southern California, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced yesterday that it is designating more than 500,000 acres as critical habitat for two species — the threatened gnatcatcher bird and the endangered fairy shrimp. The move will affect and add costs to the plans of […]

Magnificent, Seven!

Seven of the world’s major corporations committed themselves yesterday to making significant reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions, a voluntary effort to combat climate change ahead of any government requirements. Working in partnership with the nonprofit Environmental Defense, the companies — DuPont, BP, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Suncor Energy, Ontario Power Generation, Alcan Aluminum, and Pechiney […]

You Have to Fight for Your Right to Green Party

Though Vice President Al Gore stressed the importance of farmland conservation programs during last night’s final debate between the two major party presidential candidates, the environment got little play otherwise. But Gore’s running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), has been talking up green issues during campaign stops this past week in Texas, Arkansas, and Wisconsin, […]

Another Fine Mess

Fine particle soot emitted from coal-burning power plants causes the premature deaths of an estimated 30,000 Americans each year, more people than die annually due to homicides or drunk driving, according to a study released yesterday by the Clean Air Task Force. The report calls on Congress to approve a bill that would require 75 […]

Cut the Crapo

GOP presidential nominee George W. Bush likes to talk about cleaning up contaminated urban sites, or brownfields, and he has said that as president he would push Congress to speed such cleanups, a pledge also made by Al Gore. But two of Bush’s powerful Republican colleagues in the Senate are blocking a bipartisan bill in […]

Keep Off Trucking

A science advisory committee to the U.S. EPA has agreed with the agency’s assessment that diesel fumes are a “likely human carcinogen,” clearing the way for the EPA to release a report on diesel exhaust that has been at least 10 years in the making. The draft EPA report okayed by the committee, which is […]

To Itch His Own

A chemical compound known to cause allergic reactions in people is widely used as a flame retardant in computer plastics, according to research published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, a publication of the American Chemical Society. Scientists reported that the compound triphenyl phosphate was present in 10 of 18 new computer monitors they […]

Maybe Cheetahs Do Prosper After All

India plans to spend more than $1 million in an attempt to clone a cheetah, almost a half century after the animal vanished from the Indian subcontinent. Indian scientists plan to use techniques similar to those being employed by American researchers who have implanted in a cow a cloned embryo of an endangered Asian gaur, […]