Mexico’s Energy Ministry announced this month that it would abandon plans to build as many as 10 new nuclear reactors and would install natural gas-fired plants instead. The announcement by Energy Secretary Jordy Herrera in press interviews follows discoveries of natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico and the northern state of Coahuila that have added substantially to Mexico’s potential natural gas reserves. But if nuclear opponents were heartened by the announcement, they also pondered the consequences of natural gas, which poses climate and safety risks. Mexico, which already operates a twin-reactor, 1,365-megawatt atomic-power station at Laguna Verde, had considered the new nuclear facilities as part of an effort to boost its generating capacity by nearly three-quarters, to 86 gigawatts...
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Environmentalists worried about gene flow from genetically modified crops contaminating native Peruvian species won the most recent round of an ongoing battle Nov. 3, when Peru’s Congress approved a 10-year moratorium on the use of “modified living organisms.” The ban applies to crops, livestock and species for aquaculture, but not to human food or animal feed or its ingredients, or to pharmaceuticals. The law also allows research on genetically modified organisms in enclosed spaces. A bill calling for a moratorium died earlier this year when then-President Alan García refused to sign it and sent it back to Congress with objections. At the time, Peru’s environment and agriculture ministers faced off on transgenics, with then-Environment Minister Antonio Brack calling for a moratorium to...
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A new study finding that wild cotton in Mexico has been contaminated by genetically modified varieties of the plant has heightened concern in the country about biodiversity protection in the age of high-tech agriculture. The study, by scientists at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Unam) and published in the October issue of the journal Molecular Ecology, focuses on genes artificially introduced into cotton plants to give them resistance to insects and pesticides. It finds these genes can travel hundreds of miles through seed dispersal to infect wild cotton populations. “This is another study showing that there is genetic flow between genetically modified and native varieties of plants,” says Ana Wegier, head of the research project at Unam’s Ecology Institute. “The phenomenon surely has...
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Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy announced Oct. 26 that it is considering canceling mining concessions in the country’s Amazon region, a move analysts took to indicate growing concern for mining impacts. The news drew cheers from environmental advocates, who have watched with trepidation as oil and mining investment nationwide soared from US$6.8 billion in 2009 to $9 billion in the first nine months of this year. Mining titles in the Colombian Amazon now cover nearly 140,000 hectares (346,000 acres), or less than 1%, of that region. But some are in national parks, and applications are being evaluated for additional titles covering 5.4 million hectares (13.3 million acres), or 10% of Colombia’s portion of the Amazon. “After a rush by the previous government to...
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