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  • This Rocks, Fish!

    Enviros scored a victory yesterday when a federal judge ordered the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service to do more to protect two species of rockfish, bocaccio and lingcod. U.S. Magistrate Judge James Larson of San Francisco said that the agency had failed to track the number of rockfish that die after they are inadvertently caught […]

  • Give Us Hybrids, or Give Us Death

      Re: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Do Good Dear Editor: I disagree with the action to dissuade Ford from making hybrid SUVs. I live in western Colorado and would very much like to own a hybrid car for environmental reasons; however, tiny two-door, lightweight cars that sit about six inches off the ground are useless […]

  • Smog and Mirrors

    Businesses located near national parks told the U.S. EPA yesterday to move forward with a plan to reduce smog over 156 parks. At a hearing yesterday, the businesses and environmental groups warned that tourism dollars could dry up and acid rain problems would increase unless the agency adopted rules proposed by the Clinton administration to […]

  • Kentucky Fried Mountaintops

    A Kentucky citizens group yesterday sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to try to stop coal mining operations from burying streams under rock and dirt waste piles. The group says the Corps doesn’t have the authority under the Clean Water Act to approve the fills, which are a result of mountaintop-removal mining. Bill Caylor, […]

  • Michelle Nijhuis reviews The Tapir's Morning Bath by Elizabeth Royte

    It's easy to glorify field biologists. They travel to exotic locales, hang out with rare wildlife, and further humanity's understanding of the natural world. What could be more valuable -- or more fun?

  • All Falls Down

    Chanting "let the water flow," about 4,000 residents joined a convoy of trucks from around the country yesterday in Klamath Falls, Ore., to protest the federal government and demand more irrigation water for their farms. This spring, the feds shut off the water to protect endangered fish, and the small amount of water released earlier […]

  • Give a Hoot, Don't Commute

    The U.S. Transportation Department launched a new campaign yesterday to reduce pollution and encourage telecommuting by offering smog-emissions credits to companies that get more employees to work from home. Under a two-year pilot program, businesses that earn the credits will be able to swap them for air-quality requirements or sell them to other companies. The […]

  • Parris in the Summertime

    As a last hurrah, Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening (D) says he will push for new restrictions on development along Maryland’s coastal bays. He says he will introduce a bill to preserve the wetlands and protect water quality in the next legislative session –which will be his final one in office — and he expects the […]

  • Kiwi Me a River

    In a big loss for the Green Party in New Zealand, the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification has rejected the idea of a country free of genetically engineered crops and animals. The commission determined that biotech foods need not “threaten New Zealand’s ‘clean green’ image,” recommending that research on the foods “proceed with caution,” including […]

  • Fees: "Fie," Foes Fume

    Organizers say more than 200 grassroots groups have sprung up across the U.S. to protest fees for using federal lands. In 1996, Congress launched a pilot program to allow certain national forests, refuges, and other federal lands to begin charging fees for access, parking, and campsites. Congress this year is deciding whether to extend and […]