Latest Articles

Everyone’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Task Force

The Bush administration has 30 days to turn over more documents related to Vice President Dick Cheney’s National Energy Policy Development Group, a federal judge ordered late last week. A number of other federal agencies involved in the secretive energy task force have already turned over thousands of pages of related documents, but the Bush […]

Amazon Quivers

Deep in the southeastern jungles of Peru, a stand-off has begun between illegal loggers and some of the world’s last wholly isolated indigenous groups. Around 400 native Amazonians, who traditionally have little to no contact with the outside world, have emerged to try to run the illegal loggers off the land. After four of the […]

Summer Buggin’

Think of it as good news in bad packaging: The swarms of mayflies that are coating Midwestern towns this summer are a sign that the region’s waterways — most notably the Mississippi River — are healthier than they’ve been in decades. The flies don’t bite or sting; they just mate and die, all in the […]

Beluga Wails

Bad news for wealthy gourmets: By the end of this year, beluga caviar, the king of pricey delicacies, could be illegal fare in the United States. Earlier this week, the government proposed protecting the beluga sturgeon under the Endangered Species Act, following legal action against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services by the Natural Resources […]

Cut the Crop

Concerned that experimental genetically modified (GM) crops could contaminate their unaltered counterparts and creep into the nation’s food supply, the White House has drafted new rules to protect consumers and avoid costly and disruptive food recalls. The rules, which were written by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, propose preliminary crop-safety assessments before beginning […]

Tipping the Scales

A government-commissioned study has concluded that escapes from fish farms in Scotland pose a “major threat” to the nation’s wild fish population. According to Friends of the Earth, about 1 million salmon have escaped from Scottish fish farms in the last five years. If just 1 percent of the farmed population escapes each year, the […]

Two Green Peas in a Pod

It’s a rare day when Greenpeace and the Bush administration see eye to eye, but the environmental organization is siding with the White House in a fight against mahogany importers. Seven such importers have sued the administration for holding up 12 shipments of Brazilian mahogany, which have been stranded on U.S. docks since last winter […]

Signing of the Times

In a sign of the increasing political importance of environmental issues, close to half of the U.S. Senate called on the Bush administration yesterday to postpone implementing proposed changes to the New Source Review rules under the Clean Air Act, pending a complete analysis of the potential impact on air quality and public health. A […]

Oh, What a Bad Feeling

Toyota has been getting a lot of kudos recently for its low-emissions hybrid vehicle, the Prius — but the car company increased its carbon emissions in the U.S. during the 1990s more than any other major automaker in the country, according to a report released this week by Environmental Defense. The group said Toyota increased […]

Cruise Control

Norwegian Cruise Line, the fourth-largest cruise company in the world, will pay a $1.5 million fine for illegally dumping oil and untreated wastewater into the ocean, and subsequently lying about its actions. The company kept a false logbook and for three years lied to the Coast Guard about unlawful discharges off the coast of Florida; […]