What to watch for

National

Global-warming summit. The Clinton Administration is hashing out its position on proposed reductions of greenhouses gases in preparation for an international global-warming summit in Japan this December.

Clean-air standards. Congress has just a couple more weeks to challenge the Clinton Administration's sweeping new limits on air pollution. Clinton says restrictions on ozone and microscopic soot particles could save 15,000 lives per year, but a powerful coalition of businesses says the costs are too high. If Congress doesn't act, big industry may sue.

1998 congressional elections. In rhetoric if not in action, congressional Republicans have almost completely retreated from their antigreen tactics of a couple of years ago. Now that their polls have linked environmental issues to their debilitating "gender gap," watch for shockingly shameless vows of enviro-consciousness.

2000 presidential election. Al Gore's devoted support from environmental activists has long been one of his political strengths, but recently he's caught flak for not taking a more active role on major enviro issues. Some greens have even threatened to abandon Gore -- and perhaps flock to the side of House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, a likely Gore opponent in 2000 -- if they feel he's taking them for granted.

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Green days
Energy star

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Local

Land banks. Eager to tout his tax-cutting credentials, acting governor Paul Cellucci has pledged to veto any "transfer taxes" to fund local conservation efforts. With environmentalists promising a veto override, this could be an early and bloody skirmish in the 1998 gubernatorial campaign.

Pittsfield cleanup. The US Environmental Protection Agency has begun to consider whether to classify the contaminated area surrounding the Pittsfield General Electric plant a "Superfund" site, designating it one of the nation's most polluted spots and qualifying it for a multimillion-dollar federal cleanup effort. Acting governor Paul Cellucci recently suggested that a criminal investigation into GE's past activities in the area might be a good idea.

Electric utility deregulation. It may sound boring now, but your eyes won't be glazing over if your electric bill shoots up next year. More to the point, however, deregulation offers an opportunity to impose new air-pollution standards on the state's fleet of filthy power plants.

Brownfields. Local activists see the cleanup of brownfields -- the scores of polluted and abandoned lots that blight urban neighborhoods around the state -- as new way of linking environmentalism to community activism.

1998 governor's race. Cellucci may have exposed a flank by crossing environmentalists on the land-bank issue. Scott Harshbarger is highly admired by local greens, and even conservative treasurer Joe Malone made an early campaign appearance calling for the cleanup of polluted military sites around the state.