Archive of Environmental News - March 2001
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 March 06, 2001 - GREENPEACE FOUNDER SUPPORTS BIOTECHNOLOGY - AGBIOWORLD, C.S. Prakash prakash@agbioworld.org, AUBURN, ALABAMA - Dr. Patrick Moore, ecologist and co-founder of Greenpeace, stated today that "the campaign of fear now being waged against genetic modification is based largely on fantasy and a complete lack of respect for science and logic." Moore joined over 3,000 scientists from around the world in signing a Declaration in Support of Agricultural Biotechnology, saying that, "In the balance it is clear that the real benefits of genetic modification far outweigh the hypothetical and sometimes contrived risks claimed by its detractors..."

  March 16, 2001 - GOP joins call for Western drilling - By JOHN HEILPRIN Associated Press Writer, WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans lawmakers on Thursday joined the Bush administration in seeking to consider exploratory oil and gas drilling in some areas of the West set aside by the Clinton administration as national monuments...

  March 16, 2001 - UN wants U.S. help on climate - COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Global action on climate change is not possible without cooperation from the United States, the top U.N. environmental official said Thursday. Klaus Toepfer's comments came two days after President Bush backed off a campaign promise and said he will not regulate power plants' emission of carbon dioxide, produced by burning fossil fuels like coal and oil...

 November 03, 2000 - Ban called in Great Barrier Reef - BRISBANE, Australia (AP) - Conservationists called Friday for ships carrying dangerous cargo to be banned from the Great Barrier Reef, a day after a container ship ran aground on the fragile coral. The Sydney-bound Malaysian container ship Bunga Teratai Satu, whose cargo included chemicals-based products listed as dangerous, ran aground Thursday on the Great Barrier Reef close to the northeast Australian city of Cairns. Further details of the cargo were not immediately released but the ship was known to be carrying more than 1,320 tons of fuel oil. The ship may not be refloated until next week because of unfavorable tides, Queensland state Transport Minister Steve Bredhauer said Friday. The 184-yard, 23,100-ton ship's hull was damaged, but not breached, and no fuel or chemicals leaked into the azure waters of the Coral Sea. The 1,200-mile Great Barrier Reef is the largest complex of coral reefs and islands in the world, comprising more than 2,600 individual reefs and some 300 islands off Australia's east coast.

 November 03, 2000 - Babbitt signs Red Rock Canyon plan - LAS VEGAS (AP) - Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt signed one of the nation's largest habitat conservation plans Wednesday in an attempt to protect threatened species while allowing development in the fast-growing Las Vegas Valley. "This is the most advanced, complete habitat conservation plan in the West," said Babbitt, who toured part of the 197,000-acre Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area before signing off on the plan. Babbitt says the plan guarantees open space around Las Vegas to protect the "extraordinary landscape" of coral-colored rock formations less than 20 miles from the neon-lit strip of the fastest growing metropolitan area in the nation over the past decade. Officials said the plan, also approved by the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and county officials, allows developers to co-exist with the environment. Under the new 30-year plan, the county can destroy plant and animal habitats but, in return, it must relocate the endangered species and assure their protection and survival.

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