Latest Articles
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Is This Guy a Double Dip?
A scientist who was directing a closely watched study on genetically engineered crops at the high-profile National Academy of Sciences abandoned his post last month for a job in the biotech industry, giving weight to fears of environmental scientists that the final report will be biased toward the industry’s point of view. The study, intended […]
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Dog Gone It!
Several conservation groups have petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider listing as endangered the black-tailed prairie dog, a keystone prairie species. Prairie dog populations have declined by 99 percent, and their habitat has shrunk to less than 1 percent of its historic size, reduced by farming, development, and decades of government-funded eradication […]
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Jakarta for the Hoarse
Many of Southeast Asia’s biggest cities — including Manila, Bangkok, and Jakarta — are beset with trash troubles, lacking the funds to replace their antiquated waste disposal systems. Landfills have reached towering heights, and trash is piling up in rivers, bays, and alleys. In Manila, some 30 percent of the city’s trash ends up in […]
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The King and Ay-Ay-Ay
To the dismay of Maine Gov. Angus King (I), two sport-fishing groups filed suit against the feds yesterday for failing to adequately protect Atlantic salmon in Maine rivers. The Atlantic Salmon Federation and Trout Unlimited want the fish added to the endangered species list. Earlier in the decade, the federal government declared the fish a […]
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Judge Favors Hooters' Chicks
The U.S. Forest Service is putting on hold new timber sales in spotted owl territory in the Northwest, seeking to avoid new legal problems in U.S District Court. Last week, a federal judge put nine timber sales on hold, saying the Forest Service had violated the Northwest Forest Plan by failing to conduct wildlife and […]
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Tricks of the Trade
U.S. officials and corporations are worried that protestors who argue that free trade harms the environment and has other negative social effects will get too much attention at the World Trade Organization meeting to be held in Seattle in November. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) recently sent a letter to Pres. Clinton expressing “deep concern” that […]
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Strange Bedfellows
An unlikely duo, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Larry Craig (R-Idaho), has joined forces to craft a bill that would create a loan program encouraging private landowners to plant trees to help reduce global warming. Funding for the program would come from fines collected under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, which amounted […]
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Pop Kills the Weasel?
Greenpeace yesterday called for a global halt to the production of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) — synthetic chemicals that damage the environment, pollute the food chain, and can even be found in breast milk. In a new report, the group said POPs were spreading over thousands of miles and killing striped dolphins, polar bears, and […]
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Endless Summer?
It’s August, Washington is on vacation, and your faithful columnist has just returned from four blissful days soaking up sweet rays and digging his toes into the soggy, welcoming sand of Rehoboth Beach, Del. In fact, slathered in sunscreen and buffeted by crisp breezes rippling off the Atlantic, we couldn’t help but notice how much […]
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Up on the Farm
Pres. Clinton today will sign an executive order that aims to triple by 2010 the amount of biomass energy generated in the U.S. from farm products, crop wastes, and trees. Administration officials note that the effort will help cut the use of fossil fuels and result in $15 billion to $20 billion in additional farm […]
