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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 […]
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Smart Is As Smart Does
All that talk of “smart growth” aside, the rate at which the nation’s privately held farmland, forests, and wetlands are being lost to development has more than doubled since 1992, according to a study released yesterday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Almost 16 million acres of land were converted to development over the five-year […]
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One Foot on the Gas, the Other Foot on the Brake
Hold the confetti. It’s true that Ford Motor Co. has withdrawn from the Global Climate Coalition, an industry group that vigorously opposes mandatory measures to control greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, although other high-profile companies such as British Petroleum have left the group in the past, Ford is the first company belonging to the coalition’s […]
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Even a Luna-tic Knows When to Come in From the Cold
Brrr, it’s getting cold outside. And Julia Butterfly, the 25-year-old who’s been stationed for two years in a redwood slated for logging by the Pacific Lumber Co., is hinting that it may be time for her to end her protest and come down before winter hits full on in Northern California. Of course, she’d only […]
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The (States') Right Stuff
The Supreme Court today is hearing oral arguments about a Washington state law regulating oil tankers that imposes safety and environmental guidelines more stringent than federal ones. Intertanko, an organization representing 75 percent of the world’s tanker companies, is asking the court to overturn the law, which was enacted in response to the 1989 Exxon […]
