Uncategorized

Biz Cool to Bush's Warming Stance

Pro-business types are aghast at Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s (R) recent announcement that he believes global warming is underway. Bush, the top GOP presidential contender, said he changed his position after meeting with advisers who agree that there is “some warming, but disagree about its cause and impact.” The head of the Environmental Defense […]

Browner Courts a Fight

The Clinton administration will do its darndest to overturn an appeals court decision made last week that invalidated EPA clean-air regulations on ozone and particulates, EPA Administrator Carol Browner said yesterday. In addition to appealing the ruling, which Browner called “extreme, illogical, and bizarre,” the administration will press on with its efforts to crack down […]

Invasion of the Habitat Snatchers

As of July 1, ships planning to enter U.S. waters will have to show they are doing their part to stem the tide of invasive species. The Coast Guard is implementing new regulations that will require big ocean vessels to empty their ballast tanks at sea before entering U.S. waters, in theory washing out foreign […]

Nuclear Leak

Three nuclear power plants in New England held closed-door discussions with a British company last year about the possibility of shipping their high-level nuclear waste to the U.K. Though the negotiations went nowhere, British anti-nuke groups were angry this week when news of the discussions leaked out. The New England nuclear plants want to shut […]

Brower Tries to Climb Sierra Again

David Brower, the outspoken, 86-year-old American conservationist, is making a bid for the presidency of the Sierra Club, a group with which he has had a hot-and-cold relationship over the years. Should he become president, Brower has said he would reopen the issue of immigration, which caused a big schism in the group last year, […]

Food Not Fit for a Monarch

Genetically modified corn can kill monarch butterflies, according to a study by Cornell University scientists published in today’s issue of the journal Nature. The corn contains a toxin that kills pests that feed on the crop, but researchers determined that the toxin also poses a risk to the butterflies. They found that toxic pollen from […]

Clean Air Inaction

Thirty-nine percent of factories tracked in a federal database were guilty of significant Clean Air Act violations from 1997 through 1998, according to a study released today by the Environmental Working Group. The violations by the businesses studied — oil refineries, pulp mills, steel mills, iron mills, auto assembly plants, and metal smelting and refining […]

Another Writ from Ritt

The European Union is in danger of missing its target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the European Commission announced yesterday, urging European nations to quickly agree on proposals to cut emissions. The EU pledged at the 1997 Kyoto climate change talks to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 8 percent from 1990 levels by 2012. Acting […]

Swap Swatted

The U.S. Forest Service failed to take into account potential harm to natural resources and damage to an ancient Indian trail when it approved a major forest land swap with Weyerhaeuser in Washington state, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The court said Weyerhaeuser, which has already logged part of the land since acquiring it […]

A Strike at Snake Dams

A utility district in west-central Oregon this week became the first to back breaching of four federal dams on the lower Snake River to help restore endangered salmon runs. The utility sent a letter to the Clinton administration urging partial dam removal, asserting that breaching the dams represented the best way to save the salmon […]