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Pilot Crashes into Senate
Republican Senate leaders yesterday accused the Clinton administration of violating a congressional ban against carrying out the Kyoto climate change treaty by planning a pilot program with Russia to jointly cut greenhouse-gas emissions. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said GOP leaders plan to insert language barring the program into a bill funding the EPA. The project […]
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Removing Heavy Metal from the Radio
The European Union is weighing a proposal that would require electronics makers to take responsibility for their products once their useful lives are over, with the intent of encouraging companies to design products that are more recyclable. Computers, cell phones, medical equipment, and household appliances would all be affected. The proposed legislation would also require […]
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Virginia Slim on Pollution Controls
Environmentalists have won a court order forcing the federal government to act more aggressively to protect Virginia waterways from pollution. A federal judge ruled that Virginia officials have been lax in setting maximum pollution levels and that the EPA is responsible under the 1972 Clean Water Act to make sure the state sets the levels […]
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Don't Chew on This
Lead exposure in children may lead to tooth decay, perhaps accounting for as much as 11 percent of cavities in kids, according to a new study published in today’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. Though lead has been removed from gasoline and household paint in the U.S., the Centers for Disease […]
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What Do Butterflies, Ski Passes, and Eggs Have in Common?
The British government plans to start monitoring numbers of butterflies and the sales of Scotland ski passes, among other indicators, as part of an effort to track climate change. Each year, the government will publish an annual report taking a look at potential signs of global warming, also including the number of floods, the time […]
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Summers Hot
In a rare public dispute, Treasury Secretary-designate Lawrence Summers yesterday said the U.S. would vote against a controversial World Bank loan to China that environmentalists have criticized. The $40 million loan would pay for the resettlement of 58,000 poor Chinese farmers from an overcrowded, badly eroded area to traditionally Tibetan land, also considered environmentally sensitive. […]
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Giving Public Lands the Shaft
The Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday gave initial approval to a bill that would protect Western mining interests from tougher environmental rules proposed by the Interior Department. A 1997 Interior Department ruling limited the acreage of mining sites on federal lands, but this bill would exempt hundreds of mining operations from the ruling. Earlier this year, […]
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Koop Has the Vinyl Word
Millions of dollars worth of vinyl toys pulled from store shelves at the behest of Greenpeace and other groups pose no medical threats, according to a panel of leading physicians and scientists chaired by C. Everett Koop, former U.S. surgeon general. A report by the panel found no scientific evidence that two plastic softeners known […]
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Panda-monium
In a bid to save the endangered giant panda, Chinese scientists have successfully cloned an embryo and will try to implant it in a host animal’s uterus. The researchers had initially thought they would need three to five years to be successful in their effort, but they now believe they can produce a cloned panda […]
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Ouch, That Mega-Hurts
As more Americans move to get rid of old personal computers, the nation may face a significant environmental problem. PCs contain traces of toxic chemicals such as mercury, and one survey found that old computer monitors are one of the largest sources of lead in landfills. A report released this month by the National Safety […]
