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Stall's Well that Ends Well
The Clinton administration is trying to delay until 2001 an international conference to finalize the Kyoto climate change treaty, a shift that would give the next administration the final word on the treaty. The international conference is currently scheduled for October 2000, a month before the presidential election. The postponement is intended to give negotiators […]
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Internet Boom Not Heating Up?
U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide declined slightly in 1998, the first drop since 1991, when the nation was in a recession, according to preliminary data from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Forthcoming numbers from the U.S. Energy Information Administration also show a very flat level of change rather than the 2 percent annual […]
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Wild, Wild West
The Clinton administration is planning broad steps to protect public land in the West during Pres. Clinton’s remaining time in office. In the coming months, the administration hopes to declare 1.5 million acres in Alaska as a wilderness area; 2.6 million acres in Utah as a wilderness study area; more than 500,000 acres in Arizona […]
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WHO Performs in Concert with Europe
Health concerns are likely to take center stage at this week’s gathering in London of European environment, transportation, and health ministers. The 51 European nations that are members of the World Health Organization are expected to take action to limit car use, promote cycling and walking, protect water supplies, and combat childhood asthma. WHO Director […]
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Goodbye Pennzoil, Hello Mazola
A new biodegradable vegetable-oil lubricant could completely replace petroleum-based motor oil in everything from cars to chain saws, say the Colo.-based inventors, who recently received a patent for their innovation. Meanwhile, two researchers from New York have won a patent for an environmentally friendly solvent that cleans clothes, an alternative to the toxic pechloroethylene (Perc), […]
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Grimace and Bear it
Western GOP governors are reconciling themselves to the notion that the Endangered Species Act is unlikely to be changed until after the 2000 presidential election. The governors, who were attending a Western Governors’ Association meeting this weekend, back a loosening of the law that would make it easier on landowners, but they don’t sense broad-based […]
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More Exhausting News
The air people breathe in their cars can be up to 10 times more polluted than the air outside, according to a study released yesterday by California air quality officials. As much as half of the pollution inside the vehicles tested was spewed by the vehicle ahead. Car ventilation systems were shown to be marginally […]
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Manatees Buffetted
Jimmy Buffet has joined the crusade of 22 environmental groups who are threatening to sue the feds and the Florida state government for failing to protect endangered manatees from being killed by boats. Collisions with boats kill more manatees than any other known cause; 66 were wiped out last year, and this year may see […]
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Some Enviros Call for Quincy Autopsy
The U.S. Forest Service is recommending increased logging across 2.4 million acres of national forest in Northern California. In a draft environmental impact statement to be released today, the USFS offers two potential logging alternatives for the area, both of which national enviros say would harm sensitive wildlife species, double the amount of logging now […]
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Not-So-Super Fund?
Forty-two cents of every federal dollar spent on the Superfund toxic waste cleanup program goes to toxic cleanups, according to a report released yesterday by the General Accounting Office, while the remaining money is spent on program overhead and administration. Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) said the report shows that the Superfund program is becoming less […]