DOE Predicts More Coal Plants

November 1st, 2005 | Natural Resources News Service | | Leave a comment

Amid growing concerns around the country over pollution from coal-fired power plants, the U.S. Department of Energy quietly released a report this week showing a continuing surge in construction of the generators.

Electric utilities currently have plans to build 129 new coal-burning plants by 2025, with the largest numbers on the drawing boards in Illinois (13), Kentucky (8), Florida (7), Pennsylvania (7) and Montana (6), the DOE said.

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Bush Brothers Landfill Creates Mess in Virginia

October 27th, 2005 | Natural Resources News Service | | Leave a comment

In the heated race for Virginia governor, Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore is running away from both George W. Bush and his youngest brother Marvin, a central figure in a nasty landfill dispute in the usually tranquil Shenandoah Valley.

Kilgore, a former state attorney general, is in a horse race with Democratic Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine to replace Gov. Mark Warner. Virginia governors are only allowed one four-year term, and Warner’s successor will be chosen Nov. 8.

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DEA May Spell Relief for Rivers in Maine

October 18th, 2005 | Natural Resources News Service | | Leave a comment

After years of resistance, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) appears ready to consider a relaxation of federal laws governing expired pharmaceuticals that have impeded national efforts to keep expired and unused pharmaceuticals out of water supplies. The shift coincided with the latest in a wave of scientific studies showing the crippling effects of these drugs on aquatic life.

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One EPA Basher Replaced By Another

September 28th, 2005 | Natural Resources News Service | | Leave a comment

The removal of Rep. Tom DeLay from second-in-command of Congress may seem like a breath of fresh air for the environment, but his fill-in as House majority leader is quickly quashing that notion.

DeLay, indicted this week on campaign-finance charges in his home state of Texas, is a former pest exterminator who calls EPA “the Gestapo of government,” as CNN’s Candy Crowley pointed out yesterday.

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