Forty of the 60 main fish species caught commercially in the northeast Atlantic are being scooped up faster than they can replenish themselves, according to a report to be released later this week at a meeting of the international Ospar Commission, which is charged with protecting the marine environment around Europe. The report also found that as quotas are imposed on traditional catches like cod and haddock, the fishing fleets of developed nations are increasingly chasing deep-water species and pushing their numbers down as well. In addition to concerns about overfishing, delegates to the Ospar meeting will discuss chemical pollution …

About 117 million Americans live in areas with smoggy air, according to a report released yesterday by the Clean Air Network, a coalition of environmental and public health groups. The report found that more than half of the nearly 600 counties in the U.S. that fully monitor air quality are above the legal limit for ozone pollution. The Clean Air Network is urging federal and state governments to crack down on pollution from coal-fired power plants and diesel trucks and buses. Meanwhile, the House voted last night to block the EPA from identifying regions with high smog levels, aiming to …

The Los Angeles metro area made a national first on Friday by adopting sweeping rules that will require new transit buses and garbage trucks to be powered by electricity, fuel cells, or relatively low-polluting fuels such as natural gas. The new rules, intended to cut down on diesel emissions that foul the air and are believed to cause cancer, could spur similar action in other U.S. cities plagued by air pollution. The rules are a victory for enviros, public health advocates, and community leaders who have been fighting to curb diesel pollution in L.A.

Re: Won't You Be My Nader? Dear Editor: I am disappointed to hear that Donella Meadows plans to vote for Ralph Nader and is encouraging her readers to do the same. While I agree that he is more committed to environmental issues than Al Gore, voting for Gore is, in Meadows's own words, "the undeniably rational argument." I fear what will happen if George W. Bush holds office for even one term, during which he'll be able to appoint several Supreme Court justices, cater to the NRA, and undo every pro-environmental executive order that Clinton has implemented. A Republican president, …

The U.S. federal agency that oversees the safety of oil and gas pipelines is too closely tied to industry and has failed to implement safety measures mandated by Congress, according to a harsh report by the General Accounting Office. Between 1990 and 1998, the proportion of enforcement actions brought by the Office of Pipeline Safety that resulted in fines fell from 49 percent to 4 percent, and over the same period the number of major pipeline accidents increased by 4 percent per year. The report comes a year after a gasoline pipeline spill and explosion in Bellingham, Wash., killed three …

Some environmentalists say California Gov. Gray Davis (D) has succumbed to campaign contributions from the timber industry and is failing to push for more protections for the state's forestland. Clear-cutting has exploded in the state in recent years, largely because of one company, Sierra Pacific Industries, which owns 1.5 million forest acres in the state, making it the second largest private landowner in the U.S. Since Davis was elected in 1998, Sierra Pacific has been active in helping to fill his campaign coffers, and the governor has appointed a company executive to the state Board of Forestry. Enviros say the …

America's federal lands are increasingly threatened by thieves who make off with everything from mushrooms to cedar trees and sell the natural resources for profit. From 1991 to 1997, poachers stole 15,000 barrel cacti from federal lands in California, including the Mojave National Preserve, and sold them to makers of miznaga, a Mexican candy. Earlier this year, 10 people were convicted of hunting bears in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park and selling the gall bladders and paws, which are prized overseas. In 1999, a crew of workers stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bear grass, which is used in …

A man enviros love to hate, Charles Hurwitz, chair and CEO of Maxxam Inc., got a good deal richer last year when he finally acceded to a government buyout of the Headwaters stand of ancient redwoods in Northern California. Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Hurwitz, whose company owns Pacific Lumber, was paid an $11.6 million bonus in stock by the Maxxam board of directors for closing the deal under which Pacific Lumber sold the 10,000-acre Headwaters tract to the state and federal government for almost $480 million in March 1999. Hurtwitz worked for two years to …