Latest Articles
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Something to HUD
Feds Withholding Info on Lead-Contaminated Public Housing If the comments of a senior federal housing official, captured on videotape, are to be believed, the government is withholding information on public-housing sites around the country that are contaminated by lead paint. Joseph Smith, deputy director of the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control for […]
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Dr. Jekyll and Formaldehyde
EPA Develops Industry-Friendly Wood-Products Regulation How does the song go? “It’s all the same; only the names have changed.” This time around, it’s the wood-products industry. Since 2002, the U.S. EPA has been under court order to develop a regulation governing formaldehyde emissions from wood-products facilities. Formaldehyde is used as a binding agent in pressed-wood […]
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A Different Kind of Giant Sucking Sound
China Hoovering the World’s Raw Materials China is huge, its economy is exploding, and its consequent hunger for resources is having profound effects on the world’s economy and environment. Sure, you’ve heard it before, but trust us — it’s a big deal. Consider: According to the country’s own statistics, it consumed half of the world’s […]
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New Spitz Review
Four Northeast States Sue Pennsylvania Power Company In the latest skirmish over the new-source review provisions of the Clean Air Act, four Northeastern states have announced their intention to sue a Pennsylvania power company over emissions they say are drifting across state lines to worsen smog and cause respiratory problems. The Bush administration announced in […]
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Home Run
California Considers Innovative New Enviro Laws Speaking of states picking up balls the feds are dropping: A pair of intriguing new eco-friendly bills are on the table in California. The first, recently approved by the state Senate, would mandate that an as-yet-undetermined percentage of new single-family homes built in developments of 25 homes or more […]
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404 Error: Failure to Recycle
Computer Manufacturers Get Low Grades on Recycling Computer makers’ environmental programs generally stink, though U.S. companies — particularly Dell and Hewlett-Packard — are better than most, says an annual report released yesterday by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, an enviro group based in San Jose, Calif. No company is recycling more than 2 percent of […]
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Justice of the Greenpeace
Federal Case Against Greenpeace Thrown Out of Court The U.S. government’s unusual criminal suit against Greenpeace USA was rather unceremoniously booted from federal court yesterday by U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan. In a rare “directed verdict,” the judge found the group not guilty midway through the trial, after the prosecution had presented its case but […]
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Survival of the Weakest
Humans Affecting Evolution of Other Species Lay scientists tend to think of evolution as a glacially slow process, with changes measured in hundreds of thousands of years, not decades. However, growing collaboration between ecologists and evolutionary biologists is highlighting a phenomenon called “contemporary evolution” — and it ain’t pretty. Turns out, by culling the largest, […]
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The Lawn and Short of It
Organic Lawn Care Taking Off With the U.S. adding some 2 million acres of residential property a year, lawns are becoming a significant environmental issue. In addition to sucking up water — the average lawn drinks about 10,000 gallons of water over and above rainfall, says the U.S. EPA — lawns are frequently doused with […]
