Latest Articles
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The After-kla-math
The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has determined that there was “no sound scientific basis” for the federal government’s decision to deny irrigation water to more than 1,000 farms in Oregon’s Klamath Basin during last summer’s drought. A panel of 12 independent scientists, convened at the behest of Interior Secretary Gale Norton, concluded that there […]
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Area 51
Fair-to-middling was the U.S. ranking in a new study, presented at the World Economic Forum last week in New York, that rated the environmental health of 142 countries. In the study, conducted by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network at Columbia University, the U.S. […]
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All Wet
For almost a decade, developers have been required by federal law to create 1.78 acres of wetlands for every acre they destroy. Sounds great, but a new study by Washington State’s Department of Ecology found that only about 13 percent of 24 replacement wetlands in the state are successful. Wetlands-protection rules were established to protect […]
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A Patagonia on the Back
Gearheads have reason to feel smug about their Patagonia fleeces these days. Once again, the company appears among Fortune Magazine’s top 100 places to work in the U.S. — and this time it moved up 17 places in the rankings, to number 41. The company sold $223 million worth of outdoor gear last year, but […]
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Salt of the Earth
Tim Salt, a 27-year veteran of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, has been reassigned from his key post refereeing land-use disputes in the California desert, in a move environmentalists say is a capitulation to miners, ranchers, and off-road vehicle enthusiasts. As manager of the BLM’s 11 million-acre California Desert District, Salt drew the ire […]
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Asthma: World Turns
For the first time, researchers have concluded that smog can cause asthma, rather than just aggravate it. In the 10-year study, being published in the British journal Lancet, investigators followed children participating in athletics in 12 Southern California communities. Six of the communities had some of the nation’s poorest air quality, while six enjoyed relatively […]
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“No Way,” Says Norway
Long unhappy about pollution from Britain’s Sellafield nuclear power plant, Norway announced yesterday that it would call for a binding international agreement to force polluting countries to pay for toxic cleanups beyond their own borders. The nation’s foreign affairs committee voted unanimously to ask the government to impose economic sanctions on the U.K. until radioactive […]
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A Good Deed
The U.S. took a significant step toward acquiring its 57th national park yesterday when the Nature Conservancy announced that it had signed an agreement to purchase historic Baca Ranch, which borders Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes National Monument and Preserve. Conservationists have long lobbied for national park status for the area, which includes the tallest sand […]
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Generally Stalled Motors
General Motors Corp. is not doing nearly enough to improve the fuel economy of its vehicles, according to a report released yesterday. That might not seem like news, but the organization that released the report, the Boston-based Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, has been consulting with GM for almost 10 years and has been praised […]
