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Step on the Gas

The California Air Resources Board yesterday unanimously approved a new formula for the state’s gasoline that will eliminate the clean-fuel additive MTBE while maintaining strict air quality improvements. The board set 2003 as a deadline to have MTBE removed; most oil companies in the state plan to substitute it with ethanol, a more expensive octane […]

It's Bloomin' 'ot!

Scientists in England say 1999 will almost certainly be the warmest year ever recorded in the U.K., topping the previous high recorded in 1990 by about a tenth of a degree Celsius. Worldwide, 1999 is on track to be one of the 10 hottest years ever, but not nearly as warm as the blistering years […]

Chew on This

Mattel, the world’s largest toymaker (think hourglass Barbies and those fun-to-chew-on Fisher-Price figures), has announced that it will begin a major push to make its plastic toys from more environmentally friendly, organically based materials such as oils and starches. The new materials would replace polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and a controversial group of chemicals called phthalates […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 — […]