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Kiwis Greener
Victories this week by the New Zealand Green Party, which has won seats in Parliament for the first time, have temporarily thrown the country’s fledgling center-left coalition into flux. The coalition had expected to win a majority of seats, but now has to count on Green support to exert control. The six victorious Greens toasted […]
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OK Coral
The controversial oil drilling platform Brent Spar has become home to large quantities of healthy coral, according to a study published today in the journal Nature. The colonies are a long way from forming coral reefs, but the findings indicate that dismantling rigs after they are decommissioned may not be the most environmentally sound solution, […]
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Baywatch
The states making up the Chesapeake Bay watershed yesterday pledged to cut back runoff of nutrients and sediments into the bay so sharply that it will be removed from the federal “dirty water” list within 10 years. Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening (D) said that if the states reach the goal to surpass Clean Water Act […]
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Watts Wrong Here?
The Tennessee Valley Authority yesterday approved plans to produce nuclear weapons material in a commercial reactor for the first time in U.S. history, breaching the wall between civilian and military nuclear power. The TVA board voted unanimously to allow the Watts Bar plant in Tennessee to produce tritium as early as 2003, while continuing to […]
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Monsanto Claus Is Coming to Town
Monsanto last week helped pay for a pro-genetically modified foods demonstration in Washington, D.C., by some 100 members of a Baptist church, according to one of the rally organizers. The demonstration was part of a new campaign by the company to work behind the scenes to get church members, union workers, and the elderly to […]
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Brazilians Brazen About Razin' and Grazin'
Crowding into a special congressional committee hearing, enviros in Brazil last night temporarily fought off last-minute legislation that would have made deep cutbacks in protections of the Amazon rainforest. The cutbacks favored by rich landowners, logging companies, and the country’s agriculture minister would reduce the amount of the rainforest currently under protection from 80 percent […]
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A Billion Air
In a deal with Florida state regulators, Tampa Electric Co. (TECO) yesterday agreed to spend $1 billion over 10 years to reduce pollution spewing from its smokestacks. The two parties said the deal — which calls for three of six coal-fired generators to be scrapped and the others to be converted to natural gas — […]
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Roadless Hogs
Nearly 70 environmental groups yesterday petitioned the National Park Service to ban all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles, and snowmobiles in 23 parks where off-road vehicles (ORVs) are now allowed. The groups also asked for tougher enforcement in some 40 parks where bans are already in place. In a separate effort, the Wilderness Society and 90 other groups […]
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Oh, What a Feeling
For the first time in years, the U.S. auto industry is beginning to pay attention to the price of gas. A 31 percent jump in gas prices this year, to an average $1.35 a gallon in November (still near historic lows in price, once inflation is taken into account), means buyers may place more emphasis […]
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Truck Stopped
A federal judge yesterday temporarily blocked the Energy Department from trucking plutonium fuel across Michigan to Canadian nuclear reactors, ruling that the DOE needs to conduct a more comprehensive environmental impact statement before transporting the fuel on public roads from Los Alamos, N.M., 1,700 miles away. The feds are aiming to process the nuclear fuel […]
