Latest Articles

That’s the Way the Cookie Grumbles

As anticipated, the U.S. EPA announced yesterday that it would seek to alter a key Clean Water Act anti-pollution program in order to give states more flexibility in restoring their waterways. Under the revised program, states would develop and implement plans to clean up more than 20,000 dirty rivers, lakes, and estuaries. While the federal […]

That Sinking Feeling

In other scientific news of the day, trees might not be a climate change magic bullet after all, according to a study published in today’s edition of Nature. Trees and shrubs have been regarded as an ideal carbon sink (meaning they absorb excess carbon dioxide, reducing the concentration of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere) […]

Watered Down

Nearly a third of all major industrial facilities and state-operated sewage-treatment plants in the U.S. have significantly violated clean water regulations in the last two years, and one out of four operated on an expired pollution permit last year, according to a recent report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Moreover, relatively few of […]

Grim Jim

Six tons of weapons-grade plutonium can continue on its way to South Carolina, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday. The decision, which upheld a lower court ruling, was a blow to Gov. Jim Hodges (D), who has vociferously protested storing the waste in his state. Hodges argued that the Department of Energy needed to conduct […]

Paradise Without the Dashboard Light

The word “Zion” means a peaceful paradise — and for the past two years, Zion National Park has lived up to its name. Two summers ago, the famed Utah destination became the first national park in the continental U.S. to ban automobiles during peak visitor season. The resulting changes have been dramatic: fresh air, peace […]

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Fears

Despite its foreign-sounding name, the West Nile virus is becoming an undeniably American concern. Eighty-eight new cases were reported in three states last week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that the mosquito-borne virus is here to stay. About one in five people who get the virus develop flu-like symptoms; less […]

Rubber the Right Way

In other news from the halls of justice, a different federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the U.S. government must foot the bill for cleaning up hazardous waste stemming from a World War II effort to produce synthetic rubber. During the war, most of the natural-rubber exporters were under Japanese control, so demand was high […]

Shelling Out

The first lawsuit in the U.S. over contamination stemming from the gasoline additive MTBE was settled in California yesterday, when Shell Oil agreed to pay the South Tahoe Public Utility District $28 million to help fund the cleanup of tainted drinking water wells. The district filed the lawsuit in 1998, after MTBE contamination forced the […]

What’s a Little Nerve Gas Among Wildlife?

It seems like a wilderness paradise, replete with mule deer, bald eagles, and foxes — but Colorado’s Rocky Mountain Arsenal is also a Cold War relic contaminated by years of chemical weapons production. The 27-square-mile patch of land just 10 miles outside of Denver bears the paradoxical dual designation of National Wildlife Refuge and Superfund […]

Pick Your Poison

In the First World, debate over genetically modified (GM) foods is about differing ideologies; in southern Africa, where famine is deepening its grip, it is about life and death. The U.S. has offered to provide emergency food aid in the form of corn to seven stricken African countries, but some of that corn has been […]