Friday, 07 Apr 2000

Orgy-porgy, Ford and Fun

Ford Motor Co. yesterday became the first U.S. automaker to commit to producing a gas-electric hybrid vehicle, a version of its Ford Escape SUV that the company says will hit the market by 2003. Ford estimates that the hybrid Escape will get about 40 miles per gallon, compared to 20-28 mpg for the conventional Escape. Still, Ford is three years behind Honda and Toyota, which are selling gas-electric hybrid vehicles this year. In addition to its hybrid Insight, already on the market, Honda is developing hybrid versions of its Civic and CR-V SUV. DaimlerChrysler and General Motors are also working on hybrid SUVs, but have not announced plans to bring them to market.

I've Got the World's Tiniest Violin ...

The chair of Occidental Petroleum has filed suit against environmental and human rights activists who have been picketing his home and office to protest Occidental's plans to drill for oil on rainforest land in Colombia that is considered to be the ancestral home of the indigenous U'wa tribe. Ray Irani claims his family life was disrupted and wants a court to grant him damages for his "substantial emotional distress." Amazon Watch Executive Director Atossa Soltani: "It's ironic that Ray Irani is trying to stop the protests around his home when he's invading the U'wa homeland." At the U'wa tribe's request, a Colombian court last week issued a temporary order that stops Occidental from beginning its drilling. The company plans to appeal.

Feel My Roth!

The Senate showed its support yesterday for opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, a move vehemently opposed by enviros. The Senate voted 51-49 against dropping from the budget resolution an assumption that ANWR will be opened to drilling, thereby netting the government $1.2 billion by 2005. Sen. William Roth (R-Del.) led the unsuccessful attempt to eliminate the ANWR provision from the budget bill, arguing that the pristine area should be protected "for all time and all generations." Although the budget resolution is nonbinding, yesterday's vote indicated that there might be support for a separate measure being pushed by Alaska Sens. Frank Murkowski (R) and Ted Stevens (R) that would open ANWR's coastal plain to drilling. President Clinton has pledged to veto any bills that would allow oil development in ANWR.

Trunk and White

South Africa has sparked a big controversy with its proposal to sell a large stockpile of ivory believed to be worth $5 million. Africa's elephant population was estimated last year at 620,000, down from 1.2 million less than 20 years ago. Although the decline seems to have been checked, in part because of a 1989 ban on international trade in ivory, many scientists are still worried about elephant populations. The South Africans argue that regulated sales of ivory acquired through natural elephant deaths and other legal means would provide badly needed funds, some of which would go toward elephant conservation programs. But wildlife officials Kenya and India warn that a resumption in ivory sales anywhere would encourage elephant poachers around the world. A showdown over the issue is expected next week when delegates to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species convene in Kenya.

Gary, Gary Quite Contrary

Fourteen containers of PCB-contaminated waste have been sitting since Wednesday on a ship at the Port of Seattle, with dock workers refusing to unload the cargo and environmentalists threatening to sue if the waste is brought ashore in Seattle. The 110 tons of waste, generated at U.S. military bases in Japan, had been headed for processing in Canada, but before the ship reached its destination, the Canadian government refused to admit the waste into the country. The EPA then granted the U.S. Department of Defense permission to temporarily store the waste at a Seattle warehouse. But Washington Gov. Gary Locke (D) yesterday insisted that the waste won't be unloaded in the state unless the Pentagon guarantees that it won't stay any longer than two weeks. A Pentagon spokesperson said yesterday that there is not yet a final destination for the contaminated cargo.