Monthly News Archive:
December 2005
Table of Contents:
- Arctic National Wildlife Refuge spared from drilling
- Governor Offers Plan to Restore Puget Sound
- Chemicals target of state ban
- State meets all federal clean-air standards
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge spared from drilling
Cantwell blocks bid to drill in refuge
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers have feuded over drilling in Alaska's wilderness for 25 years.
In 1995, leaders of the new Republican majority in Congress thought they had realized a long-sought goal by passing a bill permitting drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). But President Clinton vetoed the measure.
Emboldened by electoral gains and President Bush's re-election in 2004, Republicans believed they had enough clout to muscle the measure through as part of this year's annua...Read the full story
December 22, 2005
Add Comments...Governor Offers Plan to Restore Puget Sound
An SOS for Puget Sound
Gov. Christine Gregoire on Monday said she’ll ask the Legislature to put a $42 million down payment on a master plan to restore the health of the Puget Sound by 2020.
“I want us to ramp it up,� she said at a Seattle press conference staged with fog-bound Elliott Bay as a backdrop.
Puget Sound might look pretty, but beneath the surface, pollution, toxic contaminants and raw sewage threaten the region’s health and economy, Gregoire said.
Her proposed spending plan is part of a budget packag...Read the full story
Chemicals target of state ban
Harmful flame retardant formulas increasingly found in environment, humans, study says
The state departments of Ecology and Health will recommend that the 2006 state Legislature ban certain chemical flame retardants known as PBDEs.
The chemicals, which reduce flammability in a variety of household products ranging from computers to furniture to carpets, are building up in the environment and in the bodies of humans at increasing rates, a just-released state study concludes.
While the health effects of polybrominated diphenyl...Read the full story
State meets all federal clean-air standards
OLYMPIA -- Washington state has become the first state in the West, excluding Hawaii, to fully comply with federal clean-air requirements, authorities announced Wednesday.
Only 12 states nationally have been certified by federal regulators as meeting the Environmental Protection Agency standards.
Washington's full compliance became official Sept. 26, when the area around the Wallula pulp and paper mill -- between the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla -- was certified as meeting the EPA standards, said Glenn Kuper, a spokesman for ...Read the full story
