| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
That Sinking Feeling
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08 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| That Sinking Feeling In other scientific news of the day, trees might not be a climate change magic bullet after all, according to a study published in today's edition of Nature. Trees and shrubs have been regarded as an ideal carbon sink (meaning they absorb excess carbon dioxide, reducing the concentration of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere) and therefore an effective means to fend off global warming. President Bus ... |
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| Topics: politics, United States, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Watered Down
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07 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Watered Down Nearly a third of all major industrial facilities and state-operated sewage-treatment plants in the U.S. have significantly violated clean water regulations in the last two years, and one out of four operated on an expired pollution permit last year, according to a recent report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Moreover, relatively few of the noncompliant facilities have fa ... |
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| Topics: politics, toxics, United States, US EPA, water pollution (all these topics) |
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To Russia, With Empty Tanks
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06 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| To Russia, With Empty Tanks As President Bush weighs the pros and cons of waging war on Iraq, the issue of U.S. oil energy security looms large. And although no one would have believed it 50 years ago, the U.S. is increasingly contemplating Russia as a stable and desirable alternative source of oil. The strategic partnership between the Cold War-era e ... |
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| Topics: business, commercial and industry organizations, Middle East, oceans, politics, Russia, United States (all these topics) |
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Pick Your Poison
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06 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Pick Your Poison In the First World, debate over genetically modified (GM) foods is about differing ideologies; in southern Africa, where famine is deepening its grip, it is about life and death. The U.S. has offered to provide emergency food aid in the form of corn to seven stricken African countries, but some of that corn has been genetically modified. That leaves the governments of those nati ... |
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| Topics: Africa, business, GMOs, health, population, United States (all these topics) |
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Everyone's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Task Force
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05 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Everyone's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Task Force The Bush administration has 30 days to turn over more documents related to Vice President Dick Cheney's National Energy Policy Development Group, a federal judge ordered late last week. A number of other federal agencies involved in the secretive energy task force have already turned over thousands of pages of related documents, ... |
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| Topics: non-government organizations, politics, Sierra Club, United States (all these topics) |
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Signing of the Times
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02 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Signing of the Times In a sign of the increasing political importance of environmental issues, close to half of the U.S. Senate called on the Bush administration yesterday to postpone implementing proposed changes to the New Source Review rules under the Clean Air Act, pending a complete analysis of the potential impact on air quality and public health. A letter signed by 44 senators and directed to U.S. EPA ... |
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| Topics: air pollution, energy, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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Cut the Crop
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02 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Cut the Crop Concerned that experimental genetically modified (GM) crops could contaminate their unaltered counterparts and creep into the nation's food supply, the White House has drafted new rules to protect consumers and avoid costly and disruptive food recalls. The rules, which were written by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, propose preliminary crop-safety assessments before beginning large field tri ... |
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| Topics: GMOs, health, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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Beluga Wails
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02 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Beluga Wails Bad news for wealthy gourmets: By the end of this year, beluga caviar, the king of pricey delicacies, could be illegal fare in the United States. Earlier this week, the government proposed protecting the beluga sturgeon under the Endangered Species Act, following legal action against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services by the Natural Resources Defense Council. The sturgeon, which is found in the Caspian and Black Sea ... |
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| Topics: marine life, United States (all these topics) |
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Two Green Peas in a Pod
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02 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Two Green Peas in a Pod It's a rare day when Greenpeace and the Bush administration see eye to eye, but the environmental organization is siding with the White House in a fight against mahogany importers. Seven such importers have sued the administration for holding up 12 shipments of Brazilian mahogany, which have been stranded on U.S. docks since last winter due to concerns that they may violate Bra ... |
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| Topics: Brazil, Greenpeace, logging, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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Cruise Control
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01 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Cruise Control Norwegian Cruise Line, the fourth-largest cruise company in the world, will pay a $1.5 million fine for illegally dumping oil and untreated wastewater into the ocean, and subsequently lying about its actions. The company kept a false logbook and for three years lied to the Coast Guard about unlawful discharges off the coast ... |
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| Topics: Alaska, business, Florida, oceans, pollution and waste, solid waste treatment and disposal, United States, US EPA (all these topics) |
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Big Plan on Campus Universities combat climate change |
Shelley Smithson |
31 Jul 2002 |
Main Dish |
| "Do it in the dark!" That's the rallying cry at Tufts University in Medford, Mass., where an ambitious campaign is under way to cut greenhouse gases. Sure, climate change activism -- conserving energy, using renewable fuels, and constructing eco-friendly buildings -- isn't as sexy as marching against Vietnam or burning bras. But in an increasingly warm world, working to reverse global climate chang ... |
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| Topics: campus activism, climate, education, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, United States (all these topics) |
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Condom-nation
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23 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Condom-nation The Bush administration said yesterday that it would withdraw $34 million in international family planning funds from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), arguing that the organization supports programs in China that force women to have abortions, in direct violation of U.S. law. U.N. officials denied promoting abortions in China (or anywhere else, for that matter), saying ... |
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| Topics: health, politics, population, United Nations, United States (all these topics) |
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Thinking Inside the Box
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22 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Thinking Inside the Box Packaging for food products is a $12 billion industry dominated by variations on paper and plastic foam products. For 10 years, the company EarthShell has been trying to green the industry and get a lucrative piece of the pie. In place of Styrofoam containers or cardboard egg cartons, EarthShell sells products made of a mixture of limestone, sand, and starch from plants like corn and potatoes. The product ... |
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| Topics: green living, United States (all these topics) |
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Ex-siting
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22 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Ex-siting The U.S. EPA has restored Superfund monies to clean up 11 toxic sites, despite having told local officials at the sites that they would not receive any money this year. But only four of the sites will get the full amount requested by the officials. Last month, a report by the agency's inspector general listed 33 sites in 18 states that would not receive requested funds; with the recent shift, t ... |
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| Topics: pollution and waste, toxics, United States, US EPA (all these topics) |
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Dredgers, Dredge Thyself!
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18 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Dredgers, Dredge Thyself! In a sort of bureaucratic version of the ancient dictum, "Physician, heal thyself!", the troubled U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced a plan to cleanse itself from within. Its leaders, including Civil Works Director Maj. Gen. Robert Griffin, have unveiled a three-tiered program to improve the Corps' economic and environmental planning by enhancing internal training, using nat ... |
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| Topics: Army Corps of Engineers, United States (all these topics) |
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Re-tired
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17 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Re-tired In other news about trash, the U.S. is making significant strides in the reuse and recycling of rubber tires. Last year, Americans got rid of about 281 million tires -- some 5.7 million tons worth. In 1990, just one out of every 10 discarded tires was reused; now, that number has risen to nearly eight in 10. Some are burned to generate electricity; some are mixed with asphalt to pave roads; some are made int ... |
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| Topics: green living, recycling, United States (all these topics) |
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Whistleblow While You Work
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17 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Whistleblow While You Work Citing laws designed to protect institutional whistleblowers, the Labor Department has ordered the U.S. EPA to reinstate a former investigator to "ombudsman-related duties." The department concluded that EPA policy analyst Hugh Kaufman was removed from those duties in retaliation for complaining about the agency -- in other words, for doing his job too well. As an ass ... |
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| Topics: pollution and waste, toxics, United States, US EPA (all these topics) |
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I'll Have to Speak With My Attorney
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17 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| I'll Have to Speak With My Attorney In a letter being sent today to President Bush, 11 state attorneys general criticize the president for his failure to impose strong federal measures to limit emissions of greenhouse gases and control global warming. In addition to condemning the "regulatory void" created by the absence of federal action, the letter contends that environmental policies proposed by the Bu ... |
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| Topics: climate, ozone, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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Sound Science
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16 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Sound Science In a triumph of the military over the environment, the U.S. Navy yesterday won approval to deploy two ships that use low-frequency sonar to detect distant submarines, despite ongoing fears that the system could injure whales and other marine mammals. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration granted the Navy an exemption from federal rules protecti ... |
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| Topics: marine life, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, oceans, United States (all these topics) |
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I'll Do the Thinning Around Here, Baba Looey
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15 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| I'll Do the Thinning Around Here, Baba Looey Fanning a different kind of flame, Republican lawmakers are blaming environmental groups for contributing to the fires that destroyed more than 3.1 million acres of U.S. forests this year by blocking federal projects to thin undergrowth. Thinning removes brush and dead trees from the forest understory, thereby eliminating some of the dry matter and reducing ... |
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| Topics: logging, United States, US Forest Service, wilderness (all these topics) |
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The Daily Load
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15 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| The Daily Load The Bush administration could slash a key program of the Clean Water Act requiring federal oversight of states' efforts to restore polluted bodies of water. About 300,000 miles of rivers and shorelines and 5 million acres of lakes in the U.S. are categorized as "impaired water bodies" in need of remediation, but for decades, some states neglected their cleanup. That began to shift ... |
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| Topics: politics, United States, US EPA, water pollution (all these topics) |
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EV-ing Can't Wait
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12 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
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| Topics: green living, placemaking, recycling, United States (all these topics) |
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Always a Bribe's Made
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12 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Always a Bribe's Made Apparently inspired by the 2000 Gore-Nader brouhaha, the head of New Mexico's GOP tried to bribe Green Party leaders to field candidates in upcoming elections in order to drain votes away from Democrats. The state's Republican Party chair, John Dendahl, spoke with Green leaders about the possibility of making a six-figure contribution to their part ... |
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| Topics: environmental non-government organizations, political groups, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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Taken to the Cleaners
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12 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Taken to the Cleaners A plan by the Bush administration to speed cleanups of highly radioactive military waste is provoking the ire of some powerful foes. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said the plan -- which offers an extra $800 million in cleanup funds for the next fiscal year to states that can decide by Aug. 1 how to spend the money -- could give states an incentive to lower their envi ... |
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| Topics: Department of Energy, politics, pollution and waste, United States (all these topics) |
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Coca Is It!
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11 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Coca Is It! Efforts by the United States to combat cocaine production in Colombia by spraying coca crops with herbicides are coming up against a provision requiring the spraying to meet the same safety standards as those in the U.S. Translation: The U.S. EPA must certify that the spraying "does not pose unreasonable risks or adverse effects to humans or the environment." The herbicide in use in C ... |
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| Topics: Colombia, health, toxics, United States, US EPA (all these topics) |
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