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A Quest Called Tribe

U.S. EPA Administrator Christie Whitman acknowledged this week that it was “all too apparent that EPA needs to do more” to help tackle environmental problems on tribal lands. Whitman’s announcement came during the Sixth National Tribal Conference on Environmental Management, held this week in Sparks, Nev. The conference focuses on mining, water and air quality, […]

Foresight Is 20/20

California state regulators unanimously approved a measure yesterday that will allow Golden State residents to save up to 20 percent on their electric bills by conserving power. Beginning in July, households that use 15 to 20 percent less electricity than they used in 2000 (before the energy crisis) will receive an additional, proportional deduction from […]

Auto-ah!

The Canadian government has proposed levying a tax on motorists to help pay for implementing the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. The Canadian Automobile Association, which represents some 4 million vehicle owners, calculated that the tax would be roughly $1,200 per year, based on 15 cents per mile of urban driving and three cents per […]

Dentist the Menace

Here’s one more reason to dread your dentist: Many dental offices flush old fillings down the drain, washing the mercury inside them into the nation’s waterways. That makes dentists the single largest discharger of the toxic metal, according to a national study entitled “Dentist the Menace?” and published by a collection of health and environmental […]

Give Us a Hand

Pop Quiz For Daily Grist Readers: What’s important about today? That’s right — it’s the second-to-last day of the first-ever Grist fundraising drive. So far, it’s been a resounding success, and we’re hoping that those who haven’t yet given will dig deep and help us sprint to the finish. We know, we know; you were […]

Haida Ho

In an unusual move, unhappy employees of paper giant Weyerhaeuser are siding with native inhabitants of British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands, the Haida, in their legal battle against the company. Earlier this year, the Haida sued the company for control of the islands and their forests; on Monday, a reported 135 of 155 Weyerhaeuser employees […]

Iguana Be Alone!

Eighteen months ago, a grounded tanker spilled 150,000 gallons of diesel and bunker fuel into the waters around the famed Galapagos Islands. Luckily, shifting winds sent most of the fuel out to sea rather than into shore, so sea lion and bird deaths numbered in the dozens rather than the hundreds. At the time, biologists […]

Boxer Rebellion

President Bush scored a victory yesterday when the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved his plan to store highly radioactive nuclear waste beneath Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, but he was challenged by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on other environmental issues. Reps. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) and Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) introduced legislation supported by […]

Thumbs Down Under

Elsewhere in depressing but predictable climate change news, Australia rejected the Kyoto Protocol today, saying it would not ratify unless the U.S. did so as well, and unless developing nations were required to begin cutting their emissions. Taking a page from President Bush’s book, Prime Minister John Howard said that ratifying the protocol “would cost […]

Barefoot but Not in Park

With gasoline selling for less than the price of a bottle of Evian and SUVs all the rage, fuel economy seems to have fallen off most Americans’ radar screens. But this is the U.S. of A., land of a million subcultures, and one of them is obsessed with the quest for ultra-fuel efficiency. While most […]