 Stories from November 17, 2008
On His Own Term
Obama won't send delegation to Poland climate conference
President-elect Barack Obama will not attend the United Nations climate conference in Poland next month nor send a delegation on his behalf, the U.N. climate chief announced Monday. Many climate activists had high hopes that President Bush's successor would attend the conference as a way to jumpstart the sluggish talks. Explaining his decision, Obama said, "There is one president at a time."
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
All This Work, and Nothing to Chauffeur It
NYC announces new, voluntary plan to encourage hybrid taxis
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlined a new, voluntary plan to encourage taxi-fleet owners to use hybrid vehicles after the city's initial plan to dramatically increase taxi fuel-efficiency was struck down by a federal judge last month.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
They Can't Carry a Tuna
International talks to save Atlantic tuna begin in Morocco
Representatives from some 46 nations are meeting this week in Morocco to try to hash out an agreement on stemming overfishing of imperiled bluefin tuna while still keeping the bluefin fishing industry alive. Experts say the sustainable catch limit in the Mediterranean Sea should be about 15,000 tons a year, but last year fleets caught an estimated 61,000 tons.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
A Burning Question
Concerns raised about wildfire-fighting chemicals
As wildfires rage in southern California, concerns are burgeoning about the chemical mix that firefolk drop as a fire retardant. It's "fairly well known that it's toxic to aquatic organisms, to fish," says one fire management officer; nonetheless, notes another firefighter, "It's the people whose houses are not on fire that are concerned about it."
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
We Shale See
Western lands opened to oil-shale development
The Bush administration on Monday cleared the way for tens of thousands of acres in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming to be used for oil-shale development, publishing final rules governing how federal land will be leased for extraction of the expensive, pollute-y, only recently un-banned fuel source. Companies tapping into oil shale will have to pay far less in royalties than the going rate for conventional gas and oil. Still, commercial oil-shale leasing is at least five to 10 years off.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
Get Off the Omnibus
Giant public-lands bill put on hold 'til next year
A bill that would protect hundreds of miles of public land is being put on hold until the new year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday. The Omnibus Public Land Management Act passed out of committee with bipartisan support, but Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has threatened to filibuster over concerns that it will stymie oil and gas development. Congress doesn't have the time to deal with Coburn's shenanigans this month, says Reid, but the bill will be top priority next year.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
Grin and Share It
iPhone rideshare app coming soon
It's the 21st century, folks -- text with your hitchhiker's thumb. An iPhone application called Avego will soon be available to hook up drivers with those who need rides, helpfully suggesting a safe place to pull over and calculating the split cost between driver and rider. No word on how it'll go over in Ontario, which recently effectively made ridesharing illegal.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
Bristol Bay May Get Knocked Up
BLM opens land near Alaska's Bristol Bay to development
Some 2 million acres near Alaska's Bristol Bay will be opened to development for the first time under a plan released Friday by the Bureau of Land Management. The agency's decision to throw the door open for mining and drilling in the area, which is home to the world's largest sockeye salmon run, is opposed by environmentalists, Native Alaskans, and commercial fisherfolk.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
The Nerve!
Gulf War syndrome exists, says scientific panel
Gulf War syndrome, an umbrella term for a batch of neurological disorders experienced by nearly a quarter of the 700,000 veterans of the 1991 war, is attributable to "neurotoxic exposures," a scientific panel told Congress on Monday. The report specifically points to a pesticide and anti-nerve-gas drug commonly used by the soldiers. The federal government has maintained for nearly two decades that syndrome symptoms are a result of post-traumatic stress.
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2008, Grist Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved
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