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Two Agencies Hide Neglect of Coal-Dam Safety with Secrecy


Read excerpts from Bill Moyers' keynote address to the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists, Austin, Texas, October 1, 2005.
A SPIRITUAL FIELD GUIDE: MEDITATIONS FOR THE OUTDOORS
By Bernard Brady and Mark Neuzil
Brazos Press, $12.99
THE GRAIL BIRD: HOT ON THE TRAIL OF THE IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER
By Tim Gallagher
Houghton Mifflin Company, $25
Reviewed by CHRISTINE HEINRICHS
The announcement of a confirmed sighting of the ivorybilled woodpecker in April 2005 was greeted like a confirmed extraterrestrial alien sighting. It was astonishing, contrary to accepted general wisdom, breathtaking.
THE REPUBLICAN WAR ON SCIENCE
By Chris Mooney
Basic Books, $24.95
Reviewed by STUART LEAVENWORTH
Here's a news flash: President George Bush and some of his minions have targeted scientists who don't share their agenda. They have intimidated certain government researchers, reassigned those who cause trouble for key constituencies and discouraged an entire generation of biologists, climatologists and other professionals from ever working on the federal payroll.
By KATINA GAUDET
"We have a different fear of hurricanes."
My friend Yasmin was trying to rationalize her fearlessness in the face of an imposing Hurricane Katrina, expected to make landfall near New Orleans the next day, from her first-floor Uptown apartment.
But I was having difficulty, although safe in a hotel room near Memphis. I was frantic, yelling into the phone at Yasmin, "You cannot stay there."
By WENDEE HOLTCAMP
And so it was, I found myself in May 2005 a Ph.D. candidate at a prestigious university with a new full-time research job, a super-cute surfer-mountain-climber boyfriend and a 10-year freelance writing career under my belt.
AMERICA'S WETLAND: LOUISIANA'S VANISHING COAST
Photographs by Bevil Knapp, text by Mike Dunne Louisiana State
University Press, $39.95