| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Ashes of Fire
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27 Sep 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Ashes of Fire Every year, coal-fired power plants in the U.S. produce more than 100 million tons of ash, a byproduct of the burning process containing heavy metals or metal-like substances such as boron, selenium, arsenic, and magnesium. The energy industry claims the ash is benign, but many others fear that it is bad for the environment and human health. Those concerns are all the more pr ... |
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| Topics: energy, Kentucky, politics, pollution and waste, toxics, US EPA (all these topics) |
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Old Flame
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26 Sep 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Old Flame The chemicals in fire-resistant products help keep your home safe -- but they appear to be endangering species in the Norwegian Arctic. Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are showing up in high concentrations in the region's polar bears, whose cubs have a lower survival rate than elsewhere, as well as in the eggs of local seabirds, which area residents have been advised not to eat. Other affected species in ... |
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| Topics: Arctic, marine life, toxics, wildlife (all these topics) |
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My Even More Beautiful Laundrette
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18 Sep 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| My Even More Beautiful Laundrette Last week, California Gov. Gray Davis (D) took on washing machines, signing legislation requiring them to be water-efficient by 2007; now the state's South Coast Air Quality Management District has taken aim at a related target -- dry cleaners. The district, which is responsible for cleaning up the air breathed by about half of all Californians, wants to phase out perchloro ... |
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| Topics: California, health, pollution and waste, toxics (all these topics) |
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Not So Jolly
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13 Sep 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Not So Jolly An Italian ship carrying 400,000 gallons of diesel and fuel oil as well as highly toxic chemicals grounded yesterday just off a park in South Africa that is home to rare birds, fish, turtles, and plants. A fire has been raging on the Jolly Rubino for days, and the ship has come to rest seven miles south of the Greater St. Lucia Wetland Park's main estuary. Oil is r ... |
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| Topics: national parks, South Africa, toxics, water bodies and marine life, wetlands (all these topics) |
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Green Davis
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13 Sep 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Green Davis California Gov. Gray Davis (D) kept the green ink flowing yesterday by signing several more environmental measures into law. Perhaps the most significant of the laws -- what Davis termed "the most ambitious" renewable energy standard in the country -- requires that 20 percent of the electricity produced by private utilities in the state come from green sources by ... |
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| Topics: California, food and agriculture, politics, renewable energy, toxics (all these topics) |
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In the Drink
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12 Sep 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| In the Drink In other news from the Golden State, regulators in California are reviving a campaign to clean up perchlorate, a Cold War-era pollutant that has been showing up in drinking water supplies across the country. Since the 1950s, the substance has been used as an oxidizer in rockets, munitions, and fireworks. It was not considered ... |
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| Topics: business, California, commercial and industry organizations, health, pollution and waste, toxics, water pollution (all these topics) |
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Scientists Discuss How to Reduce Mercury Use Around Globe
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11 Sep 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Scientists Discuss How to Reduce Mercury Use Around Globe Scientists from around the world are meeting this week in Geneva, Switzerland, at a conference sponsored by the U.N. Environment Programme, to discuss ways to cut back on global mercury use. For decades, the toxic substance has been used in lamps, batteries, electrical equipment, thermometers, dental fillings, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and even beauty products. Gul ... |
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| Topics: health, toxics, United Nations (all these topics) |
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Not Breathing Easy
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09 Sep 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Not Breathing Easy As the one-year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon nears, some people are trying to assess the impact of the tragedy on the environment. In New York Harbor, biologists are studying the effects on aquatic life of the smoke and building fragments that drifted into the Hudson River. The debris had high levels of dioxins, PCBs, and metals. Meanwhile, New York City residents ... |
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| Topics: air pollution, New York, toxics (all these topics) |
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Deft Pallet On wooden pallets |
Umbra Fisk |
06 Sep 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, I've scrounged some old wooden shipping pallets for garden projects -- compost piles and raised planting boxes. They appear to be untreated wood, but I'm feeling paranoid. Is there any way to know? Do companies that make pallets routinely spray them with any preservatives? Thanks, Jim Dearest Jim, Great nations consider your humble garden pallets to be of vital economic importance. As world trade expands, the global market ofte ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, gardening, green living, toxics (all these topics) |
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Rhode Island Lead
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04 Sep 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Rhode Island Lead Rhode Island has taken eight paint manufacturers to court in a first-ever attempt by a state to hold companies accountable for decades of child lead poisoning. Rhode Island, which has one of the highest rates of such poisoning in the country, is claiming the manufacturers created a public nuisance by selling the paint. The paint companies counter that problems stem from ... |
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| Topics: commercial and industry organizations, health, Rhode Island, toxics (all these topics) |
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Another Anderson Scandal
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30 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Another Anderson Scandal A court in India has rejected efforts to reduce the charges against Warren Anderson, the former chair of the U.S.-based company Union Carbide, which was responsible for a 1984 gas leak in Bhopal that killed 3,000 people and sickened tens of thousands more. The leak from a pesticide plant in the central Indian city was one of the worst industrial ac ... |
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| Topics: commercial and industry organizations, health, India, pollution and waste, toxics (all these topics) |
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Czech It Out
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27 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Czech It Out A "mini-Chernobyl" -- that's how a Czech investigating commission has described the potential threat posed by a chemical plant just north of Prague that was damaged in last week's flooding in Central and Eastern Europe. The commission warned that the highly toxic chlorine released by the Spolana plant during the floods and again late last week could threaten &qu ... |
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| Topics: Czech Republic, European Union, health, rivers and watersheds, toxics (all these topics) |
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Sin Diesel On diesel engines |
Umbra Fisk |
15 Aug 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, Longtime reader; first-time writer. Love the column. My partner and I recently bought a small station wagon to replace our 4WD pick-up and '83 sedan. After some debate, we chose a turbo-diesel engine that boasts about 45 miles per gallon instead of a gas engine, which gets about 30 MPG. Our thinking led us to choose the higher fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions of the diesel engine, although the gas engine produces fewer par ... |
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| Topics: advice, air pollution, Ask Umbra, cars, energy, green living, oil, placemaking, toxics (all these topics) |
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Curse D' Alene
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14 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Curse D' Alene In a precedent-setting move, U.S. federal officials signed an agreement yesterday ceding control of the cleanup of Idaho's highly polluted Coeur d'Alene Basin to state, local, and tribal officials. For more than a century, mining waste from the Silver Valley washed down the Coeur d'Alene River into Lake Coeur d'Alene and the Spokane River, and from there into Lake ... |
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| Topics: Idaho, rivers and watersheds, toxics, US EPA, Washington, water pollution (all these topics) |
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Scrambled Eggs
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12 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Scrambled Eggs If you were looking for good news about endocrine disputers, you're out of luck. A global report by the World Health Organization has found extensive damage to wildlife from endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and could not rule out possible risks for humans as well. EDCs -- which lurk in pesticide residues on food, plastics, household products, and industrial chemicals, among other pla ... |
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| Topics: health, toxics, wildlife, World Health Organization (all these topics) |
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Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Fears
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07 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Fears Despite its foreign-sounding name, the West Nile virus is becoming an undeniably American concern. Eighty-eight new cases were reported in three states last week, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced yesterday that the mosquito-borne virus is here to stay. About one in five people who get the virus develop flu-like symptoms; less than 1 percent face the most ... |
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| Topics: health, Louisiana, toxics, 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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What's a Little Nerve Gas Among Wildlife?
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06 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| What's a Little Nerve Gas Among Wildlife? It seems like a wilderness paradise, replete with mule deer, bald eagles, and foxes -- but Colorado's Rocky Mountain Arsenal is also a Cold War relic contaminated by years of chemical weapons production. The 27-square-mile patch of land just 10 miles outside of Denver bears the paradoxical dual designation of National Wildlife Refuge and Superfund site. C ... |
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| Topics: Colorado, health, pollution and waste, toxics, wilderness (all these topics) |
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Shelling Out
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06 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Shelling Out The first lawsuit in the U.S. over contamination stemming from the gasoline additive MTBE was settled in California yesterday, when Shell Oil agreed to pay the South Tahoe Public Utility District $28 million to help fund the cleanup of tainted drinking water wells. The district filed the lawsuit in 1998, after MTBE contamination forced the closure of one-third of South Lake Tahoe' ... |
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| Topics: commercial and industry organizations, toxics, water pollution (all these topics) |
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Fish Styx
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01 Aug 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Fish Styx In Ohio, what you don't know can hurt you: The state has just cut a program that warned the public about consuming pollution-tainted fish. In the past, the state EPA and Department of Natural Resources collected fish samples and tested them for pesticides, mercury, and other toxic chemicals; the resulting information was then assessed by the state Health Department for its effects on humans and Ohioans wer ... |
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| Topics: Great Lakes, marine life, Ohio, toxics (all these topics) |
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Weed Creed On weeding |
Umbra Fisk |
30 Jul 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, We moved into a suburban neighborhood in Ft. Collins, Colo., last year and I began my usual organic gardening practices. I created a beautiful flower garden in our front yard, but I still receive complaints from my neighbors because I refuse to apply herbicides to kill the dandelions and other weeds in the lawn. At least they are all green and neatly mowed! My scientific explanations about the dangers of herbicides and pesticides and th ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, education, gardening, green living, toxics (all these topics) |
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A New Day Lawning On lawn and garden pesticides |
Umbra Fisk |
30 Jul 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dearest Umbra, Goddess of Green Knowledge, A few years ago, a farmer friend of mine argued that more pesticides and chemical fertilizers are applied to suburban lawns and gardens than are used in commercial agriculture. I can see how this might be the case, given the massive size of the lawn and garden chemical industry, but I haven't been able to verify this information. Can you help? Ed Hunt Dearest Ed, Supplicant, The l ... |
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| Topics: advice, agriculture, Ask Umbra, gardening, green living, health, toxics (all these topics) |
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Clothes Call On clothing |
Umbra Fisk |
30 Jul 2002 |
Ask Umbra |
| Dear Umbra, My nephew says that new clothes and other apparel that come from foreign countries are treated with toxic chemicals to avoid various types of fungal or insect contamination, and upon arriving at the loading dock of your favorite wanker-mart, they are ripe to toxify the air, your skin, your eyes. He worked on such a dock and had to wear a respirator and other protective devices to avoid dangerous levels of exposure to the stuff. So I ... |
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| Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, fashion, green living, toxics (all these topics) |
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Charms to Soothe the Savage Breast
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30 Jul 2002 |
Daily Grist |
| Charms to Soothe the Savage Breast Ten years ago, a group of women headed to Washington, D.C., from their homes in Long Island, N.Y., to demand answers from the government about why so many women from their area were afflicted with breast cancer. Ultimately, the energy, dedication, and political savvy of those women rocketed the Long Island breast cancer story into the national spotlight and mobilized a movement to look for enviro ... |
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| Topics: health, New York, toxics (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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