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Chinese Dragon Their Heels on Cleanup

In the wake of devastating Yangtze River floods last year, China’s leaders seem to be recognizing that many of their efforts to boost economic growth have been unsustainable and they are gradually working to tackle environmental problems, writes Elizabeth Economy in an op-ed in the South China Morning Post. The leaders have their work cut […]

Hot Job Opportunities

A concerted push in Florida to forestall global warming could benefit the state’s economy by creating 27,000 new jobs in environmentally friendly industries, according to a study conducted by the Tellus Institute for the World Wildlife Fund. Such an effort would also reduce air pollution in the state by cutting harmful emissions from power plants […]

Trouble Right Here in River City

5,270 large dams blocked rivers in 1950 36,500 large dams block rivers today 17 percent of U.S. rivers are currently dammed 600,000 miles of rivers in the U.S. have been impounded behind dams 235,000 miles of rivers in the U.S. have been channelized 25,000 miles of rivers in the U.S. have been dredged for navigation […]

What Kind of Research Are They Doing — Taste Tests?

Five Japanese ships set sail yesterday with the intent of killing 440 minke whales, under the aegis of a program that allows whaling for scientific research. The whales killed will be consumed as gourmet meat back in Japan. Commercial whaling has been banned since 1986, but Japan has long insisted that the ban should be […]

Judge Barks at Feds

Enviros are entitled to seats on committees that are advising federal officials on trade in wood and paper products, a federal judge ruled yesterday. Six environmental groups had filed suit against the feds, demanding representation on the committees, which are now composed exclusively of industry representatives and which are pushing for the elimination of tariffs […]

Emission: Impossible

The nation’s first super-ultra-low-emission vehicles, described as the cleanest gasoline-powered automobiles in the world, will go on sale in California early next year, the state Air Resources Board said yesterday. The cars — special models of the Honda Accord and Nissan Sentra — have super-efficient catalytic converters that reduce tailpipe emissions to one-eighth the level […]

Taxation Without Vexation

A British plan for a climate change tax to be levied on heavy energy users has been significantly scaled back, from about a 20 percent tax on energy costs to a 10 percent tax, in large part because of complaints from industry. But proposed changes to the climate change tax, set to go into effect […]

Well, Well, Well

New York Gov. George Pataki (R) yesterday set strict new limits for drinking water pollution from the gasoline additive MTBE, responding to growing concerns about its health effects. MTBE makes gasoline burn cleaner and helps reduce air pollution, but it has been found to contaminate wells and water supplies, and a federal panel this summer […]

Byrds of a Feather Flock Together

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) rallied more than 500 miners outside the Capitol yesterday, complaining that the White House had backed off on its support for a rider that would let strip mining continue on West Virginia mountaintops. A federal judge ruled last month that the controversial “mountaintop removal” mining technique, which uses explosives to take […]

The Yellow Haze of Texas

GOP presidential frontrunner George W. Bush boasts about a law he signed in Texas earlier this year that set voluntary pollution standards for old industrial plants, saying he has done more than any previous Texas governor to clean up industry. But enviros and even federal officials say the new law is far too lax to […]