Environmental Defense Fund

Imagine spending some $16 billion on transportation over the next 20 years and still finding the Baltimore region more congested than it is today.That is exactly what the Baltimore regional planning organization is recommending, to the chagrin of some environmentalists and highway contractors. For vastly different reasons, they have attacked a draft, 20-year plan by the Transportation Steering Committee.The environmentalists say the plan has too many new roads that encourage sprawl, a bane of suburban living.

J. Edgar Joseph, 81, head of the costume department at the New York City Opera for 35 years, died Jan. 12 at Sharp-Cabrillo Hospital in San Diego of complications after surgery.John Krautkraemer, 42, an Environmental Defense Fund lawyer and veteran of California's water reform battles, died Saturday after a skiing accident at the Squaw Valley ski resort.

WASHINGTON -- The family of the late Sen. H. John Heinz III has donated $20 million to establish a research center in his name where experts from universities, industry, government and advocacy groups will join to seek firmer ground for environmental policies in science and economics.The sponsors said the gift was one of the largest single philanthropic grants ever offered in environmental circles.They said the new center, the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, would offer nonpartisan, innovative and credible ideas in a field constantly riven by politics, where government policies are often masterminded by muddling through.

What's it like, trying to be a Republican and care about the environment?Normally, asking your representative a question like that would be either joking or snotty. But Congress' first 100 days have not been normal times; unless you call normal a concerted, and so far, successful attack to dismantle a quarter century of environmental progress.And for Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, a 1st District Republican who was conducting town meetings around the Eastern Shore when I interviewed him last week, they have been especially trying.

NAFTA SafeguardsThe major environmental organizations have played a very significant role in the the North American Free Trade Agreement process with both the previous and current administrations to bring about an historic accomplishment of incorporating strong environmental components in an international trade agreement.The National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and Conservation International -- representing the overwhelming majority of this nation's environmental supporters -- have endorsed the trade agreement as submitted by President Clinton.

By decade's end, Prudential insurance policies, Johnson & Johnson Band-Aid boxes and Time Warner's billion copies of magazines a year may all be made of recycled paper, under a project announced yesterday by these and other companies working with the Environmental Defense Fund.The project, which will start with feasibility studies, is aimed at reducing the burden on landfills and pumping up the anemic market for recycled paper by creating demand for billions of dollars worth of secondhand pulp.

A warning to fishermen: Eating your catch from some waterways could be more hazardous to your health than the federal government would have you believe.So says a national report released yesterday by the Environmental Defense Fund, a group based in New York.The findings relate to the following Maryland waters: Baltimore Harbor, Back River, Lake Roland and the Potomac River in Western Maryland.The report accuses the Environmental Protection Agency of misleading the public about the extent of fish contamination from toxic chemicals.

The Bush administration's proposed wetland rules would undermine efforts to restore Chesapeake Bay and could have "severe environmental and economic impacts" on the nation as a whole, environmentalists warn.A report issued yesterday by the Environmental Defense Fund and the World Wildlife Fund charges that changes in federal rules for identifying wetlands are so sweeping they could lead to more water pollution, increased flooding and further declines in already dwindling populations of ducks, fish and rare plants and animals.

State environmental officials have relaxed their warning about eating fish caught in the upper Potomac River, saying there have been "substantial decreases" in dioxin contamination downstream from the Westvaco Corp. paper mill in Luke.The move yesterday was immediately criticized by environmentalists, who contend that Maryland's limits on dioxin, a suspected human carcinogen, are too lax.Citing new sampling results, the Maryland Department of the Environment dropped its nearly 2-year-old advice to limit consumption of bass and most other surface-feeding sport fish caught in the 40-mile stretch of the Potomac between Luke and Paw Paw, W.Va.

In an unusual expression of detente between industry and environmentalists, General Motors and the Environmental Defense Fund announced yesterday that they had signed an agreement to hold formal discussions on environmental issues."

Midshipman suspected of having meningitis dies A first-year student at the Naval Academy died last night at University of Maryland Medical Center after he was hospitalized last week for a suspected case of bacterial meningitis, an academy spokeswoman said. The 20-year-old's name is being withheld pending family notification. The midshipman became ill Wednesday at Bancroft Hall and was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center for initial treatment. As a precaution, 44 midshipmen, staff members and first responders who had close contact with the student have been taking antibiotics and are being monitored by medical staff.

Amos Perlmutter, 69, an expert on Middle Eastern affairs, died of cancer June 12 at a hospital in Washington. He wrote 15 books, including "The Life and Times of Menachem Begin," and many articles and essays about the Middle East and U.S. foreign and security policies. He was born in Poland and fought for Israel in the wars of 1948, 1956 and 1973. He held a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley and taught at Harvard University, the Johns Hopkins University, Free University of Berlin and American University in Washington.

Imagine spending some $16 billion on transportation over the next 20 years and still finding the Baltimore region more congested than it is today.That is exactly what the Baltimore regional planning organization is recommending, to the chagrin of some environmentalists and highway contractors. For vastly different reasons, they have attacked a draft, 20-year plan by the Transportation Steering Committee.The environmentalists say the plan has too many new roads that encourage sprawl, a bane of suburban living.

WASHINGTON -- The family of the late Sen. H. John Heinz III has donated $20 million to establish a research center in his name where experts from universities, industry, government and advocacy groups will join to seek firmer ground for environmental policies in science and economics.The sponsors said the gift was one of the largest single philanthropic grants ever offered in environmental circles.They said the new center, the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment, would offer nonpartisan, innovative and credible ideas in a field constantly riven by politics, where government policies are often masterminded by muddling through.

What's it like, trying to be a Republican and care about the environment?Normally, asking your representative a question like that would be either joking or snotty. But Congress' first 100 days have not been normal times; unless you call normal a concerted, and so far, successful attack to dismantle a quarter century of environmental progress.And for Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, a 1st District Republican who was conducting town meetings around the Eastern Shore when I interviewed him last week, they have been especially trying.

J. Edgar Joseph, 81, head of the costume department at the New York City Opera for 35 years, died Jan. 12 at Sharp-Cabrillo Hospital in San Diego of complications after surgery.John Krautkraemer, 42, an Environmental Defense Fund lawyer and veteran of California's water reform battles, died Saturday after a skiing accident at the Squaw Valley ski resort.

NAFTA SafeguardsThe major environmental organizations have played a very significant role in the the North American Free Trade Agreement process with both the previous and current administrations to bring about an historic accomplishment of incorporating strong environmental components in an international trade agreement.The National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, World Wildlife Fund, Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and Conservation International -- representing the overwhelming majority of this nation's environmental supporters -- have endorsed the trade agreement as submitted by President Clinton.

By decade's end, Prudential insurance policies, Johnson & Johnson Band-Aid boxes and Time Warner's billion copies of magazines a year may all be made of recycled paper, under a project announced yesterday by these and other companies working with the Environmental Defense Fund.The project, which will start with feasibility studies, is aimed at reducing the burden on landfills and pumping up the anemic market for recycled paper by creating demand for billions of dollars worth of secondhand pulp.

A warning to fishermen: Eating your catch from some waterways could be more hazardous to your health than the federal government would have you believe.So says a national report released yesterday by the Environmental Defense Fund, a group based in New York.The findings relate to the following Maryland waters: Baltimore Harbor, Back River, Lake Roland and the Potomac River in Western Maryland.The report accuses the Environmental Protection Agency of misleading the public about the extent of fish contamination from toxic chemicals.

In an unusual expression of detente between industry and environmentalists, General Motors and the Environmental Defense Fund announced yesterday that they had signed an agreement to hold formal discussions on environmental issues."