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Crime Doesn't Pay — But Criminals Do

The European Commission endorsed plans yesterday to make polluting companies and individuals legally responsible for the cost of the damage they cause. The commission will now draft a new “polluter pays” directive for the European Union, intended to end the notion that society as a whole must bear the cost of human-caused environmental disasters. Individual […]

Green Apple

The Battery Park City Authority in New York City is holding a competition asking developers to submit plans for the nation’s first eco-friendly residential high-rise. The building must incorporate such features as solar panels, fuel cells, non-toxic and recycled building materials, roof-top gardens, and gray-water systems, which reuse water collected from sinks, showers, and laundry […]

Seeking Closure

Enviros are calling on Texas to tighten shrimping restrictions on the Gulf Coast to protect sea turtles, including the endangered Kemp’s ridley turtle. In 1999, shrimp fishing was responsible for the stranding of 95 Kemp’s ridley turtles and 355 other turtles, and the vast majority of them died, according to members of the Sierra Club […]

City Sickers

Air pollution is rampant in Russia, where about 120 cities have noxious gases in the air at more than five times acceptable limits, according to the head of the nation’s ecology committee. In all, 61 million people living in 185 cities — more than one-third of Russians — breathe air with high noxious gas levels. […]

Go West, Old Man

The Clinton administration, which raised the ire of many Western Republicans last month by creating three new national monuments, is considering designating more monuments in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Oregon, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said Monday. Any new monuments would likely be administered by the Bureau of Land Management, which Babbitt says is becoming a […]

Ending Acid's Reign

New Hampshire will join an EPA lawsuit against dirty coal-fired power plants in the Midwest, Gov. Jeanne Shaheen (D) announced earlier this week. New Hampshire officials contend that emissions from the plants, including mercury and sulfur dioxide, are blown into the Northeast where they contribute to pollution and cause acid rain. New Hampshire plants have […]

Polluting Young Minds

As an increasing number of teachers across the U.S. add the environment to their lesson plans, corporations are competing with green groups to get their messages and materials into classrooms. For example, Chevron spends about $6 million a year on grants to environmental educators, and the company also produces educational materials on global warming, smog, […]

Chills and Spills

A serious cyanide spill in Romania has polluted the Tisza River and angered Hungary, which is downstream from the accident. The Hungarian media have been filled with reports of dying fish, birds, and other wildlife, and towns along the river in central Hungary have been forced to close their water intake systems, officials said. The […]

McCain in the Bush Leagues

GOP presidential contender George W. Bush (R) is getting plenty of flak for his weak environmental record, but Sen. John McCain seems to be getting a free ride on green issues, writes author T. H. Watkins in a New York Times op-ed. McCain has a poor voting record on the environment, particularly on public land […]

Trade Mandarins Want to Trade With Mandarins

U.S. corporations say they are raising environmental and labor standards in China, an attempt to head off criticism from unions, enviros, and human rights groups that want to keep China out of the World Trade Organization. A report by the Business Roundtable, a group of 200 corporate executives, highlights Eastman Chemical for having model safety […]