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Europe Safeguards Thousands of Natural Sites

BRUSSELS, Belgium, December 8, 2004 (ENS) – The European Commission today established the largest ever list of protected natural areas in the European Union. The commissioners adopted a list of more than 7,000 nature sites in the Atlantic and Continental regions of the EU to become part of NATURA 2000, the network of protected nature sites in the EU. The lists of sites to be protected in the Macaronesian and Alpine regions have already been adopted by the Commission. With the adoption of the lists in the Atlantic and Continental regions, the Natura 2000 network becomes the largest coherent network of protected areas in the world and the EU's most efficient operational tool to protect its plants and animals, said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. "By establishing Natura 2000," Dimas said, "the EU strives towards reaching its objective of halting the decline of biodiversity by 2010. After a slow start to Natura 2000 in the late 1990s, we have been able to pick up speed in the last five years. It is a great pleasure for me to have these lists adopted." The Natura 2000 network is set up under the EU's Habitats Directive, a law written to safeguard Europe's most […]

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Carmakers Prepare Suit To Challenge CA's Exhaust Law

by Miguel Bustillo and John O'Dell Automobile manufacturers are preparing to sue California, perhaps as early as this week, in an attempt to derail a pioneering state law that seeks to force the companies to reduce tailpipe emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to global warming. Representatives of two major automakers confirmed Monday that a coalition of companies has decided to file a lawsuit that would challenge the state's legal authority to force the reductions from carmakers. One company official from a domestic automaker who had been briefed on the lawsuit described it as "imminent." However, a representative of a Japanese automaker cautioned that the suit may not be filed until January. Car companies and an automobile industry trade group repeatedly have argued that the California law — which requires a nearly 30% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from all passenger vehicles sold in the state by 2016 — sets a new fuel efficiency standard, which only the federal government has the power to do. The easiest known way to reduce exhaust of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases is to build cars and trucks that burn less fuel. State officials concede that the new rule probably will lead to more […]

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Clinton Urges Effort To Address Energy

Former president Bill Clinton chided supporters to stop "bellyaching and whining" about the political obstacles and begin a new effort to address the intertwined problems of energy dependence and global warming. Speaking at a day-long symposium he sponsored at New York University, the former president said he was distressed that the energy issue's link with both national security and environmental degradation received "almost no serious discussion" among the candidates or the media in the just-ended presidential campaign, even though this "may have a bigger impact on America and the world than virtually all the things that were debated." Clinton has vowed to use his platform as an ex-president to promote the issue of reducing consumption of old energy sources such as petroleum and coal that produce the most "greenhouse gases." At the same time, he has stressed the importance of reducing U.S. reliance on unstable Middle Eastern governments — a dependence he says complicates the fight against terrorism. At yesterday's event, he brought together a roster of former top officials in his administration, as well as prominent outsiders such as Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez, who has spoken often on energy issues, and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.), who is […]

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