Environmental leaders throughout the country are asking state officials to investigate a school curriculum developed by consumer-product giant Procter & Gamble. In a letter to Washington Attorney General Christine Gregoire, six Washington environmental groups charge that the "educational materials" are nothing more than advertisements and should be subject to deceptive trade practices standards.

The Environmental Protection Agency will act to reduce emissions of dioxins and other toxins from more than 350 paper and pulp mills across the country. The EPA ruling will combine, for the first time, the efforts of the agency's air and water oversight capacities.

The November/December issue of Mother Jones outlines in cataclysmic detail just how inadequate this country's hazardous-waste disposal policy really is.

A lovely pink-colored three-page ad in the Nov. 25 Rolling Stone warns users of Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection of potential side effects.

• Saying that Puget Sound is going "down the drain," People for Puget Sound is pressuring the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority to enforce existing laws and work to enact more stringent regulations. According to the Seattle-based citizens' organization, 42 percent of area commercial shellfish beds are closed to pollution, most of state waters don't meet water quality standards, the state's point-source discharge permit program is not administered properly, stream protection programs have failed to reverse the decline of salmon runs, and toxic chemicals in waterways continue to cause cancers, gene mutations and reproductive failure in fish. People for Puget Sound can be reached at 1326 Fifth Ave., Suite 450, Seattle 98101, or call 382-7007.

• In a move that may have eventual repercussions for our region's declining salmon runs, the federal Bureau of Reclamation is changing its mission, according to Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The agency, which has until now existed to provide cheap power and water through massive hydroelectric and irrigation projects, will be streamlined and decentralized, and will focus on water-resource management, Babbitt said recently.

• In a groundbreaking effort, 11 environmental groups are forming the Cascades International Alliance with the goal of creating an international park that would bridge the U.S.-Canadian border. The Cascades International Park would be managed jointly by U.S. and Canadian officials, as part of the 15,000-square-mile Greater North Cascades Ecosystem. Chances for the park increased greatly when the British Columbia government recently vowed to double the size of the province's park system by the end of the century.