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Goodbye, Iron Curtain. Hello, Uranium Dump.
Russian and U.S. officials are expressing interest in a deal with a private U.S. company that wants store foreign nuclear power-plant waste in Russia. The company’s plan is to raise about $6 billion in storage fees from Taiwan, Korea, and other nations, primarily in Asia, that have spent nuclear fuel but nowhere to store it. […]
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Read My Lips: Lots More Salmon
Environmental groups are banding together with taxpayer advocates to argue that removing four dams on the Snake River not only would make sense for salmon but could save taxpayers billions of dollars. The enviros are trying to turn a Northwest issue into a national issue and wrest power from political leaders in the region who […]
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Bright Lights, Big City, Dead Turtles
Bright lights from cars and homes near Daytona Beach, Fla., may have to be dimmed to protect endangered sea turtles, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The court refused to throw out a case in which wildlife advocates sued a Florida county for failing to restrict artificial lighting on the beach, which distracts newly hatched sea […]
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Oh, And It's Safe to Drive Without a Seat Belt, Too
An arm of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened its mercury contamination standard yesterday, proclaiming it safe for people to consume three times as much mercury as the EPA advises. State health officials often use the standard to calculate advisories on how much fish people can safely eat. Environmentalists were joined by […]
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The Personal Environmental Ethics of a Real Stud
Chris Johnson is walking through the spruce-fir forest in Grand Mesa-Uncompahgre National Forest in western Colorado. Whip-thin and blond as a teenager, the 46-year-old wields his chainsaw as if it were a feather duster, touching it to the limbs that are in his way. They fall behind him. Photo: Lisa Jones. He’s cutting a trail. […]
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Power to the People
Earth Day 1999 — April 22 — will mark the beginning of a year-long “New Energy for a New Era” campaign leading up to Earth Day 2000. Denis Hayes, who was national coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970, is leading the charge. The goal is to rally hundreds of millions to push for […]
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One More Reason War Is Hell
NATO airstrikes at an oil refinery and petrochemical complex near Belgrade, Yugoslavia, early this morning unleashed a torrent of black smoke and toxic fumes into the air. Some 50 people were reportedly treated for gas poisoning. Serb officials said that to avoid further explosions, they were compelled to dump chlorine-based, carcinogenic chemicals into the Danube […]
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Worth Their Weight in Gold
An African man who has devoted his life to protecting a huge tropical rainforest and two aboriginal Australian women who have fought against a uranium mine are among the winners of the Goldman Environmental Prizes to be awarded today. The prestigious annual prizes honor grass-roots environmentalists from six continents; winners receive $125,000. Other winners this […]
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Not Just Fueling Around
DaimlerChrysler and Ford are teaming up with oil companies, a fuel-cell firm, and the state of California to build a demonstration fleet of as many as 45 fuel-cell cars and buses by 2001. The test program is seen as a big step forward in making the technology widely available. Meanwhile, GM and Toyota today will […]
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Clean Air: Maybe in Time for Y3K
The EPA is planning to make states clean up the air in national parks — though under the current plan, they wouldn’t be held accountable until 2064. Regulations to be announced by Pres. Clinton, perhaps as early as Earth Day this Thursday, would require states to assess their haze problems, develop cleanup plans by 2008, […]
