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News
- 08-28-03 Bush Administration Relaxes Pollution Rules for Power Plants (Christian Science Monitor - Knickerbocker)
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issues a ruling this week allowing thousands of power plants, refineries, and industrial facilities to upgrade without reducing the pollution they emit."
"The debate figures in larger questions about the Bush administration's environmental and energy policies - specifically, the extent to which industries influence such policies."But the GAO was unable to determine the extent of such influence because Mr. Cheney refuses to provide key documents detailing his meetings with energy companies and industry groups - including those that may be directly involved with the polluting aspects of energy production." "Meanwhile, the US Public Interest Research Group reports this week that 2002 was the worst smog season in recent years. (Smog is ground-level ozone caused by pollution from power plants, vehicles, and other sources, and is linked to asthma and other ailments.) Monitors in 41 states and Washington recorded 8,818 instances of unhealthy smog levels last year - nearly twice the violations of the national health standard in 2001." 8-03
- 08-28-03 Bush Administration Relaxes Pollution Rules for Power Plants (Christian Science Monitor - Knickerbocker)
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issues a ruling this week allowing thousands of power plants, refineries, and industrial facilities to upgrade without reducing the pollution they emit."
"The debate figures in larger questions about the Bush administration's environmental and energy policies - specifically, the extent to which industries influence such policies."But the GAO was unable to determine the extent of such influence because Mr. Cheney refuses to provide key documents detailing his meetings with energy companies and industry groups - including those that may be directly involved with the polluting aspects of energy production." "Meanwhile, the US Public Interest Research Group reports this week that 2002 was the worst smog season in recent years. (Smog is ground-level ozone caused by pollution from power plants, vehicles, and other sources, and is linked to asthma and other ailments.) Monitors in 41 states and Washington recorded 8,818 instances of unhealthy smog levels last year - nearly twice the violations of the national health standard in 2001." 8-03
- 09-04-03 Microbe Attacks Water Pollution (CBS News)
"An industrial chemical that pollutes groundwater and has resisted cleanup can be neutralized by an obscure microbe that researchers have discovered in the Hudson River bottom mud."
"In a study appearing Friday in the journal Science, researchers at Michigan State University report a previously unknown bacteria is able to turn trichloroethane, an industrial chemical that is difficult to clear from ground water, into a more benign compound that other microbes can render harmless." 9-03
- 09-04-03 Nation's Drinking Water at Risk (CBS News)
"Aging pipes and outdated treatment plants threaten the nation's drinking water systems, says an environmental group that reviewed 19 cities." 9-03
- 09-04-03 Water Pollution Report Card for States (CBS News)
"Two environmental groups released a review of government records Tuesday, showing that water pollution enforcement is failing in more than 40 states."
"Friends of the Earth and the Environmental Working Group say these states have allowed critically important water pollution permits to expire, effectively issuing industries a license to pollute."
"The review also concludes that there is currently little action afoot to correct this serious problem. Nevada, Rhode Island, Oregon and Nebraska all had more than two-thirds of their permits expired. Texas had the largest number of expired permits at 135." 9-03
- 09-04-03 World's Water at Risk (CBS News)
"Many of the world's natural underground reservoirs are diminishing rapidly, threatening the drinking water of millions of people and compounding the ravaging effects of drought and famine, the United Nations warned Wednesday."
"The United Nations called on governments to curb the use of groundwater through regulation. Worldwide action was needed to ensure that countries relying on irrigation diversify away from water hungry crops, the report added. " 9-03
- 09-04-03 World's Water at Risk (CBS News)
"Many of the world's natural underground reservoirs are diminishing rapidly, threatening the drinking water of millions of people and compounding the ravaging effects of drought and famine, the United Nations warned Wednesday."
"The United Nations called on governments to curb the use of groundwater through regulation. Worldwide action was needed to ensure that countries relying on irrigation diversify away from water hungry crops, the report added. " 9-03
- 09-17-03 Bush Pick to Lead EPA Grilled by Congress (USA Today - Kenworthy, Watson, and Keen)
"Some environmentalists say Leavitt sometimes shuts opponents out of the discussion, cuts secret deals and tilts heavily toward industry and developers."
"Even so, Leavitt's work to help clean the air over the Grand Canyon is among the environmental successes that will likely enable him to be confirmed." 9-03
- 10-01-03 Bush Administration Appeals to Top Court to Prevent Disclosure (Bloomberg News)
"The Bush administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to shield the government from giving advocacy groups documents they seek in a suit claiming Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force was influenced by corporations." 9-03
- 10-02-03 World Running Out of Oil (CNN News)
"Global warming will never bring a "doomsday scenario" a team of scientists says -- because oil and gas are running out much faster than thought." 9-03
- 11-05-03 EPA to Allow Polluters to Pollute (USA Today)
"The Environmental Protection Agency is likely to stop taking action against coal-burning power plants that the agency itself had accused of violating air-pollution laws, an EPA source familiar with the decision said Wednesday."
"Now, it plans to use the relaxed standards — not those in place when the companies violated the laws — to determine whether the companies should be sued." 11-03
- 11-23-02 Bush Administration Eases Clean Air Rules (CBS News)
"The Bush administration on Friday eased clean air rules to allow utilities, refineries and manufacturers to avoid having to install expensive new anti-pollution equipment when they modernize their plants."
- 11-27-02 Bush Proposes Less Protection for Forests and Wildlife (CBS News)
"The Bush administration is proposing giving managers of the nation's 155 national forests greater leeway to approve logging and commercial activities with less examination of potential environmental damages."
"The Bush administration proposal also would eliminate specific standards and procedures for maintaining and monitoring wildlife populations that foresters had to comply with, substituting broad goals in their place."
"Democrats accused the administration of attempting to 'undo most of the environmental safeguards that protect our nation's forests.' "
- 12-23-03 Soot Important in Global Warming (Scientific American)
"Greenhouse gases have taken much of the blame for rising global surface temperatures over the past century. The results of a new study suggest that soot has done a fair amount of damage as well."
"In a paper published online today by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, James E. Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Larissa Nazarenko of Columbia University report that soot may have caused fully 25 percent of the warming observed since 1880." 12-03
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