Latest Articles

Green Camouflage

The Pentagon spends about $5 billion a year on its “environmental security program,” trying to reduce the environmental impact of the armed services. But many greenies think that’s not enough, and up until the terrorist attacks, the military was facing growing pressure to take the environment more seriously. A proposal in Congress would require the […]

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

Former President Bill Clinton paid a visit to Hollywood yesterday to speak at a fundraising dinner for the American Oceans Campaign. Leonardo DiCaprio, Barbra Streisand, Dennis Quaid, Rhea Perlman, and other stars were on hand to honor the president for his past environmental work. The event raised $600,000 for American Oceans, which was founded by […]

Flying Fish

A proposal to create marine parks off the coast of California has led to shouting matches between environmentalists and scientists on the one side and the fishing industry and recreational anglers on the other. The proposal would prevent fishing and other human activities in as much as 20 percent of state waters — a 100-fold […]

Precedent of the United States

A federal judge dismissed an effort by the timber industry and users of off-road vehicles (ORVs) to overturn former President Clinton’s order to designate 328,000 acres of federal land in California’s Sierra Nevada as Giant Sequoia National Monument. The plaintiffs challenged the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the president the authority to establish monuments. They […]

Benzene Wring

A five-year study by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission found that two chemical companies, Marathon Ashland Petroleum and BP Chemical, have been releasing unacceptable amounts of benzene into the air around Texas City, 60 miles southeast of Houston. The levels of benzene, which is a known carcinogen, were three to six times higher than […]

Hot Food

A sting operation by Cambodian wildlife officials uncovered 137 restaurants dishing up endangered species in the country’s capital city of Phnom Penh. The officials rescued more than 1,300 critters, including wild boars, rare turtles, scaly anteaters (called pangolins by those in the know), and a sun bear. Although no one was arrested as a result […]

Not Sitting on Defense

The U.S. Senate yesterday voted 99-0 to approve a $345 billion anti-terrorism defense bill, after voting 100-0 not to get sidetracked by amendments like one that would have opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) had proposed to add the entire GOP energy bill […]

Twenty-first Century Fox

More than 30 tons of toxic PCBs will be dredged from 19 miles of Wisconsin’s Fox River if a cleanup plan announced yesterday wins public support. To atone for decades of dumping the toxins, a consortium of seven paper companies would pick up the $308 million price tag for the cleanup of the Fox, which […]

Cyanide, Sealed, and Delivered

Residents of Montana won’t have to vote again on a 1998 ban on the use of cyanide in open-pit gold mines. The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday chose not to consider an appeals court ruling that upheld the voter-approved ban. A corporate spending cap on initiative campaigns in Montana prevented mining companies from throwing their full […]

How Unattracktive

Environmental groups in the U.S. are asking Republican leaders not to take up a controversial trade bill, saying that it could jeopardize the “spirit of bipartisan unity” in Congress. The bill would grant the president the authority to negotiate trade agreements and prevent Congress from amending them; lawmakers could merely vote yea or nay on […]