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Death to Coughy

Almost 6,000 people will die prematurely from respiratory illness due to emissions from power plants owned by eight utility companies that the Clinton administration sued for violating the Clean Air Act, according to a private report released yesterday. In addition to the deaths, the report predicted that the pollution would lead to 140,000 asthma attacks […]

7.7 Degrees of Separation

Two new studies on global climate change, both appearing in the latest issue of Nature, predict that the Earth will get even hotter by the end of the century than previously estimated by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. One study, from Switzerland, sees a 7.7 degree Fahrenheit increase by 2100; the other, from […]

A breakdown of the Arctic Refuge vote in the Senate

The Senate today effectively voted down Amendment 3132, which would have allowed oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. “Effectively,” because the issue never actually came up for debate: The Democrats filibustered, and drilling advocates fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to break the blocking tactic and force passage of […]

Cheshire Fat Cat

Here’s a whole new meaning for the phrase “company town”: The village of Cheshire, in southeastern Ohio, will be purchased for $20 million by American Electric Power Company. Last year, the town was plagued by clouds of sulfuric acid drifting in from a nearby AEP power plant, Ohio’s largest coal-burner. Notwithstanding a recent $175 million […]

Let It Allard Hang Out

The plot thickens in the controversy over the federal government’s decision to ship weapons-grade plutonium from Colorado to South Carolina for temporary storage. Arms-control advocates and Democratic politicians in South Carolina allege that the Bush administration is backing a shipment plan in order to improve the re-election prospects of Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.). Allard, who […]

The Best Offense Is a Bad Defect

In a groundbreaking decision, a San Francisco jury determined yesterday that gasoline containing the additive MBTE is a defective product and that two major oil companies were aware of but did not disclose the additive’s dangers when they began marketing it. The lawsuit was brought by the South Tahoe Public Utility District after it discovered […]

Ski-don’t

There’s good news and bad news for environmentalists on the personal-watercraft front. On the up side, the National Park Service announced yesterday that it would permanently close five national parks to personal watercraft. Park officials and much of the general public object to personal watercraft in parks, saying Jet Skis and their ilk disrupt wildlife […]

Hopping Mad

Atrazine, the most popular herbicide in the U.S., appears to cause a wide range of sexual abnormalities in frogs, according to a study by biologist Tyrone Hayes published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Seventy-five million pounds of atrazine are used in the U.S. every year, and it is the most […]

The Letter of the Log

More than 220 prominent scientists sent a letter to President Bush today calling for an end to logging on federally owned lands. The scientists, including E.O. Wilson, argued that the economic value of timber from public lands was insignificant compared to the environmental damage from logging, and that taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize […]

Southern Inhospitality

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham informed South Carolina yesterday that the federal government would ship plutonium to the state, over the objections of Gov. Jim Hodges (D). The announcement was the latest in the country’s ongoing debate about what to do with its surplus weapons-grade plutonium. The feds want to store some of it in […]