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Old McDonald Had a Farm — K-Y-O-T-O
The Kyoto climate change treaty’s impact on U.S. farmers would be relatively modest, even if energy prices rise, according to an Agriculture Department report scheduled to be released today. Meanwhile, as U.S. negotiators look toward the upcoming international climate change meeting in Bonn, the coal industry and conservatives in Congress are pressing for $2 billion […]
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Cleaning Up As-Best-Os They Can
As Oklahoma residents struggle to reorder their lives after the devastating tornadoes that swept through their towns this week, they will face serious environmental cleanup problems. It will take months to haul away a staggering amount of debris — 220 million cubic yards — and officials aren’t sure where they’ll put it. Federal officials may […]
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Give a Hoot — File a Suit
Enviros yesterday filed suit against the feds in an effort to protect the Mexican spotted owl in Arizona and New Mexico. The owl population has dropped 10 percent a year between 1991 and 1997, according to a Humboldt State University study. The suit, filed by the Southwest Center for Biological Diversity, aims to force the […]
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Tourism, the Snake Charmer
Breaching four dams on the lower Snake River to protect salmon would likely more than double revenue from recreation and tourism along a 140-mile stretch of the river in Idaho and Washington, according to a draft report from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The findings could add momentum to arguments in favor of breaching […]
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No Silver Lining for These Muchachos
A Mexican company announced yesterday that it would undertake the largest environmental cleanup in the nation’s history in Torreon, 500 miles north of Mexico City. But many say it’s too little, too late. Pollution from the world’s largest silver refinery in the town has caused severe lead poisoning in thousands of children, and despite studies […]
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UK + Y2K = YUCK
The UK may face widespread pollution problems at the turn of the millennium because its industries are failing to adequately address the Y2K computer bug. More than half of 400 companies surveyed by the nation’s Environment Agency have not overcome potential millennium bug issues. Computers play a key role in controlling most industrial processes, including […]
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Starting Down a Slippery (North) Slope
Despite protests and a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, the U.S. government yesterday sold oil drilling rights to environmentally sensitive but oil-rich land on Alaska’s North Slope for $105 million. Enviro groups, including the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society, have a suit pending against the federal government over the drilling leases, claiming that the environmental impact […]
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Fish Can't Scale Walls of Death
International fishing authorities are cracking down on illegal drift-netting, an environmentally destructive method using nets that are more than 1.5 miles long and that indiscriminately catch all fish and marine mammals in their paths. Though driftnets — referred to by enviros as “walls of death” — were banned in international waters by the U.N. in […]
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Domo Aregato, Mr. Clean-Auto
Japanese automakers have reached a tentative agreement with the European Commission to voluntarily raise the fuel-efficiency and reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of cars sold in Europe. Europe’s own automakers voluntarily pledged last year to increase efficiency to about 48 miles per gallon. Attempts to reach a similar agreement with Korean car manufacturers have stalled […]
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Wetlands, the Quicker Picker-Upper?
Human-made marshes that filter water naturally are gaining in popularity as an alternative to high-tech water purifying systems, according to experts speaking at a National Marketplace for the Environment meeting in Anaheim, Calif. Partially treated wastewater and stormwater runoff are sent to constructed wetlands, where plants and microbes purify the water of silt and some […]
