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Making Radio Waves
Hoping to give a boost to environmental issues in the upcoming elections, the Sierra Club yesterday launched an $8 million TV and radio ad campaign aimed at influencing 17 congressional races. The ads, most of which favor Democrats, will be accompanied by voter guides and fliers to be distributed at community events. Politicians targeted in […]
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From Russia With Lumps
The oil and gas that Russia loses each year in leaks and spills could provide enough energy to allow the country to close its nuclear power plants, Greenpeace said yesterday. Between 70 million and 140 million barrels of oil are spilled annually in Russia, out of the approximately 2.1 billion barrels the nation produces, the […]
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Bill vs. Bill
Keeping a long-standing promise, President Clinton yesterday vetoed a bill that would have required the Department of Energy to move nuclear waste from commercial reactors around the country to a central site in Nevada before completion of a planned permanent waste repository in the state. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to decide as early […]
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A Bunch of Ash Holes
In a setback for enviros, the U.S. EPA yesterday decided against regulating ash and sludge from coal-burning power plants as a toxic hazardous waste. Instead, the agency will merely develop voluntary coal-ash disposal standards that states could choose to follow, such as a recommendation that disposal sites have liners. About 100 million tons of coal […]
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Bringing Us to Our Ruins
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt suggested yesterday that he will recommend that President Clinton create two more national monuments — one at Soda Mountain in southern Oregon and another at a southwestern Colorado area containing Indian ruins. Under the 1906 Antiquities Act, a president can designate national monuments without congressional approval. Clinton has created five monuments […]
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Making Money Hanford Over Fist?
The contractor charged with cleaning up the most dangerous waste at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state said yesterday that the cost would likely be $15.2 billion, up from an estimate of $13 billion earlier this month, which was up from an original estimate of $6.9 billion. British Nuclear Fuels, the contractor, admitted that […]
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There's Gold in Them There Geysers
In a ruling that could give a boost to “bioprospecting,” a federal judge this month upheld a precedent-setting agreement under which a biotechnology company will pay Yellowstone National Park for the right to search its geysers and hot springs for commercially valuable microbes. Some enviros and biotech critics had filed suit to stop the deal, […]
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Meeting Around the Bush?
Organizers may cancel a controversial meeting scheduled for Detroit this Thursday, at which a number of state environmental officials and industry representatives were set to discuss ways that federal environmental regulations could be loosened if George W. Bush wins the presidency. Since news of the gathering was leaked to the press last week, a number […]
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Babe in Harms
Many children in farming communities are exposed to higher levels of pesticides than federal regulators consider safe, according to a new study conducted by scientists at the University of Washington, to be published in the June issue of Environmental Health Perspectives. More than half of the preschool children tested showed signs of having been exposed […]
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Elvish Still Gyrating
Craig Rosebraugh, who periodically acts as a spokesperson for the radical Earth Liberation Front (ELF), has been called to appear before a federal grand jury on Wednesday. Activists who claim connection to ELF have committed a number of acts of eco-sabotage in recent years, including burning down a headquarters building of the Boise Cascade logging […]
