Latest Articles
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Science Friction
Top Scientists Accuse Bush Administration of Distorting Science The Bush administration, reeling from a series of unflattering stories and unfavorable poll numbers, took another kick in the pants yesterday when 60 of the world’s most influential scientists — including 20 Nobel laureates and 19 recipients of the National Medal of Science — accused the administration […]
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Corn to Be Wild
U.K. to Approve Planting of GM Corn The British government is set to give the go-ahead for genetically modified corn to be grown in the nation, according to documents leaked yesterday from a meeting of top government officials. A formal announcement is expected next week, though the government maintains that no final decision has been […]
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Ethanol and Mirrors
Bush Administration Extends Contentious “Dual-Fuel” Rules In a move that will make it easier for automakers to meet fuel-efficiency standards without actually improving the fuel efficiency of their vehicles, the Bush administration announced yesterday that it will extend for four years a system that gives auto manufacturers credits for producing “dual-fuel” vehicles that can run […]
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Yucca Will Leaka
Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Dump Beset With Problems The perpetually beleaguered nuclear waste dump being constructed at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain is coming under fire again, from several directions. Yesterday, Paul Craig, who recently resigned from the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board to make his concerns public, stated flatly that the Department of Energy’s current design […]
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To Leach His Own
Nalgene Water Bottles May Be Hazardous to Your Health Here’s some bummer news for the outdoorsy set: Recent studies have shown that polycarbonate plastics, including the kind used in popular Nalgene water bottles, may leach one of their constituent chemicals into water. The chemical in question, bisphenol-A, has been shown to cause chromosomal disorders and […]
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I’ve Got You Under My Skin
Study Finds MTBE Can Be Absorbed Through Skin A U.S. EPA study released yesterday concludes that the controversial fuel additive MTBE can be absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin, a finding likely to, ahem, fuel calls for further study and regulation. While the EPA was careful to say that the health effects of MTBE […]
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Put Down the Drills and Back Away Slowly
Enviro Groups Sue to Stop Alaska Drilling A coalition of seven environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to stop a plan to open 8.8 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to oil and gas development. The groups — including the National Audubon Society, Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Alaska Wilderness […]
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A wide-ranging interview with environmental visionary Paul Hawken
Paul Hawken. It’s hard to believe it was only a month ago that environmental hotshots Paul Hawken, Bruce Babbitt, Bill McKibben, and Terry Tempest Williams published a joint endorsement of Howard Dean in Grist. “We’ve concluded that the blast of clean air coming from the millions of Americans that constitute the Dean campaign is the […]
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The Yellowstone snowmobile controversy gets more convoluted by the minute
The past few days have brought two more odd legal twists and turns to the Yellowstone snowmobile saga, which is becoming more litigiously complex and far-flung than a John Grisham novel. She’s got a ticket to ride. Photo: NPS. The story is essentially a protracted game of legal Ping-Pong: The Clinton administration served the ball […]
