United States

EPA, U.S. lax on e-waste regulation, GAO says

A new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office paints a bleak picture of electronic-waste practices in the United States and condemns the U.S. EPA for its lax enforcement of a new national e-waste law. E-waste often contains toxics like cadmium, lead, and mercury, which can leach out of computers, TVs, and other electronics once […]

Driving cutback in U.S. bankrupting fund for infrastructure improvements

High gasoline prices in the United States have prompted a sustained cutback in driving, and the resulting dip in revenue from the federal gas tax is already canceling plans for infrastructure projects due to lack of funding. Right now, roughly one-quarter of bridges in the U.S. are either “functionally obsolete” or “structurally deficient,” and one […]

Extreme exceptionalism

“America is the most selfish country. From the way they talk, Americans believe even if the world disappears, America wouldn’t disappear.” — Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, on the U.S. not joining the Kyoto Protocol

Makah tribe members sentenced for illegal whale hunt

The five members of the Makah tribe who participated in an unsanctioned hunt of a gray whale last year were sentenced earlier this week. The Makah tribe, whose reservation is located in northwestern Washington state, is the only tribe in the country with treaty rights to hunt whales. However, the long, arduous process of obtaining […]

Green groups sue feds to protect polar bears from oil-drilling effects

Two green groups are suing the Interior Department over its refusal to limit the impacts of drilling on polar bears, which were listed as threatened last month. The Bush administration has tried its darnedest to ensure that listing the bears wouldn’t limit oil and gas exploration in their Alaskan habitat, but Pacific Environment and the […]

Captured sea lions on Columbia River assassinated

Six salmon-eating sea lions captured on the Columbia River in the U.S. Northwest were shot and killed over the weekend near the Bonneville Dam by an unknown assailant. A few weeks ago, the federal government itself announced it would allow wildlife officials in Oregon and Washington to kill up to 85 sea lions a year […]

William Chandler’s recommendations on how we can cooperate to lower emissions

William Chandler, director of the Carnegie Energy and Climate Program, has borrowed my phrase for the title of his new study: "Breaking the Suicide Pact: U.S.-China Cooperation on Climate Change." It begins:

Together, China and the United States produce 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Their actions to curb or expand energy consumption will determine whether efforts to stop global climate change succeed or fail. If these two nations act to curb emissions, the rest of the world can more easily coalesce on a global plan. If either fails to act, the mitigation strategies adopted by the rest of the world will fall far short of averting disaster for large parts of the earth.

These two nations are now joined in what energy analyst Joe Romm has aptly called "a mutual suicide pact." American leaders point to emissions growth in China and demand that Chinese leaders take responsibility for climate change. Chinese leaders counter that American per capita greenhouse gas emissions are five times theirs and say, "You created this problem, you do something about it."

Why are biofuels losing steam in Europe — and barreling ahead in the U.S.?

The signs are cropping up — we just need to heed them. Photo: iStockphoto “Biodiesel: No War Required,” reads a bumper sticker I see more often than you might expect in North Carolina. As in other states across the nation, a lot of activist energy here has gone into creating a market for diesel fuel […]

Oregon coast coho salmon re-listed as threatened

Coho salmon off the Oregon coast have been re-listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Yesterday’s move was compelled by a court-ordered deadline mandating that the NOAA Fisheries Service reconsider its 2006 decision to delist the coho because it wasn’t based on the best available science. The Oregon coastal coho stock has been the […]