Global News Headlines 08/18

[greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org]

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Greenpeace Daily Environmental News Headlines
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Wednesday, August 18, 1999
Greenbase Unit
Greenpeace International
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 TOXICS 

1) The Christian Science Monitor August 18, 1999, SECTION: USA; ENVIRONMENT;
Pg. 3 HEADLINE: A citizen armada searches waterways for polluters BYLINE:
Daniel B. Wood, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor DATELINE: LOS
ANGELES HIGHLIGHT: Activists from the Water Keeper Alliance supplement the
enforcement of the Clean Water Act BODY: As his 17-foot Boston  Whaler  bobs...

2) 08/18  WSJ(8/18): THE WALL STREET JOURNAL / CALIFORNIA: Officials
Plan To Revive Water Drain Tainted With Toxins And Controversy By
Mitchel Benson Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal / California
SACRAMENTO --  State and federal water officials and the powerful
Westlands Water  District are thinking what was once unthinkable:
completing a  controversial agricultural...

3) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: US man gets 13 years in prison for polluting
waterways DATELINE: WASHINGTON, Aug 17  BODY: A US federal court has handed
a Florida man the longest sentence ever given AFP Tuesday.dual for
environmental crimes, a Department of Justice spokesman Gary Benkovitz was
sentenced to 13 years in prison for dumping toxic waste into Tampa's sewer...

4) Japan Economic Newswire HEADLINE: Organotins still plague mollusks 8
years after controls DATELINE: TOKYO, Aug. 18 Kyodo  BODY: Reproductive
abnormalities caused by toxic chemicals in ship paints continue to plague
Japan's mollusk population even after nearly eight years of controls on the
use of the chemicals, according to a scientific study released Wednesday....

 NUCLEAR POWER 

(GREENPEACE)
5) AP Worldstream August 18, 1999 HEADLINE: Greece officials urge Turkey to
reconsider nuclear power plans DATELINE: ATHENS, Greece  BODY: Greek
officials Wednesday called on neighboring Turkey to abandon plans to build a
nuclear reactor after the country suffered a devastating earthquake. Turkey
plans to build a 1,218 megawatt nuclear power plant at Akkuyu, on its...

(GREENPEACE)
6) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Greenpeace protest of Swiss nuclear
reprocessing thwarted DATELINE: BASEL, Switzerland, Aug 18 BODY: Swiss
police arrested some 20 Greenpeace activists Wednesday before they could
demonstrate against the arrival of an empty rail car en route to pick up
nuclear  waste for reprocessing in France.    Police arrested the activists,...

7) 08/17 Lithuania debugs Soviet-built nuclear plant at Igna... By
MICHAEL TARM  Associated Press Writer VISAGINAS, Lithuania (AP) --
Like software experts around the world, Aleksandr Mysko is scrambling
to ensure the computers at his workplace are free of the millennium
bug. He may be under more pressure than most. His task is to
safeguard Ignalina nuclear power...

 NUCLEAR WEAPONS & MILITARY 

8) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Hurricane Dora heading for US chemical
warfare site DATELINE: AUCKLAND, Aug 18  BODY: A powerful hurricane was due
to hit the US chemical weapons disposal plant on Johnston Atoll between
Hawaii and the Marshall Islands Wednesday night (Tuesday night local), the
US National Weather Service warned. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported in...

 OCEANS 

9) 08/17 UNESCO Mission To Probe Mexico Saltworks Plan By Michael
Christie MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - The United Nations will send a
fact-finding mission to a lagoon in Mexico where environmentalists
fear plans to build the world's biggest saltworks may threaten
endangered whales, turtles, antelopes and other animals. The
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said...

 ATMOSPHERE & ENERGY 

10) THE INDEPENDENT August 18, 1999, HEADLINE: Disaster predicted BODY: The
SAARC Meteorological Research Centre (SMRC) has given grave geophysical
tidings with implications for the future of the country confirming an old
fear. The SMRC findings show that the sea level along Bangladesh's coast is
rising at about three millimetres a year and sea  surface temperature is...

11) Oil search hampered by costs of drilling  Nairobi (The Nation, August 17,
1999) - Exploration costs and the unpredictability of the quantity of
oil likely to be realised are the  major reasons for lack of interest
in oil prospecting in Kenya. A workshop heard that the cost of
offshore oil drilling ranges from  Sh25 million to Sh35 million a
month. And this...

12) TASS HEADLINE: Moscow slams US for attempts against Russia-Turkey (adds)
BYLINE: By Irina Bazhenova and Gennady Kulbitsky DATELINE: MOSCOW, August 18
BODY: Moscow is concerned about U. S. attempts to scupper a Russian-Turkish
plan to build a gas pipeline, the Foreign Ministry's official spokesman said
in a statement on Wednesday. Some U.S. officials "are insistently and...

13) FOCUS-Turk refinery blaze rages, explosion heard By Osman Senkul IZMIT,
Turkey,  Aug 18 (Reuters) - A huge fire raged on at Turkey's biggest oil
refinery on Wednesday and an explosion was heard despite claims by
officials that they were getting the better of the blaze with the help of
specially equipped planes. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit called the  fire the...

14) 08/18 International aid teams pour into earthquake zone By BRIAN
MURPHY ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) The death toll from Turkey's earthquake
rose to nearly 3,800 on Wednesday as disaster relief teams from
around the world joined overwhelmed Turkish crews facing a deepening
humanitarian crisis. At least 3,789 people were killed and nearly
18,000 injured in Tuesday's 7.4...

15) The Guardian (London) August  18, 1999 SECTION: Guardian Leader Pages;
Pg. 18 HEADLINE: For fewer deaths and less pollution, reduce speed now; Ben
Rogers A 20mph limit would be a cheap, easy way to improve urban life BODY:
I write this from the top floor  of a tall Georgian house overlooking an
elegant, gently curving road, not far from central London. The road, dotted...

16) ASIA PULSE HEADLINE: MORE DIESEL-POWERED VEHICLES TO BE DEVELOPED IN CHINA
DATELINE: BEIJING, Aug 18  BODY: Industry experts believe that boosting
production of diesel- fueled motor vehicles will be a development
orientation for China's automotive industry in the coming years, as such
vehicles boast relatively high efficiency and low cost. German-based...

17) The Christian Science Monitor August 18, 1999 SECTION: EDITORIALS; THE
MONITOR'S VIEW; Pg. 8 HEADLINE: Selling a Solar-Cell Future BODY: The United
States Energy Department recently came up with a bright idea: Use derelict
pieces of polluted industrial land called brownfields to demonstrate a use
for solar-generated electricity. Juice flowing from solar cells erected on...

18) The Northern Echo August 18, 1999 SECTION: Pg. 6b HEADLINE: FIRMS GET
READY FOR TURBINES GO-AHEAD BYLINE: Bessie Robinson BODY: TOWERING turbines
three and a half times taller than the Gateshead Angel are set to dominate a
spectacular fell landscape.  Two energy companies are confident of getting
the go-ahead to build separate wind farms alongside one of County Durham's...

 TERRESTRIAL ECOLOGY >

(GREENPEACE)
19) National Post August 18, 1999 NATIONAL@SERIES= EDITIONS SECTION: FINANCIAL
POST; Pg. C01/Front HEADLINE: MacBlo wins praise from  Greenpeace BYLINE:
Drew Hasselback DATELINE: VANCOUVER BODY: VANCOUVER - There was a time, not
long ago, when anti-logging protesters would pelt the president of MacMillan
Bloedel Ltd. with cabbage, dump horse manure at the entrance to company...

(GREENPEACE)
20) 08/18 Replanting the Amazon By MICHAEL ASTOR PORTO TROMBETAS, Brazil
(AP) As a 12-mile conveyor belt carries freshly mined bauxite through
the Amazon jungle, the rust-colored earth suddenly turns green with
thousands of tiny saplings planted in 1998. When it reaches an area
replanted in 1982, the forest is so tall and thick it's hard to
distinguish it from the original....

21) WSJ(8/18) Russians Gain Credit From Trees And Milk By Andrew Higgins Staff
Reporter of The Wall Street Journal KORYAZHMA, Russia -- Something strange
is afoot in the swampy, mosquito-infested forests of Russia's far north: Big
money has started growing on trees.  And economists wonder whether the roots
of recovery lie in places like  this, far from the marble-clad Moscow banks...

22) HEADLINE: VIC: Timber workers stage protest at fashion boutique BYLINE:
By Heather Gallagher  BODY: DAVENPORT MELBOURNE, Aug 18 AAP - Timber workers
and union officials who descended on prestigious  fashion designer Liz
Davenport's boutique today in Melbourne's Toorak today were not looking for
a bargain. As one of them pointed out, a shirt at $175 was a large...

23) ASIA PULSE HEADLINE: MALAYSIA CALLS FOR WESTERN HELP WITH FOREST MANAGEMENT
DATELINE: KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 18  BODY: Western and other developed countries
should provide necessary assistance in terms of skills, management and funds
to developing nations in achieving sustainable forest management (SFM),
Primary Industries deputy minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said Tuesday....

24) ENS August 17 "SECRETS AND LIES" EXPOSES NEW ZEALAND LOGGING SCANDAL
WELLINGTON, New Zealand, August 17, 1999 (ENS) - The secret public relations
tactics and political lobbying by the state owned logging company,
Timberlands West Coast, to allow it to cut New Zealand's old growth beech
forests are exposed in a new book published today.  The book, "Secrets and...

25) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE Mexican loggers menace  butterfly  reserve-activists
MEXICO: August 18, 1999 MEXICO CITY - A  leading environmental group called
on the Mexican army to defend the winter refuge of monarch butterflies
against illegal loggers. Homero Aridjis, president of the Group of  100
environmental organisation, said heavily armed loggers were openly cutting...

26) Agence France Presse HEADLINE: Antibiotics in British farm animals "could
cause human epidemic" DATELINE: LONDON, Aug 18 BODY: British farmers who use
antibiotics to stimulate the growth of pigs and chickens risk creating an
epidemic of drug-resistant human diseases, government scientists warned
Wednesday. A report by the Advisory Committee on the Microbial Safety of...

27) The Gazette (Montreal) August 18, 1999, FINAL SECTION: News; B7 HEADLINE:
Parched Yanks covet Canadian water BYLINE: ROBERT RUSSO DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY: Canadians' love of a plunge in  cool, clean lake or the healing powers
of a long, pulsating shower may be threatened by a growing number of
businessmen who want to skim billions of litres of Canada's fresh water and...

28) 08/18  WSJE: Conservation Tactics Collide In A Row Over Roe By Cotten
Timberlake Special to The Wall Street Journal Europe GENEVA -- Eating
caviar is usually a question of taste. Now, it is also a question of
conscience. The salted eggs of sturgeon are a controversial
commodity, since 23 types of the fish were put under international
protection in 1998 because of their...

 GENETIC ENGINEERING 

(GREENPEACE)
29) The Irish Times August 18, 1999, CITY EDITION SECTION: HOME NEWS; Pg. 6
HEADLINE: Monsanto has no plans to move crop trials abroad BYLINE: By FRANK
MCNALLY  BODY: Monsanto has no plans to move its genetically-modified crop
trials out of the State despite recent attacks and threats by some British
biotechnology companies to move to mainland Europe.  The company's business...

(GREENPEACE)
30) UK GMO tests may be no safer in France say activists By Catherine Bremer
PARIS, Aug 18 (Reuters) - As the UK biotechnology industry mulls moving
trials for gene-modified crops to continental Europe next year to prevent
sabotage, environmentalists warned on Wednesday the crops may be no safer in
France. In Britain environmentalists have repeatedly destroyed trial fields...

31) WSJ(8/18): Motley Group Pushes For FDA Labels On Biofoods By Robert S.
Greenberger Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal  WASHINGTON -- What do
three rabbis, a Roman Catholic priest, a Seventh-day Adventist minister, an
Eastern Orthodox cleric and a Buddhist who converted from Judaism have in
common?   The answer: They all are part of a lawsuit in federal court here...

32) 08/18  DJ Japan Wholesale Group To Buy US Non-GMO Soybeans Jointly
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Japan's Kanto federation of soybean wholesalers'
cooperatives will begin jointly purchasing U.S.- produced soybeans
that do not contain genetically modified organisms this autumn, the
Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Wednesday evening edition,
citing officials at the...

33) US hopes biotech panel can forge global consensus WASHINGTON, Aug 17
(Reuters) - U.S. officials said on Tuesday they hoped a new international
panel can forge a global consensus on how to evaluate the safety and
nutritional content of genetically-modified crops. Members of a 164-nation
group, called the Codex Alimentarius Commission, created the biotechnology...

34) EU's Wallstrom pledges new initiative on GMOs BRUSSELS, Aug 18 (Reuters) -
The European Union's new Environment Commissioner has promised a fresh
initiative to meet growing public concern over the safety of foods made with
genetically modified organisms (GMOs). I intend to launch a new initiative
to further this debate, with focus on...the evaluation of the potential...

35) The Guardian (London) August 18, 1999 SECTION: Guardian Society Pages; Pg.
4 HEADLINE: Food for the future; Judith Jordan says that
biotechnology is making crop production safer for the environment
BODY: The crops being evaluated, oilseed rape and forage maize, which
have been grown in North America for a number of years, have already
undergone the necessary...

36) The Guardian (London) August  18, 1999 SECTION: Guardian Society Pages; Pg.
5 HEADLINE: Is this a harvest fit for  the world?; How safe are GM
herbicide tolerant crops? Sue Mayer claims that farm-scale trials,
due to begin next year, may get no nearer to the truth  BODY: Can the
 farm-scale trials provide the 'truth' about the safety of  using
genetically modified...

 OTHERS 

(GREENPEACE)
37) 08/18 FEATURE-Rainbow Warrior: still sailing and campaigning By David
Luhnow ABOARD THE RAINBOW WARRIOR, Edinburgh (Reuters) - It has  been
rammed, shot at, harpooned, and raided and its predecessor was bombed
and sunk. For some it is an enduring symbol, an environmental David
taking on the Goliath of global industry; for others it is a vehicle
for militant...

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