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Refuge, Jeez!
The 521 national wildlife refuges in the U.S. are in sad shape, suffering from low funding, inadequate staffing, and poor leadership, according to a survey of 230 refuge managers released yesterday by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. More than 90 percent of the managers surveyed said they want a new leadership structure for the refuge […]
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A Bill of Goods?
Bill Bradley is continuing to put the heat on Vice Pres. Al Gore over offshore drilling, pressing it as an issue in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. On Tuesday, Bradley challenged Gore to take immediate action against proposed natural gas drilling off the Florida Panhandle. The Florida Department of Community Affairs denied a […]
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How Delightful, How Insightful
Honda’s hybrid Insight hit California showrooms yesterday, becoming the first gasoline-electric hybrid car to go on sale in the U.S. The two-seater, which has a base price of $19,000, gets about 60 miles to the gallon in the city and 70 on the highway. Its engine uses both unleaded gasoline and an electric motor that […]
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Enviros Ruffle Ridge
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge (R) yesterday signed into law a $646 million program to help protect many thousands of acres of open space, preserve 1,500 farms, and improve state parks. But enviros in the state criticize the new law because it lacks a dedicated funding base, and they say that nearly $1.5 billion would be […]
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Drop the Chalupa, er, the Agua
Mexican and U.S. enviros are teaming up to pressure the U.S. government into allocating more water from the Colorado River to protect endangered species, a move that could spur new legal battles over water in the Western U.S. Fourteen enviro groups, including four from Mexico, have announced their intent to file suit within 60 days […]
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Life Is Beautiful. Nukes Are Ugly.
Italy plans to spend nearly $3 billion over the next 20 years to dismantle and clean up its four nuclear power plants and create a repository for nuclear waste, the nation’s industry minister said Tuesday. The plan is intended to implement a 1987 referendum in which Italian citizens voted to ban nuclear power. Meanwhile, the […]
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That's Some Killer Pot
Nearly 11 percent of children in Tijuana, Mexico, have high lead levels in their blood, according to a three-year study by researchers from the University of California at Irvine. Most of the children contracted the lead poisoning by eating from lead-glazed cookware or being exposed to contaminated soil. Only about 0.1 percent of the lead […]
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Hungary for Some Boar
Croatia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia are embarking on an ambitious project to create a cross-border nature preserve of at least 250,000 acres at the confluence of the Danube and Drava rivers, Central Europe’s largest wetland. Hungary and Croatia will sign a cooperation agreement today, and unofficial talks are underway with Yugoslav biologists and ecologists. The area […]
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Who Ya Gonna Call? Trust Busters!
Monsanto was hit with a class-action lawsuit yesterday, brought by a coalition of small farmers and farm groups that accuse the company of rushing genetically modified seeds to the marketplace without properly testing them for safety and giving farmers false guarantees about the marketability of genetically modified crops. The suit, filed by some of the […]
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Killmore Trout?
The National Marine Fisheries Service wants to give state and local governments the lead role in protecting threatened salmon and steelhead trout in the Northwest and Northern California, a major policy shift that comes as part of federal regulations released this week. To avoid having to expand the federal bureaucracy to protect 14 populations of […]
