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DOE, Oh Dear

More than two-thirds of the 144 sites related to nuclear weapons production in the U.S. will never be clean enough to allow for unrestricted public use, according to a report conducted by the National Research Council at the request of the Department of Energy. The report also found that the government’s long-term management plans for […]

Notes From the Underground

In violation of a 1998 federal deadline, state and local governments are continuing to operate thousands of old underground fuel tanks that may be leaking chemicals into water supplies. Leaking fuel tanks are the No. 1 cause of groundwater pollution in the country, tainting wells and aquifers. Private industry, leery of fines and bad publicity, […]

Do You Sea What I Sea?

Standing at a scenic spot along the Massachusetts shore yesterday, President Clinton signed into law a bipartisan bill intended to protect the nation’s oceans and coastal areas. The law will establish a 16-member commission to study ocean issues and recommend a long-term strategy for protecting marine resources, restoring fish and marine mammal populations, strengthening coastal […]

Johnny-Come-Too-Lately

ABC News admitted yesterday that a “20/20” report by John Stossel criticizing organic produce contained inaccurate information and said the reporter would apologize on the air this Friday for his error. The report, first aired in February and then rerun in July over the objection of enviros and organic advocates, claimed that tests conducted for […]

Elizabeth May, Sierra Club of Canada

Elizabeth May is the executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada and a lifelong environmental activist. She is also a lawyer, educator, writer, and mother. Her most recent book, coauthored with fellow Canadian activist Maude Barlow, is Frederick Street: Life and Death on Canada’s Love Canal. Monday, 7 Aug 2000 OTTAWA, Ontario Today, being […]

All We Are Saying Is Give Greenpeace a Chance

Hoping to rebound after several years of internal troubles, Greenpeace USA has found a new executive director: John Passacantando, cofounder and head of Ozone Action. Passacantando hopes to merge the two organizations, a proposal the groups’ boards are considering. The organizations are now quite different: Greenpeace USA has about 300,000 members (down from a million […]

Prosthetics That Don't Cost an Arm and a Leg

An innovative recycling effort in Thailand is converting used plastic bottles and aluminum cans into prosthetic limbs for people who have been maimed by land mines. The program was launched by the Prosthesis Foundation of Thailand, which has a mission of providing free artificial limbs to every poor land mine victim in the nation. When […]

Turning Over a New Maple Leaf

Efforts in Canada to curb climate change would have little effect on the country’s economy, according to two new reports, one by the national Department of Finance and another by the think tank Informetrica Ltd. The reports found that reducing Canadian greenhouse gas emissions 6 percent from 1990 levels by 2010, the nation’s target under […]

We Bring Bad Things to Light

Environmentalists and concerned citizens are angry that nearly a dozen former government environmental regulators have gone to work for General Electric to help the company avoid paying for the PCB pollution it spewed over many decades into the Hudson River in New York and the Housatonic River in Massachusetts. For example, shortly after Stephen Ramsey […]

Following Conventions

Many environmentalists and other activists who caused a ruckus during the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle late last year are planning to descend on Los Angeles next week to demonstrate during the Democratic National Convention. While some protestors strutted their stuff outside last week’s Republican National Convention, many progressive groups intend to raise a […]