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Washington Is Tenth Healthiest State
Seattle Times
12/05/2008
A mixed snapshot emerged from a new report card released Wednesday offering a state-by-state checkup on key health measures.
Washington ranked 10th healthiest in the country, up two spots from 2007.
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Funds for Kids' Health Unveiled in Alaska
Anchorage Daily News
12/05/2008
Gov. Sarah Palin is calling for more state spending on children's health insurance, preschool and other programs, even as Alaska oil prices and state revenues plunge.
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Oregon Convention Center's Eco-Policy Boosts Business
Oregonian
12/05/2008
The convention industry may seem an unlikely green force in Portland, but McCartin, the executive vice president of convention and tourism sales for Travel Portland, said the region's environmental ethos is a natural fit. Meanwhile, even organizations without an environmental focus are requiring that convention sites provide services like recycling and renewable energy.
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EPA Enforcement Keeps Pollution Out of Idaho
Boise Idaho Statesman
12/05/2008
Federal environmental regulators enforcement actions kept 9.3 million pounds of pollution out of Idaho in 2008.
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Energy Goals a Moving Target for States
New York Times
12/05/2008
In hopes of slowing global warming and creating "green jobs," Congress and the incoming administration may soon impose a mandate that the nation get 10 or 15 percent of its electricity from renewable sources within a few years.
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Views: Reproductive Freedom
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
12/05/2008
Difficult as it is to fathom, the war against abortion has morphed into a war on contraception. The campaign began the day Bush took office, when he signed the global gag rule, which took contraception away from the poorest of the world's poor women, and has continued apace, though not unchallenged.
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Awaiting Klamath Dam Removal
Indian Country Today
12/01/2008
A glimmer of hope appeared in November when the Bush administration proposed a nonbinding agreement that would result in removal of the four lowest dams beginning in 2020 - which would be the largest dam removal in U.S. history.
The possibility comes after 100 years without salmon for Klamath tribes upriver.
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Emissions Systems May Come for Buses, Trucks
Washington Post
12/05/2008
The Environmental Protection Agency mandated yesterday that manufacturers of heavy diesel trucks and buses install dashboard lights by 2010, like those devised for cars more than a decade ago, to signal whether emissions control equipment is malfunctioning.
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Seattle Housing: City Life for First-Time Buyers
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
12/05/2008
For first-time buyers such as Donovan and Ogle, sliding Seattle home prices mean a chance to buy in the city, rather than "driving to qualify" farther away in King, Snohomish or Pierce counties.
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Electric Cars in the Spotlight
Vancouver Sun
12/05/2008
In Los Angeles, where the smog and smoke hang thick, the theme at this year's L.A. Auto Show was green, green and greener.
Everything from electric cars to fuel cell-powered SUVs sat centre stage.
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Viaduct Options No Threat to I-5 Travel, Study Says
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
12/05/2008
An economic study says building a tunnel or new highway to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct would mean "little change" in trip times for drivers on Interstate 5.
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Viaduct Options Have Similar Economic Impacts
Seattle Times
12/05/2008
The eight options for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct may all be different, but each would have similar economic impacts, according to an economic report released by the city, state and county Thursday.
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All Viaduct Options Unfriendly to Pedestrians, Study Finds
Seattle Times
12/05/2008
None of the eight options for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct would be friendly for pedestrians, according to a new study to be released today.
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Try a Trike in San Fran Bike-Sharing Program
San Francisco Chronicle
12/05/2008
Owners of a North Beach bicycle shop announced Thursday the city's first bike-share program, featuring three of the adult trikes.
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Big 3 Automakers Make Fuel-Efficient Return
Seattle Times
12/05/2008
Humility was the order of the day Thursday as the chief executives of Detroit's automakers - arriving conspicuously in hybrid cars and promising to take salaries of $1 a year - returned to Capitol Hill to ask for up to $38 billion in federal loans.
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EPA Levies $3.1 Million in Fines in 2008 in NW
Anchorage Daily News
12/05/2008
Companies, state agencies and cities in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington paid $3.1 million in penalties and agreed to spend nearly $58 million to clean up or control pollution during fiscal year 2008, according to the region's top federal environmental enforcer.
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Washington Environmental Groups Outline Priorities
AP
12/05/2008
With Washington facing an expected deficit of more than $5 billion in the upcoming two-year budget cycle, environmental groups say they're heading into the 2009 legislative session with a wish list that adds jobs and revenue.
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Views: Smart Driving Can, and Must, Make a Difference
Boise Idaho Statesman
12/05/2008
Vehicle emissions aren't the only variable that affects the Valley's summer air quality.
While we cannot control the temperature or the severity of the fire season, we can control how much we drive.
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Washington's New Tack: Helping Homeowners
New York Times
12/05/2008
Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, warned on Thursday that the soaring number of foreclosures threatened the economy. He then proposed some ideas - government-engineered loan modifications, and more taxpayer money to help people refinance - to keep people in their homes.
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Next on Obama's Dance Card, Mother Nature
Washington Post
12/05/2008
The Obama transition team, moving along smartly to fill Cabinet posts, is planning to trot out nominees as early as next week for three jobs much watched by enviros: the secretaries of energy and the interior and the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Economists Raise Doubts About Alternative-Energy Spending
USA Today
12/05/2008
Prompted by public concern over the economy and energy costs, President-elect Barack Obama and Democrats in control of Congress are touting a two-for-one solution: spending billions of dollars on alternative-energy programs to create jobs and help lift the nation out of recession.
But some economists, such as Vincent Reinhart, a former Federal Reserve Board official now at the American Enterprise Institute, caution that funding energy projects could help the economy less than other forms of spending.
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Views: Obama's Environmental Test
Wall Street Journal
12/05/2008
You might think now that Barack Obama has staffed his economic and security teams, the hard choices are over. But he has one more doozy of a decision to make. And the worry is that his picks for that final, crucial team - those overseeing energy and environmental policy - will undo any smart moves the president-elect has made so far.
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Groups Challenge 'Clean Coal' Efforts
Washington Post
12/05/2008
A group of environmental organizations concerned about global warming, including one backed by former vice president Al Gore, is launching an advertising campaign this week to counter the coal industry's efforts to promote what it calls "clean coal."
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Views: Oregon Helps Feds Meet Sustainability Goals
Salem Statesman Journal
12/05/2008
The latest chapter in the longstanding relationship between the federal government and the counties of Western Oregon is now about to begin with the release of the Bureau of Land Management's final Environmental Impact Statement covering 2.6 million acres in Western Oregon.
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Monitoring Gaps Endanger BC Salmon Runs
Victoria Times Colonist
12/05/2008
Salmon runs are collapsing because inadequate and inaccurate monitoring by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is leading to overfishing, says a study published yesterday in the National Research Council's Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Science.
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