Uncategorized
All Stories
-
Grimace and Bear it
Western GOP governors are reconciling themselves to the notion that the Endangered Species Act is unlikely to be changed until after the 2000 presidential election. The governors, who were attending a Western Governors’ Association meeting this weekend, back a loosening of the law that would make it easier on landowners, but they don’t sense broad-based […]
-
More Exhausting News
The air people breathe in their cars can be up to 10 times more polluted than the air outside, according to a study released yesterday by California air quality officials. As much as half of the pollution inside the vehicles tested was spewed by the vehicle ahead. Car ventilation systems were shown to be marginally […]
-
Manatees Buffetted
Jimmy Buffet has joined the crusade of 22 environmental groups who are threatening to sue the feds and the Florida state government for failing to protect endangered manatees from being killed by boats. Collisions with boats kill more manatees than any other known cause; 66 were wiped out last year, and this year may see […]
-
Some Enviros Call for Quincy Autopsy
The U.S. Forest Service is recommending increased logging across 2.4 million acres of national forest in Northern California. In a draft environmental impact statement to be released today, the USFS offers two potential logging alternatives for the area, both of which national enviros say would harm sensitive wildlife species, double the amount of logging now […]
-
Not-So-Super Fund?
Forty-two cents of every federal dollar spent on the Superfund toxic waste cleanup program goes to toxic cleanups, according to a report released yesterday by the General Accounting Office, while the remaining money is spent on program overhead and administration. Rep. Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) said the report shows that the Superfund program is becoming less […]
-
Made in Taiwan
A highly controversial load of toxic waste from Taiwan, which caused deaths and rioting while it was temporarily dumped in Cambodia, may find a permanent home in Idaho. A Taiwanese plastics manufacturer hopes to ship the millions of pounds of mercury-contaminated waste through Seattle or Tacoma, Wash., on its way to a plant in Idaho, […]
-
Hold Your Fire!
Researchers are questioning a practice promoted in recent years of allowing wildfires to burn, saying that it can be highly damaging in certain ecosystems. Two studies published in today’s issue of the journal Science indicate that in the Brazilian rainforest and California brushland, it’s better to fight fires. Up through the 1960s, the feds had […]
-
![]()
![]()
Alaskan finds gold mine in trash
John Dean is never still when he’s at his composting and recycling facility, tucked behind the airport in Anchorage, Alaska. Dressed in his usual baseball cap and a T-shirt that reads “Compost — Because a Rind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste,” Dean splits his days between the seat of a backhoe and his mobile-home […]
-
Get the Bread Out
Trial lawyers and politicians are hoping to wring a lot of money from the former producers of lead paint as the lawyers prepare a massive legal assault inspired by the recent attacks on tobacco companies. Lead paint — which can lead to lowered IQs, severe learning difficulties, and behavioral problems in children — was banned […]
-
Hazy Shade of Winter
Scientists have been surprised to discover a massive haze of air pollution the size of the U.S. that covers the Indian Ocean during winter and combines with monsoon rains to cause acid rain over the Indian subcontinent, China, and Southeast Asia during the summer. The haze is composed of several minute byproducts from the burning […]
