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Unlisted Numbers
Nearly 90 percent of all violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act are not reported in the government database that is made available to citizens and that triggers legal action when there are problems, according to a new audit by the EPA. Violations range from missed water quality tests to contamination problems. Most of the […]
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Activists Go Critical
More than 130 environmental, health, and anti-nuclear activists this week protested the composition of a new panel of scientists that will try to determine the cancer risks from low doses of radiation. In a letter to the National Academy of Scientists, under which the high-profile panel has been formed, the activists charged that the 20-member […]
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States to Air Differences in Court
A proposed compromise clean air plan between Midwestern states and Northeastern states has been rejected by parties on both sides, making it highly likely that the long-running dispute will be resolved only in court. Some of the Northeast states, which are forced to cope with pollution that blows in from power plants and other polluters […]
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From the Folks Who Brought You the Bomb
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory say they have found a way to help tackle the problem of climate change by combining carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas, with common magnesium- or calcium-bearing minerals. The resulting mixture, a mineral carbonate, would trap the CO2 and prevent it from reaching and […]
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At Loggerheads
Several dozen environmental groups will send a letter to Pres. Clinton today expressing “deep disappointment” over administration policy on Northwest forests. The enviros believe the administration’s Northwest Forest Plan, put in place in 1993, provides far too little protection for old growth. The timber industry, for its part, maintains that the plan is unworkable because […]
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Go with the Flow
After decades of disputes, eight states and 30 Indian tribes along the Missouri River have agreed on a compromise plan to share the river’s flow. The plan would, among other things, keep more water in upstream reservoirs in Montana and the Dakotas during dry times to boost recreation and protect fish and wildlife habitat, a […]
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De-beige-ing China
In an effort to clear Beijing’s thick smog before the 50th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China next month, the city plans to shut down furnaces, outlaw bonfires, and ban the use of trucks and tractors for 10 days. Meanwhile, in Nepal, officials are instituting an immediate ban on the import of two-stroke motorcycles […]
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Grow with the Flow
A state commission in Arizona yesterday backed a change to the state’s constitution that would let the state set aside some of its trust land for conservation instead of selling it for development. Still, the Growing Smarter Commission dodged the tough questions of how much land to set aside and who should choose it. And […]
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Hondurans Flushed over Sewage Problems
Honduras is urgently seeking $220 million in aid to repair its sewage system and stop the open flow of human waste through the streets of its capital Tegucigalpa. The city’s sewage system was severely damaged when Hurricane Mitch hit the area last year; some 80 percent of the pipes were destroyed and the remaining ones […]
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More Problems Unvailed
The Vail ski resort in Colorado is in environmental hot water again and could get slapped with millions of dollars in fines for building a temporary dirt road that is spilling sediment into a protected wetlands area. The road, which Vail says was accidentally built in the wrong place, was supposed to be used by […]
