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They're Going Through a Phase — You Know, Hormones
Biotechnology advocates and opponents squared off yesterday in Chicago at the first of three public debates on genetically modified foods being hosted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The hearing was highly structured, and most of the daylong session was devoted to discussions by panels that appeared heavily weighted with members who favor the […]
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Brooking No Damage to Blue Lagoon
A U.N. report made public yesterday warned of potential environmental harm from a salt plant that Mitsubishi and the Mexican government want to build on a lagoon in Baja California, near a U.N. World Heritage site, the biggest wildlife sanctuary in Latin America. The report is slated to be presented to the U.N. World Heritage […]
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Looking for Rare Plants in All the Wrong Places
Federal officials agreed yesterday to settle a lawsuit with enviros that has halted timber sales on 24.5 million acres of federal forests in Washington, Oregon, and California. The agreement would lift an injunction against 34 timber sales, which was imposed by U.S. District Judge William Dwyer, and open up other sales that the U.S. Forest […]
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Budget Ryder Hertz
The House yesterday overwhelmingly passed a massive budget bill that the Clinton administration says is a good deal for the environment. Congress knocked off a number of anti-environmental riders that had concerned conservationists and boosted funding for Clinton’s Lands Legacy program to purchase environmentally sensitive land. But the bill still contains a few riders that […]
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Gore on Off-Shore Leave
Democratic presidential hopeful Bill Bradley yesterday unleashed his sharpest criticism yet of Vice Pres. Al Gore, lambasting the Clinton administration for announcing last week that it will renew undeveloped offshore oil leases in California. Bradley questioned why Gore hadn’t spoken up about an environmental issue so important in California, saying it seems “either that he […]
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A Bush in Hand Is Worth … Oh, About $521,714
Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R) raked in 79 percent of the money donated to presidential candidates by oil, auto, and electric power interests in the first nine months of this year, according to a report released yesterday. Bush received $521,714 of $658,389 given to presidential hopefuls by employees of companies that belong to three […]
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The Pain in Maine Falls Mainly on the Fish
Under pressure from enviros, the feds yesterday proposed an endangered species listing for wild Atlantic salmon in eight Maine rivers. Thousands of salmon once swam up the rives from the Atlantic Ocean to spawn, but this year fisheries biologists counted only 29 adult salmon in the rivers. Under the proposal, the feds would have more […]
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U'Wa Get Pumped Up
About 200 U’wa Indians in northeast Colombia seized an area on Tuesday that they claim is an ancestral homeland to prevent Occidental Petroleum Corp. from oil drilling there. Occidental won approval in late September to begin drilling for crude after a seven-year legal wrangle over indigenous land rights. On Wednesday, however, Roberto Perez, head of […]
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A Connecticut Attorney in King Coal's Court
Following the lead of federal and New York officials, Connecticut’s attorney general said yesterday that he intends to sue 16 coal-burning power plants in five Midwestern and Southern states over pollution that is blamed for causing smog and acid rain in the Northeast. The legal actions are intended to force power companies to abide by […]
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Fleet Needs Enema
California’s schoolkids are breathing unhealthful exhaust spewed by diesel school buses that are among the nation’s oldest and most polluting, according to a report being released today by the Coalition for Clean Air. The report urges the administration of Gov. Gray Davis (D) to set tough emission standards for school buses and to provide tens […]