Protect Montana/Canada National Park from Mining

Mountain-top removal coal mining and coalbed methane extraction are threatening a pristine area on the border of Montana and Canada.

Send a message to the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. and ask him to protect this area!

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, which spans the border between Montana and Canada, is a globally significant biological hotspot, protecting elk, moose, deer, mountain goats, bull trout and a host of other wildlife and plant species.

It is also one of the most intact and diverse ecosystems in this type of climate in the world.

Please speak up against threatening our wild lands with mining. Your voice can make a difference.

Sincerely,

Emily
Care2 and The PetitionSite Team

Congress Asks: Fat Cats or Polar Bears?

Wealthy speculators are driving up gas prices and fueling calls for harmful new drilling off our coasts and in pristine places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

It’s a classic match-up: Wall Street fat cats versus American families and the natural treasures we leave to our children. And in the next two weeks, Congress will vote to see who wins.

Help protect our polar bears from profit-hungry speculators and Big Oil. Urge Congress to pass legislation to address high gas prices by restoring accountability and transparency in the oil markets.

Speculation in the oil markets is a major factor in high gas prices.

Here’s how it works: Weak oversight and accountability in the oil market allows wealthy investors from around the world to drive up the price we pay for gas by purchasing oil that they have no intention of using.

According to Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management, who testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in June, “with greater regulation [of speculation], oil prices could drop to $65 or $70 a barrel within about 30 days.”[1]

Ask your Senators and Representative to pass legislation to address high gas prices and protect our polar bears and other wildlife from the oil speculators and Big Oil’s disastrous drilling plans.

Officials within the Bush Administration’s own Energy Information Agency estimate that oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wouldn’t hit the market for several years and would only reduce gas by a few pennies. Similarly, the agency has said that offshore drilling would not significantly impact domestic production or prices before 2030.

But this drilling would come at a terrible cost to our wildlife and the environment. Arctic drilling activities would disturb the most important onshore denning habitat for America’s threatened polar bears -- potentially causing polar bear mothers to abandon their cubs.

Offshore drilling has its own problems: Each platform produces toxic discharges that can poison and kill marine wildlife and dumps tons of air pollutants into our atmosphere.

Please take a stand against irresponsible policies that hurt our families and put our wildlife at risk. Send your message now!

More drilling may benefit wealthy investors, Big Oil companies and their allies in Congress, but it won’t lower prices at the pump or end America’s oil addiction.

Respectfully,
Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund

Greater Yellowstone in danger - act now!

A rugged land of sparkling lakes, 10,000-foot peaks and world-class wildlife habitat, Montana's stunning Lionhead Recommended Wilderness, just west of Yellowstone National Park, is a dazzling area of tranquility. The area is so rugged that the Forest Service proposed that it be off limits to all mechanized travel, including mountain bikes.

But the proposal to protect the rugged Lionhead area is in danger.

That's why Lionhead needs your help before July 18. Tell the Forest Service to do the right thing.

Mountain bike activists have mounted a campaign to convince the Forest Service to give in and give cyclists total access to wilderness quality lands.

Alternative trails – including many primitive roads outside recommended wilderness areas – are available for bike rides but no alternative will replace the Lionhead Wilderness.

Please urge Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson not to give in to proponents of mechanized trails.

Tell her to stand by her proposal to fully protect traditional hiking and pack trails and the Lionhead Recommended Wilderness.

Sincerely,
Kathy Kilmer
The Wilderness Society

Operation Climate Vote!

The Senate is set to vote on landmark global warming legislation in early June. We need your help to urge your Senators to seize this historic opportunity to cap and reduce America's global warming pollution.

Email your Senators our list of the top 5 reasons why they must act now.

Here's our list:

1. Every year we wait equals extra effort. If we delay this bill by just two years, we will have to make twice the annual cuts in carbon emissions to hit the same cumulative reductions by 2020.

2. The science is unforgiving. As the Earth warms, we approach a "tipping point," after which large destructive climate changes become inevitable.

3. The political opportunity is ripe. 78% of Americans want Congress to act on global warming. We need to take advantage of the tremendous momentum that exists today.

4. Someone is going to win the global race to reinvent energy. It should be us. Renewable energy promises to become one of the world's most profitable industries. But advances in renewable energy technologies will not be fully realized without a national cap on global warming pollution. The sooner we act, the sooner these new industries will start to flourish.

5. What legacy will the 110th Congress leave? When future generations look back at this moment, they will either praise the Senate for starting us down the path to solving the global warming crisis, or blame the Senate for squandering this opportunity.


You and I - and everyone we know - need to make sure that the Senate gets the message now.

With your support, we're keeping up constant pressure to make sure the Senate seizes this historic opportunity. As the Climate Security Act makes its way to the Senate floor for a vote next month, we must hammer these urgent points home.

Please email your Senators our top 5 list now.

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

The Global Warming Team at Environmental Defense Action Fund

New Report Spotlights Ten Wild Places at Risk

Wild...For How Long? Ten Treasures in Trouble, looks at ten special wild areas from coast to coast, vulnerable today to mining, drilling, roadbuilding, logging, development and off-road vehicle abuse.

The report, issued by the Campaign for America's Wilderness, spotlights wild land at risk, but also those that are poised for wilderness designation, in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The report also celebrates some of the local heroes working to protect these places they love. View the report [1] (5.8 MB).

Friends of the Earth Blasts Bush Admin Railroad Routing Regs

For Immediate Release

For more information contact:
Nick Berning, 202-222-0748

Contact:
Fred Millar, 703-979-9191
Nick Berning, 202-222-0748


WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Bush administration published new regulations today that allow U.S. railroads to unilaterally select dangerous routes through or around major cities for chemical railcars that the federal agencies call “Weapons of Mass Destruction.”

Friends of the Earth President Brent Blackwelder had the following response:

“These regulations are part of President Bush’s failed homeland security legacy. This rerouting policy leaves our cities vulnerable to attacks on trains carrying hazardous rail cargoes. It is an abdication of government responsibility in the face of corporate power that endangers millions of Americans.”

Fred Millar, rail security consultant for Friends of the Earth, said:

"Cities and states will need to protest these new regulations vigorously, and once again Congress will need to re-address the rail routing issue. This Bush administration pretense of regulation must be replaced with real protections for target cities."

OVERVIEW OF THE NEW RULE: SAME AS THE BUSH ADMINSTRATION’S LAST FAILED ATTEMPT

The new rule is nearly identical to the one Bush administration proposed December 21, 2006, and which Congress subsequently found inadequate. The previous rule and the new one allow railroads to pick hazardous materials routes using assumptions and calculations that are kept secret from the public. They also allow virtually no role for state and local officials in these selections and preempt state and local rerouting legislation. Eleven major U.S. target cities, beginning in 2005 with Washington D.C., and including St. Louis, Buffalo and Chicago, and two states (New York and Tennessee) have introduced new rerouting legislation, and many major media reports have shown the easy accessibility to dangerous railcars in cities and railyards.

The new rule utilizes the same flawed regulatory techniques as the last one, ensuring that virtually no protective rerouting will occur:

1. It puts individual railroads (including the 300 or so relatively new shortline railroads which often link major rail lines and the chemical company shippers or final customers for the dangerous rail cargoes) in charge of analyzing their own current routes and alternatives to these “over which they have authority to operate.” The Department of Transportation appeals in the regulation to the “good faith” of the railroads—a flawed approach.

2. Individual railroads are allowed to make the critical decision to “weight” the 27 new “factors” they must consider (in Appendix D) —DOT declines even to rank order the factors.

3. Railroads are told they should “work with” state and local officials, but the latter have no role in any of the important route analyses or selections.

4. The information on analyses and route selections must be “restricted” to those with “a need to know,” and specifically are not to be shared with the public.

5. The federal agencies will not approve route selections, nor set up any kind of new oversight, but leave it to the current cadre of overburdened inspectors.

6. The agency suggests that rerouting will entail increased safety risks and economic costs that will override potential terrorist risks. The example DOT uses for calculating the value of the rule is the accidental release of one railcar of chlorine in the tiny town of Graniteville, S.C.—much larger disasters are possible.

7. Even if a railroad identifies an alternative route as safer and more secure, it may continue to use the one through the target city by implementing some unspecified “remediation and mitigation” measures [p. 20762].

8. The interim final rule is not effective until June 1, 2008, and gives the railroads another full year (until Sept 1, 2009) to implement route analyses and selections.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

As CSXT suggested already in the federal docket, since 9/11 the public has reconsidered what is an acceptable risk:

“The support of the public, and of many policy makers, has greatly eroded since 9/11. Now the railroads are harshly criticized for transporting these [TIH, or “ Toxic by Inhalation” poison gas cargoes] …Our company’s reputation has been assailed…[and] vilified in the media. TIH cannot simply continue to move by railroad indefinitely…Even if the potential for ruinous liability were somehow erased, the widespread social disapproval of TIH transport by rail would remain.” http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/pdf101/456287_web.pdf

In response to public concern, Congress enacted, and President Bush signed on August 3, 2007 a new toxics rail re-routing law that embodies this new bipartisan national consensus: we should protect our target cities by re-routing, wherever possible, the through railcar chemical “security sensitive” cargoes to go around "high consequence areas" onto non-target routes. [See H.R. 1, “The 9/11 Commission Act,” Section 1551,]:

"The Secretary of Transportation shall ensure that the final regulation requires each railroad carrier transporting security-sensitive materials in commerce to annually review and select the practicable route posing the least overall safety and security risk …." The new Bush Administration routing rule, on the other hand, provides the railroads an astonishing total of 27 new “factors” to consider in their routing decisions, and with only minimal federal oversight “in the most extreme cases.” Most of these factors are so entirely non-related to terrorism prevention [such as “safety” and “commercial practicability”] that they are clearly 27 ways NOT to re-route.

###

Friends of the Earth (www.foe.org) is the U.S. voice of the world’s largest grassroots environmental network, with member groups in 70 countries. Since 1969, Friends of the Earth has been at the forefront of high-profile efforts to create a more healthy, just world.


###

Oppose Sham Global Warming Bill

Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) proposed legislation that would allow global warming pollution to increase for decades.

If you think global warming is a hoax, this is your bill.

Email your Senators today to oppose Senator Voinovich's sham global warming proposal.

The Senate has scheduled time the first week of June to debate and vote on global warming legislation, and this proposal may be debated then.

We need the Senate to seize this opportunity to cap and reduce America's global warming pollution with a meaningful bill, not waste precious time on delaying and denying the reality of global warming.

The Voinovich bill is dressed up as a way to take action, but in fact is a detailed prescription for doing nothing.

It would postpone meaningful action on global warming pollution for at least twenty years. It calls for weak, non-binding emissions reduction benchmarks – current levels in 2020 and 1990 levels in 2030 – while providing taxpayer-funded subsidies for favored technologies.

The Environmental Protection Agency could establish a cap and trade system to reduce emissions – but it could be suspended the cap on a whim, and it would come with an astonishingly low $5 per ton "safety valve" – an artificial price control on emissions reductions.

In the meantime, the proposal would take away state authority – confirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA – to control global warming pollution. Dozens of states across the country, including California, Florida, and the Northeast members of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, have set ambitious emissions reduction targets.

We need to do everything we can to defeat Senator Voinovich's sham bill.

Take action today: Email your Senators to urge them to oppose the Voinovich proposal.

Thank you for helping keep the pressure on for real global warming action this year.

-- The Global Warming Team at Environmental Defense Action Fund

Gas leasing review could undercut protection for the Wyoming Range

With 126,000 new oil and gas wells projected to be built across our western public lands over the next 20 years, it's up to us to ensure that areas rich in wilderness and wildlife are protected.

The Wilderness Society has been working locally and with WildAlert members like you to curtail drilling plans in areas with special wildlife and wilderness values. The Wyoming Range is just such a place - click here to help protect it!

A rugged chain of mountains in the western part of the state, the Wyoming Range is prime habitat for moose, deer and elk. It's a beloved spot for blue-ribbon fishing and other recreation. This place is so special that Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso has introduced legislation to protect it from leasing.

But the Forest Service is considering whether to lease these public lands to oil and gas drilling before Congress can act to protect them. Please take action today and ask the agency to withdraw the proposed leases in the Wyoming Range.

Thank you!
Kathy Kilmer
The Wilderness Society

Tim's Salamander and Your Action Today

Meet Tim Koopman. This California rancher might have a very different relationship with the endangered wildlife that lives on his land if he hadn’t enlisted in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) about eight years ago.

Now the California tiger salamanders, western pond turtles, western bluebirds and other wildlife on his land have become a regular part of Tim's land -- and important part of his operations.

Help support wildlife-friendly ranchers and farmers like Tim. Urge your Senators and Representative to support wildlife-friendly agriculture and adequately fund conservation programs in the federal Farm Bill.

Will farmers like Tim lose access to the incentives that help enable them to protect wildlife on their lands? And will Congress strip the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) of its power to restrict toxic pesticides in the Farm Bill’s conservation programs?

It’s up to your elected officials -- and you.

Please take action now to protect conservation funding in the farm bill and stop a provision that would bar incentives to reduce the use of pesticides that can harm wildlife, pollute our water and sicken our families.

More than half of all agricultural streams have pesticide contamination that threatens aquatic life, according to the federal National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. About 10 percent of these streams do not meet human health standards.

Such contamination harms our wildlife and our families, but that hasn’t stopped Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte from pushing his outrageous eleventh-hour amendment to the House version of the Farm Bill that strips USDA of its power to restrict toxic pesticides in its conservation programs.

Help us stop the Goodlatte Amendment and ensure that wildlife, water quality and farmers like Tim all get a fair shake in the Farm Bill.

Congress is expected to vote on the Farm Bill in the next few weeks, so it’s extremely important that we make our voices heard now. Please take action today and let your Senators know that you…

SUPPORT increased conservation funding in the Federal Farm Bill to help private landowners protect threatened and endangered species.

OPPOSE the Goodlatte Pesticides Amendment

Defenders of Wildlife is doing all we can to ensure that Congress passes a wildlife-friendly Farm Bill. I hope you’ll help.

Sincerely,

Rodger Schlickeisen
President
Defenders of Wildlife

Sign our Petition: Save the Giant Sequoias

I have good news and I have bad news.

The good news is that thanks to the support of our Sierra Club members and supporters we were able to block a staggering 5,000-acre timber sale in the Giant Sequoia National Monument.

But the bad news is our fight to protect the majestic Giant Sequoias is not over. More than half of the remaining groves — located in Giant Sequoia National Monument — are in jeopardy because, despite being rebuked by the federal courts, the Bush Administration is refusing to back off its plan to log this irreplaceable ancient forest. That’s why we are asking you to act now and sign our petition to Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell, asking her to implement the strongest possible protections for Giant Sequoia National Monument.

Without these protections, loggers would be permitted to cut down trees of any species 30” in diameter or larger — a size that normally takes two centuries or more to grow. In addition, timber companies would be entitled to take 7.5 million board feet of lumber from Giant Sequoia National Monument each year — enough trees to fill 2,500 logging trucks — that’s a truck almost every three hours!

Your signed petition to Abigail Kimbell will put the U.S. Forest Service on notice that the American people won’t stand by as commercial logging damages this fragile ecosystem and threatens our remaining Giant Sequoia groves. And with your backing we will work to extend permanent protections to these magnificent and imperiled trees — by transferring management of the Giant Sequoia National Monument to the National Park Service.

The future of our cherished Giant Sequoia National Monument is hanging in the balance — please sign our petition today - and help preserve these awe-inspiring trees for generations to come.

Sincerely,
Greg Haegele
Director of Conservation

PS. Some Sequoia trees have lived as long as 3,500 years — but they are facing their biggest threats yet during the Bush Administration’s two terms — please act now.

Sierra Club
85 Second Street, 2nd Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94105
membership.services@sierraclub.org
(415) 977-5653
http://www.sierraclub.org/

Help Save Polar Bears and Other Arctic Wildlife

The news for polar bears is bleak -- polar bears could disappear entirely from Alaska within 50 short years due to a drastic decline in Arctic sea ice.

But Big Oil and their allies in Congress are willing to sell out our vanishing polar bears for a few barrels of oil. Well, I'm doing something to protect Arctic wildlife and our polar bear's last stand -- and I hope you will, too.

It's easy to get involved -- Just take action online at the website below:

http://action.defenders.org/arcticwilderness

Polar bears and other Arctic wildlife are facing a double-barreled threat from Congress and the Bush/Cheney Administration.

President Bush is calling for Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling in his budget. And Sens. Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have introduced legislation to link drilling plans to gas prices -- despite federal estimates that such drilling would do next to nothing to reduce gas prices.

Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would, however, threaten the most important land-based habitat that America's vanishing polar bears have left.

Please urge your Senators to reject the latest Arctic Refuge drilling plans and permanently safeguard this special place by designating portions of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as federally protected wilderness -- take action online now at:

http://action.defenders.org/arcticwilderness

Thanks for your help...

Colorado's Forests Need Your Help!

Colorado's pristine roadless forest lands are home to many imperiled species such as the Canada lynx and cutthroat trout. Thanks to the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, more than four million acres of Colorado roadless areas are now protected from new logging activities and oil and gas drilling.

But the Forest Service has issued a proposal to roll back some of these protections, exposing vital wildlife habitat and key recreation areas to development.

Help us ensure this proposal does not move forward, and that Colorado's wild roadless heritage remains protected. Click here to take quick, effective action.

Sincerely,

Kathy Kilmer
The Wilderness Society

Protect Yellowstone and the Greater Rockies

Facing its final year in office, the Bush administration is intensifying its push to open the wildest parts of America's national forests to destructive logging, roadbuilding and development. As part of this scheme, the U.S. Forest Service has proposed to weaken -- and in some areas completely eliminate -- existing protections for 4.4 million acres of Colorado's wild forests. These wildlands provide crucial habitat for the Canada lynx, the greenback cutthroat trout and other imperiled wildlife. They also serve as the watersheds for much of Colorado's drinking water. The Forest Service proposal threatens some of the state's most outstanding recreation spots, like Herman Gulch, a wild escape within short driving distance of Denver, and the Pagoda Peak area, the summer range for part of the largest elk herd in North America.

Please speak out now and help us block this attack on America's last wild national forests.

http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/

Urge your senators to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty

Urge your senators to ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty

The Senate could soon consider whether the United States should
sign on to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,
also known simply as the Law of the Sea Treaty. The Law of the
Sea will help expand protections for our planet's oceans, and
becoming a party to the treaty would permit the United States to
more effectively influence major upcoming international debates
concerning ocean activities.

The treaty's environmental provisions cover all aspects of the
marine environment, including fishing, pollution, offshore
mining and oil and gas exploration; such activities are having
major impacts that require urgent action. For example, with
rapidly accelerating summer melting of Arctic sea ice, new
proposals for shipping, oil and gas exploration and other
harmful activities are multiplying. Ratifying the Law of the Sea
treaty would give the United States a seat at the table in
discussions surrounding the future of the Arctic and protection
of its marine and coastal wildlife.

One hundred fifty-five nations have already ratified the Law of
the Sea, including every major industrialized nation other than
the United States. These countries are making decisions that
affect ocean health and key economic and national security
interests, but the United States will not gain access to these
discussions unless it signs on to the treaty as well.

A few vocal groups who are fundamentally opposed to U.S.
involvement in international collaborations have used false
arguments to pressure senators to reject the Law of the Sea, and
have turned what should be an easy decision into a contentious
one. Senate Majority Leader Reid will not bring the treaty to a
vote until he is certain it has the two-thirds support (67
votes) needed to pass, and right now that margin is very close.
To counter the opposition, senators need to hear that this
treaty is crucial to maintaining healthy oceans and protecting
economic and security interests.

== What to do ==
Send a message urging your senators to ratify the Law of the Sea
Treaty.

== Contact information ==
You can send a message to your senators directly from NRDC's
Action Center at
http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/nrdcaction_013008

If you prefer to call your senators, the Capitol switchboard
number is 202-224-3121.

10 Global Warming Facts to Inspire Real Action

Global Warming by the Numbers
Economic opportunity and a clean energy future
Posted: 22-Jan-2008; Updated: 24-Jan-2008

Global warming is the most serious environmental threat of our time.

As these facts show, affordable options are available. And America cannot afford to fall behind any more in the race to invent clean, renewable energy sources.

45%
Increase in world’s solar generating capacity in 2005.

2
Rank of China as global producer of solar cells, behind Japan (U.S. ranks 4th).

$1.5 billion
Amount US government spends a year on renewable energy research.

$1 billion
Amount ExxonMobil earns in a day.

$2 billion
Amount GE Energy Financial Services invested in wind, solar, biomass and geothermal energy in 2007.

$200 billion
Amount China has committed to invest in renewable energy sources over the next 15 years.

0.74%
Projected cost of smart cap-and-trade climate policy on US economic output in 2030.

100%
Projected growth of the US economy by 2030.

53
Number of senators supporting cap and trade legislation.

0
Number of bills passed by Congress to cap and reduce America's global warming pollution.

Sources: World Watch Institute, Earth Policy Institute, Department of Energy, CNN, GE Energy Financial Services, Reuters, Upcoming Report: Climate Policy and the U.S. Economy. Environmental Defense, 2008

WILDALERT: Drilling Project Threatens the Wyoming Range

The Wyoming Range is a hidden gem, but an oil and gas company has discovered it and is seeking permission to drill 136 gas wells in one of the largest roadless areas of Wyoming's namesake mountain range.

An industrial gas field in the Wyoming Range would displace crucial habitat for sensitive species, degrade migration corridors for big game travelling within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and disrupt an increasingly important recreation-based economy in Wyoming. Citizens have spoken up before and now we need you to do it again: The Wyoming Range is just too special to drill.

Click here to help protect the Wyoming Range from drilling.

A large natural gas field in the Bridger-Teton National Forest, home of the Wyoming Range, is simply a bad idea and would turn the area over to a single industrial use.

Public comments on this drilling proposal are being accepted until February 7. Please urge the Forest Service to protect the Wyoming Range. Click here to take quick, effective action.

Sincerely,
Kathy Kilmer
The Wilderness Society

What Are They Waiting For?

Major political reporters have been actively ignoring the issue of global warming when interviewing presidential candidates. They have only mentioned the words GLOBAL WARMING in 3 questions ALL YEAR! Hosts like Tim Russert, George Stephanopoulos and Wolf Blitzer have instead asked ridiculous questions about UFOs, baseball and even Chuck Norris!

Check out www.whataretheywaitingfor.com to learn more and urge these hosts to stop covering the horse race and get back to the human race.

Global warming needs to be a priority issue in the election. Act today.

WILDALERT: Stop ORV Damage to Utah's Wild Lands

Located in central Utah, the Richfield BLM Resource Area encompasses spectacular redrock canyons, rugged and unique badlands, peaks over 10,000 feet, and portions of western Utah's Basin and Range region. Much of the region's public lands are wilderness quality - among many others, areas such as Rocky Ford, Kingston Ridge, Limestone Cliffs, Wild Horse Mesa, Flat Tops, and Bull Mountain should all be afforded the highest level of protection to ensure their enduring beauty.

While oil and gas development presents an increasing threat to these wild landscapes, off-road vehicle (ORV) use remains the biggest concern. Encouragingly, the BLM took a big step toward reducing this problem in 2006 when it implemented emergency motorized travel restrictions on the delicate Mancos shale badlands surrounding Utah's famous Factory Butte. However, BLM is now considering a management plan that would afford minimum protections to the majority of this fragile landscape.

The BLM is now taking comments from the public on its proposed management plan. Please tell the BLM it must revise its proposed plans in order to reduce the destructive and redundant web of ORV routes and the resulting noise, fumes, and scars to the land. There's a limited time to act. Click here to take quick, effective action.

Please take action today and tell the BLM to include wilderness preservation in the Richfield resource management plan.

Sincerely,
Kathy Kilmer
The Wilderness Society

The Story Of Stuff

This is a must see video... (takes a few minutes to load... but worth the wait)

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Help Protect Sierra National Forest

The Sierra National Forest is an outdoor lover's paradise with
stunning mountain scenery, abundant fish and wildlife, and a
wealth of recreational opportunities. The forest encompasses 1.3
million acres of rolling, oak-covered foothills, heavily
forested slopes, and starkly beautiful alpine landscapes. This
forest is nothing short of spectacular, and deserves our highest
protection.

The Sierra National Forest is considering designating trails for
motorized use in several Roadless Areas. This action would
threaten the most pristine areas of the forest with off-road
vehicles (ORV) use. Unrestricted motor vehicle use on the forest
has resulted in hundreds of miles of unplanned roads and trails
that cause erosion, watershed and habitat degradation, as well
as long-term detrimental impacts to wildlife and cultural
resources. ORVs rank among the most serious human-made threats
to safety and health on public lands. Allowing ORVs in Roadless
Areas will result in the harassment of critical wildlife and the
disruption of quiet backcountry recreation, including hiking,
camping, hunting, fishing, and horseback riding.

Help us stop this plan: Tell the Forest Service not to build
more roads for ORVs that will endanger this national treasure.

Click below to take action.
http://action.wilderness.org/campaign/sierra_forest

U.N. Report Describes Risks of Inaction on Climate Change

By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
New York Times

VALENCIA, Spain, Nov. 16 — In its final and most powerful report, a United Nations panel of scientists meeting here describes the mounting risks of climate change in language that is both more specific and forceful than its previous assessments, according to scientists here.

Synthesizing reams of data from its three previous reports, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the first time specifically points out important risks if governments fail to respond: melting ice sheets that could lead to a rapid rise in sea levels and the extinction of large numbers of species brought about by even moderate amounts of warming, on the order of 1 to 3 degrees.

The report carries heightened significance because it is the last word from the influential global climate panel before world leaders meet in Bali, Indonesia, next month to begin to discuss a global climate change treaty that will replace the Kyoto protocol, which expires in 2012. It is also the first report from the panel since it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October — an honor that many scientists here said emboldened them to stand more forcefully behind their positions.

As a sign of the deepening urgency surrounding the climate change issue, the report, which was being printed Friday night, will be officially released by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday.

The full report was embargoed from news organizations until Saturday. But drafts have been circulating for weeks, and descriptions of its findings began to appear on Web sites and in news agency reports on Friday. Bush administration officials held a news conference to discuss the report but insisted that their comments be withheld until after its official release.

(MORE)

Tell the Bush administration not to let mining companies destroy valleys and streams

Special alert: Tell the Bush administration not to let mining
companies destroy valleys and streams with mining waste
Comments are due November 23rd, so take action now at
http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/nrdcaction_111407

======================================================

The Office of Surface Mining is proposing changes to its stream
buffer zone rule, first adopted in 1983, that would make it
easier for mining companies to bury natural streams and valleys
under piles and ponds of mining waste. The changes would relax
environmental standards for the same mountaintop removal mining
operations that, even under the stricter existing buffer rule,
have flattened over a half-million acres and buried hundreds of
miles of streams. The headwater streams threatened by the rule
changes provide valuable habitat and feed larger waters that
provide drinking water, fishing and other recreational
opportunities.

In 2004, when the Office of Surface Mining first proposed
relaxing the buffer rule, NRDC urged the agency to abandon its
proposal and to focus instead on better enforcement of the
existing rule. The agency responded by conducting an
environmental review of its proposal, which was released in
August. The review confirms that the proposed changes would
result in the destruction of hundreds more miles of streams and
valleys in Appalachia, a region already hard-hit by mining
practices. But despite these conclusions, the agency is pressing
ahead with its proposal.

The Office of Surface Mining is accepting public comments on its
proposed rule change through Friday, November 23rd.

== What to do ==
Send a message, before the November 23rd comment deadline,
urging the Office of Surface Mining not to allow mining
companies to profit by destroying America's streams.

== Contact information ==
You can send an official comment to the Office of Surface Mining
directly from NRDC's Action Center at
http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/nrdcaction_111407

Or use the contact information and sample letter below to send
your own message.

Attn: RIN 1029-AC04
Brent Wahlquist, Director, Office of Surface Mining Reclamation
and Enforcement
1951 Constitution Avenue, NW, Room 252 SIB
Washington, DC 20240
Fax: 202-219-0253

== Sample letter ==

Subject: Don't change the current stream buffer zone rule

Dear Director Wahlquist,

I urge the Office of Surface Mining to abandon its proposal to
relax the decades-old stream buffer zone rule to make it easier
for mining companies to fill natural streams with mining waste.
Your proposal would destroy the headwater streams that support
important drinking, fishing and recreational uses; is at odds
with the Clean Water Act and other laws; and endorses decades of
destructive mining practices.

Your agency's environmental impact analysis on the proposed rule
changes estimates that over 700 miles of streams in central
Appalachia have already been buried by valley fills, and that
over 1,200 miles of streams in the region were directly harmed
by mining activities, including waste disposal, between 1992 and
2002 alone. The analysis also estimates that mining projects
approved between 2001 and 2005 will directly affect over 500
miles of streams. The rule changes would accelerate these trends
by relaxing the conditions under which mining companies,
particularly those engaged in mountaintop removal mining, may
obtain approval to permanently bury streams and fill valleys
with rock, soil, mining sludge and other wastes.

Instead of turning its back on the existing buffer zone rule,
which was adopted in 1983 to protect natural streams from the
most direct impacts of mining, the Office of Surface Mining
should commit itself and the state mining agencies it oversees
to strictly enforcing that rule. Mountaintop removal mining has
already flattened a half-million acres and buried hundreds of
miles of streams. Mining companies should not be given a new
opportunity to profit at the expense of America's fragile
headwater streams.

I urge you to abandon your proposed changes to the stream buffer
zone rule and to instead focus the Office of Surface Mining's
efforts on better enforcement of the existing rule.

Sincerely,

[Your name and address]

Arctic sea ice melts to its lowest level ever

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor
Published: 22 September 2007

The sea ice of the Arctic shrank to its lowest-ever level this week, shattering the previous record, set two years ago, by an enormous amount, American scientists have confirmed.

In what will be widely seen as one of the most alarming signs yet of accelerating global warming, the summer melt-back exceeded the September 2005 low point by 22 per cent – an area of 1.2 million square kilometres – more than 385,000 square miles. This represents an area five times the size of the UK.

The colossal shrinkage is immediately and dramatically visible on satellite images of the two low points. Furthermore, the difference between 2005 and this year is more than double the difference between 2005 and 2002, the previous lowest year.

"It's the biggest drop from a previous record that we've ever had and it's really quite astounding," said Walt Meier, a research scientist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Colorado. "That's a dramatic change in one year. Certainly we've been on a downward trend for the last 30 years or so, but this is really accelerating the trend."

The ice cover of the Arctic Ocean shrinks in the summer and regrows in the autumn and winter, in a regular cycle. By Sunday last week, it had shrunk to 1.6 million sq miles, the NSIDC said. This compares with the 2005 low point of 2.07 million sq miles. The contrast is even greater with the long-term average over the past 20 years or so. Between 1979 (when regular satellite monitoring had just started) and 2000, the long-term average minimum was 2.6 million sq miles.

(MORE)

Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act

I don't know if there's anything better than walking into the office
on Monday morning to discover that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled
that the EPA has essentially ignored the problem of tailpipe CO2
emissions for too long, and that the EPA does in fact have the
authority to regulate these emissions.

What a huge victory for activists like you who've done so much to
make sure our elected officials know how crucial it is that we take
action now on global warming. But, we're not home free. Tailpipe
emissions are just one source of global warming pollution.

Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders have introduced the Global
Warming Pollution Reduction Act -- which would reduce all forms of
global warming pollution by 80% by 2050. Can you help by asking your
senators to co-sponsor the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act?
To sign a petition to your senators, click on the link below or copy
and paste it into your web browser.

https://www.environmentohio.org/action/global-warming/senate?id4=ES

Then, ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this message
on to them.

Background

Global warming is starting to change weather patterns. Scientists
predict that these changes will accelerate in the future and say that
we can expect:

* Extreme weather. Scientists expect hurricanes to become more
intense and say that the hurricanes that hit the Gulf states in 2005
may be an indication of what's to come.

* Public health risks. Scientists also expect heat waves to become
more dangerous, causing more people to suffer heat stress and stroke.
Other impacts include the spread of infectious diseases.

* Less snow, less water. Many of the rivers and streams that we rely
on for our water supply are fed by mountain snow. But warmer winters
are starting to cause less precipitation to fall as snow, which may
cause serious future water shortages.

Most global warming pollution comes from burning oil, coal, and
natural gas in our power plants, cars, SUVs, and factories. Power
plants are the single biggest source, responsible for about 40% of
U.S. global warming pollution. Because there are no federal limits on
global warming pollution, industry can pump unlimited amounts of the
pollution into our skies.

The good news is we can reduce global warming pollution by using
existing technology to make power plants and factories more
efficient, make cars go farther on a gallon of gasoline, and shift to
cleaner technologies, such as hybrids, biofuels, and wind and solar
power.

These are win-win solutions because they also will reduce our
dependence on oil, reduce air pollution, protect pristine places from
oil drilling and mining, and bring many other benefits.

Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders have introduced the Global
Warming Pollution Reduction Act -- which would reduce all forms of
global warming pollution by 80% by 2050. Can you help by asking your
senators to co-sponsor the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act?
To sign a petition to your senators, click on the link below or copy
and paste it into your web browser.

https://www.environmentohio.org/action/global-warming/senate?id4=ES

Then, ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this message
on to them.


Sincerely,

Erin Bowser
Environment Ohio State Director
ErinB@environmentohio.org
http://www.EnvironmentOhio.org

Special alert: Speak out to protect Native American sacred springs from destructive coal mining

Special alert:

Speak out to protect Native American sacred springs from destructive coal mining
Comments are due February 6th, so send yours today at

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/nrdcaction_013007

======================================================

The Peabody Western Coal Company has been siphoning precious
groundwater away from Hopi and Navajo lands in northeastern
Arizona for nearly four decades. NRDC Earth Activists helped
successfully shine a light on Peabody's mining violations
before, but now the company has requested the Bush
administration's permission to extend its massive Black Mesa
mining operation even further.

Since the 1960s, Peabody has pumped billions of gallons of
groundwater out of the Navajo aquifer in order to propel
pulverized coal through a pipeline to a power plant 270 miles
away in Nevada. These enormous water withdrawals -- in one of
the most arid regions of the United States -- have depleted and
damaged the aquifer, drying up the sacred springs and other
water sources that the Hopi and Navajo people rely on for
drinking, irrigating crops, making medicines and carrying out
spiritual traditions.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Interior
Department's Office of Surface Mining is required to review the
environmental impacts of Peabody's proposed mining permit as
well as to consider less environmentally harmful alternatives.
But the agency scheduled the comment period for this issue
(which ends February 6th) to coincide with the Hopis'
traditional ceremonial period that bars them from engaging in
secular matters such as this, meaning they will not have the
opportunity to participate in this decisionmaking process that
directly affects their home and their way of life.

== What to do ==
Send a message, before the February 6th comment deadline, urging
the Office of Surface Mining to consider less destructive
alternatives to Peabody Coal's proposed mining expansion, and to
extend the official comment period so that the Hopis can weigh
in on this decision that is critical to their future.

== Contact information ==
You can send an official comment directly from NRDC's Earth
Action Center at
http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/nrdcaction_013007
(we'll send a copy of your comment to Interior Secretary Dirk
Kempthorne). Or use the contact information and sample letter
below to send your own message.

Dennis Winterringer, Black Mesa Project EIS
Office of Surface Mining Western Region
P.O. Box 46667
Denver, CO 80201-6667
Email: BMKEIS@osmre.gov

cc:
Secretary Dirk Kempthorne
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
Email: Exsec@ios.doi.gov

== Sample letter ==

Subject: BMP draft EIS comments

Dear Mr. Winterringer,

I urge you to reject the Peabody Western Coal Company's latest
attempt to expand and prolong its massive water withdrawals from
the Navajo aquifer in northeastern Arizona. Instead, please help
protect the scarce water resources of the Southwest and comply
with federal law by analyzing less destructive alternatives to
transporting Black Mesa coal.

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, your agency is
required to review the environmental impacts of the proposed
mining permit as well as to consider no-water and
electrical-generation alternatives. According to the most recent
data, Peabody's water withdrawals have already caused
irreparable physical damage to the Navajo aquifer, violating
your own "material damage" criteria. As a result, the sacred
springs and other natural water sources that the Hopi tribe and
the Navajo Nation depend on are drying up.

Also, I ask you to extend the deadline for public comments on
this proposal by a minimum of 60 days so that Hopis who are
currently observing a traditional ceremonial period that bars
them from engaging in secular matters can participate in the
decisionmaking process.

I am counting on you to protect the cultural and natural values
of the Black Mesa plateau by acknowledging the severe impacts of
groundwater mining and requiring a no-water alternative to
transport coal.

Sincerely,

[Your name and address]

Please also forward this message to your friends and co-workers,
and urge them to contact the Office of Surface Mining as well.

Thank you!

==========
About NRDC
==========

The Natural Resources Defense Council is a nonprofit
environmental organization with 1.2 million members and online
activists, and a staff of scientists, attorneys and
environmental experts. Our mission is to protect the planet's
wildlife and wild places and ensure a safe and healthy
environment for all living things.

For more information about NRDC or how to become a member of
NRDC, please contact us at:

Natural Resources Defense Council
40 West 20th Street
New York, NY 10011
212-727-4511 (voice) / 212-727-1773 (fax)
Email: nrdcaction@nrdc.org
http://www.nrdc.org

Also visit:
BioGems -- Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org

HELP SAVE POLAR BEARS FROM GLOBAL WARMING

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_polar_0107

The Bush Administration is beginning the review process to decide whether to protect the polar bear, threatened with extinction due to global warming, under the Endangered Species Act. But we must speak up before February 23, 2007, or they will not hold public hearings on this critical matter.

Please help by sending a message directly to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, letting them know you want public hearings on polar bear protection. They are not required by law to hold such hearings, but they can be swayed if we all speak up.

CLICK HERE to show your support for polar bear protection.

GLOBAL WARMING DISRUPTING BEAR HIBERNATION IN EUROPE

It's not just Arctic creatures suffering from the negative effects of global warming. Spanish scientists are blaming global warming for the fact that brown bears appear to have stopped hibernating in Spain's northern Cantabrian Mountains, the first bears known not to hibernate in Europe.

According to Douglas Futuyma, professor of ecology and evolution at the State University of New York in Stony Brook, "There is a grave concern about the prospects of a great number of species. They are likely to be harmed by temperature changes, by mismatch between their life cycles and the altered seasonal life cycles of species on which they depend, and by invasion of competing species that are better adapted to warmer conditions."

http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/biogems_polar_0107

Wonderful Green Info

Environment: Easy to Be Green

By Joan Raymond
Newsweek

Jan. 8, 2007 issue - You don't have to ditch leather or sell your car to help the environment. We've gathered 10 simple tips for living greener in 2007. Hey, it's a lot easier than losing those 15 pounds.


1. Feed the Bees Pesticides, pollution and habitat destruction are taking a toll on the birds and insects that pollinate about 80 percent of the world's food supply (or about one out of every three bites of food we eat), says Rose Getch of the National Gardening Association. To lend a helping hand, plant a pollinator garden. Yellow, blue and purple flowers will attract bees, while red and orange will attract hummingbirds. For more information, go to kidsgardening.com.

2. Clean Up, Naturally Household chemicals contribute to both in-door and outdoor pollution. This year, use more natural cleaners like the Greening the Cleaning line at imusranchfoods.com. Or make your own using vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice. For some great tips on green cleaning, go to eartheasy.com.

3. Ditch Your Junk Not only is junk mail annoying, it kills trees. Do yourself—and the forests—a favor by getting off the mailing lists of companies you don't support. You can contact the firms yourself, or check out subscription services like greendimes.com or 41pounds.org that promise to lighten your junk-mail load. For more information: thegreenguide.com.

4. Air Your Laundry Make like Grandma and line-dry your clothes once in a while. It not only saves money, but also decreases your yearly carbon- dioxide emissions. Likewise, run your washer on cold whenever possible—and use it only when it's full.

(MORE)

HOW OLD IS THE GRAND CANYON? PARK SERVICE WON’T SAY

Orders to Cater to Creationists Makes National Park Agnostic on Geology
December 28, 2006, © PEER

Washington, DC - Grand Canyon National Park is not permitted to give an official estimate of the geologic age of its principal feature, due to pressure from Bush administration appointees. Despite promising a prompt review of its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah's flood rather than by geologic forces, more than three years later no review has ever been done and the book remains on sale at the park, according to documents released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

"In order to avoid offending religious fundamentalists, our National Park Service is under orders to suspend its belief in geology," stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. "It is disconcerting that the official position of a national park as to the geologic age of the Grand Canyon is 'no comment."

In a letter released today, PEER urged the new Director of the National Park Service (NPS), Mary Bomar, to end the stalling tactics, remove the book from sale at the park and allow park interpretive rangers to honestly answer questions from the public about the geologic age of the Grand Canyon. PEER is also asking Director Bomar to approve a pamphlet, suppressed since 2002 by Bush appointees, providing guidance for rangers and other interpretive staff in making distinctions between science and religion when speaking to park visitors about geologic issues.

(MORE)

GOP misses chance to reshape environmental laws

By Bettina Boxall, Times Staff Writer
December 15, 2006

If ever there was a Congress in which Republicans were positioned to remake the nation's environmental laws, it was the 109th. But by the time the session ended last week, the GOP's environmental agenda had been largely thwarted.

Whether it was rewriting the Endangered Species Act, opening up most of the nation's coastline to oil and gas drilling, or selling off public lands in the West, Republicans failed to enact a range of ambitious proposals.

"It was the best chance for Republican-shaped initiatives for as long we can remember," said Daniel Kemmis, senior fellow at the Center for the Rocky Mountain West at the University of Montana.

Republicans began the session with majorities in both chambers, a sympathetic president, and a tough-talking property rights champion in charge of a key environmental committee.

That they went home empty-handed, Kemmis and others say, is testament to a changing, greening West; the pitfalls of overreaching; and an emerging alliance between environmentalists and a traditional GOP base, hunters and anglers.

"The so-called hook-and-bullet constituency has become more concerned about protecting public lands, protecting open space in general. I don't think that's going to change," he said.

Though Republicans came close to opening up Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, the goal eluded them.

(MORE)

Tell the Bush administration not to log the wild forests of Hell Canyon

The Forest Service recently announced a proposal to log parts ofthe 5,900-acre Hell Canyon Roadless Area in Colorado's Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest. Hell Canyon is a pristine area, and an essential habitat for a wide range of wildlife, including mountain lions, black bears, elk, mule deer, wild turkeys, blue grouse and northern goshawks. Named by early explorers for its rugged landscape, the canyon also includes aforaging area for peregrine falcons and the headwaters forseveral streams; it also may contain ecologically valuable stands of old growth trees. Because the canyon has been left untouched until now, it remains a very special island of solitude, and most Coloradans, as well as Americans across thecountry, want these wildlands protected.

Although the Forest Service's overall proposal includes some important goals, including protecting houses on private landnear the forest from fires, most of the proposed logging in the roadless area is far from any homes, and is not necessary toprotect these or any other structures. Moreover, the proposed logging project could destroy important wildlife habitat and violate the Roadless Rule that protects roadless areas nationwide from harmful logging and road construction. Logging and roadbuilding could even increase fire risk by drying out the woods and increasing access for motor vehicles and people.

The Forest Service is accepting public comments on its proposed logging project through December 11th.

== What to do ==

Send a message, before the December 11th deadline, urging the Forest Service not to log roadless areas in Hell Canyon unlessthey are within 100 yards of buildings or private property.

== Contact information ==

You can send an official comment directly from NRDC's EarthAction Center at http://www.nrdc.org/action/

Or use the contact information and sample letter below to sendyour own message, and please include your own reasons why protecting these stunning lands from logging is important to you.

Dyce GaytonArapaho-Roosevelt National Forest
Canyon Lakes Ranger District
2150 Centre Avenue, Building E
Fort Collins, CO 80526
Email: dgayton@fs.fed.us

== Sample letter ==

Subject: No roadless logging in the Hell Canyon Roadless Area

Dear Mr. Gayton,

I urge you to ensure that the Thompson River Fuels ReductionProject protects the Hell Canyon Roadless Area. According to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Hell Canyon provides essential habitat to an incredible array of wildlife, including mountainlions, black bears, elk, mule deer, blue grouse, northerngos hawks and peregrine falcons.

I support legitimate methods to reduce the risk of forest fire,but logging activity in remote areas is unnecessary to protect homes from forest fires and may actually increase forest fire risk to local communities by creating slash and increasing access to the forest. Logging in this area also could damage theremaining old growth forest and key wildlife habitat. For these reasons, I encourage you to plan logging in the Hell Canyon Roadless Area only within 100 yards or so of private land with ahome or other occupied structure, where the owners are committed to doing their part to make the property fire-safe, and where the activities are unequivocally allowed by the 2001 Roadless Rule.

I also oppose the construction of any new roads for the project,whether they are designated permanent or not, and urge you to concentrate all activities on land immediately adjacent to private land with homes that need protection. This is the proven way to protect homes and communities, and should be the highest priority for the Forest Service.

Sincerely,
[Your name and address]

BLM broke environmental law, appeals court rules

Decision too late to save 400-year-old trees

Jeff Barnard Associated Press
December 5, 2006

SpokesmanReview.com

GRANTS PASS, Ore. – A federal appeals court ruled Monday that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management violated environmental law when it sold old-growth timber in southwestern Oregon without considering the cumulative harm that so much logging was having on northern spotted owls and salmon.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reversed the ruling of U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan in Eugene, despite the fact that the trees in the Mr. Wilson timber sale had already been felled.

The panel sent the case back to Hogan with orders to have BLM revise the environmental assessment to take a "hard look" at past and future logging in nearby areas.

George Sexton, conservation director for Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, a plaintiff in the case, said it was too late to save the 400-year-old trees, but he hoped the ruling would make BLM stop cutting so much old-growth when much of the U.S. Forest Service is focusing on logging in less controversial second-growth stands.

"I think BLM has decided who butters their bread, and they are connected at the hip with the timber industry," Sexton said. "I don't see BLM ever reaching the point where they decide to hear the public's desire to see old-growth forest protected and move into a less controversial second-growth thinning program until they log all the old growth or the law is changed."
BLM did not immediately return telephone calls for comment.

In the majority opinion, Judge Alfred T. Goodwin wrote that BLM had violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider seven other past and future timber sales in the West Fork of Cow Creek watershed and what that would do to habitat for the threatened northern spotted owl and salmon.

The ruling noted that BLM's environmental analysis was based on broader looks at the impacts of logging that did not specifically address the harm caused by past, present and future logging.
It added that the BLM decided to log despite the fact that the environmental analysis found that four timber sales in the area would remove up 1,000 acres of old-growth habitat, and that future logging would remove some of the last old-growth in some sections.

The timber sale was an area designated for logging by the Northwest Forest Plan, which reduced logging on federal lands in western Oregon, Washington and Northern California. In a dissenting opinion, Judge A. Wallace Tashima agreed with Hogan that because the trees had already been cut, the case was moot.

But Goodwin wrote that if that were the case, BLM could just rush through logging projects before conservationists could get to court.

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=162867

DIRTY COAL ON THE RISE IN TEXAS

With all of the attention on the recent elections, you may have missed a story with serious implications for the future of our planet.

In Texas, the TXU Corporation plans to spend $10 billion to build 11 new dirty coal-fired power plants that will guarantee huge amounts of global warming emissions for decades to come. The company announced it is also considering major coal plant projects in the Northeast and Midwest. According to a recent New York Times article, opposition groups say "that TXU is embarking on its immense construction campaign without taking account of its role in an emerging environmental catastrophe." And the state of Texas is already the number one carbon emitter in the country. It appears that Governor Rick Perry is fast-tracking the permit process for TXU so that the plants can be built before federal laws will hopefully be put in place.

A growing number of Texas mayors are opposing the TXU proposal through the Texas Cities for Clean Air Coalition, including the mayors of Houston, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, and over a dozen other cities statewide from both political parties. Conservative Republican Robert Cluck, the mayor of Arlington, is leading the charge on global warming in Texas -- concerned for the environmental impact but as a medical doctor also for the public health impacts of dirty coal.

SPREAD THE WORD: "AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH" AVAILABLE NOW!

Movie critic Roger Ebert said, "In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film." Buy two copies of "An Inconvenient Truth" and donate one to a school. BUY DVD NOW

TAKE ACTION IN SCHOOLS

Teachers and Students: To learn more ways to take action at your school, visit the new Classroom section of StopGlobalWarming.org

TELL A FRIEND

By marching, you have taken the first step to be part of the movement to stop global warming. We are now over 517,000 marchers strong. The best way to grow the movement to stop global warming is to urge your friends and family to join the March too. CLICK HERE to invite friends to join the March.

Keep Marching!

Laurie David
Founder
StopGlobalWarming.org