A sweeping agreement between the U.S. and Canada to manage and conserve West Coast salmon runs is expected to be announced today. The 10-year deal, which would end a prolonged dispute over salmon between the two nations, would revolve around a jointly managed conservation trust fund of about $150 million. Millions from the fund would be used to buy out commercial fishing licenses in the U.S. in order to reduce the American catch of sockeye salmon from British Columbia's Frasier River. The agreement would also require deep cutbacks in the Canadians' catch of U.S.-bound chinook.

For the first time, more Japanese companies favor a tax on carbon-dioxide emissions than oppose it, according to a poll released by the nation's Environment Agency yesterday. "The poll indicates there is a growing perception among Japanese firms that voluntary corporate efforts alone cannot curb carbon-dioxide emissions," an agency official said.

Mobil CEO Lucio A. Noto got testy yesterday when enviros suggested that the company's planned merger with Exxon, approved overwhelmingly by stockholders yesterday, would create an environmentally irresponsible monster. Noto lit into the Kyoto climate change treaty, saying Exxon and Mobil oppose it and that it's "not worth the paper that it's written on." He continued, "Forgive me for getting emotional, but I don't like to see Mobil characterized as raping the environment or only being concerned with the bottom line." At the stockholders' meetings of both Exxon and Mobil, motions to have the companies create committees to report publicly …

As controversy over genetically modified crops mounts, a federal task force will report by the end of July on whether genetically engineered foods should be labeled so consumers know what they're getting. The biotech industry complains that such labeling would be expensive and unnecessary. Meanwhile, a National Academy of Sciences panel is conducting a review of the risks and benefits of genetically modified crops and will make recommendations for government regulation this fall. At a public NAS hearing on Monday, a number of scientists warned that unless the government gets its act together and better regulates biotechnology, more and more …

Enviro groups plan to oppose the proposed merger of Mobil and Exxon at the companies' annual meetings this week out of fears that Mobil's more conciliatory stance on climate change will be x-ed out if Exxon gets regulatory clearance to buy Mobil for $75 billion. Mobil was initially critical of the Kyoto climate change treaty, but last year the company appeared to start changing its tune, saying it would conduct an inventory of its greenhouse gas emissions. Exxon continues to deny that climate change is underway.

Women Pioneers for the Environment by Mary Joy Breton Northeastern University Press, 1998, 336 pages Want to buy it? In 1993, Emma Must, irate over the British Department of Transport's plans to plow through yet another grassy hillside for yet another highway extension, chained herself by the neck to the axle of a bulldozer for five hours. Her bold antics and those of a band of like-minded peaceful protestors stalled construction of the highway for six months, but ultimately their campaign failed. Out of the ashes of Must's effort, however, rose a tide of public anger that swelled Britain's anti-road …

The New Wolves by Rick Bass Lyons Press, 1998, 184 pages In The New Wolves: The Return of the Mexican Wolf to the American Southwest, Rick Bass ambles pensively and passionately through the controversial ground in Arizona's Blue Mountains where Mexican wolves are being reintroduced. He walks alongside a host of folks with divergent perspectives on the reintroduction effort: unflappable federal wildlife agents; bright-eyed students; newfangled "predator-friendly" ranchers; faithful volunteers; and a reintroduction foe who seems to have the wolves' best interests at heart. Bass takes in all their views and paints them with empathy and respect, while never letting …

Totem Salmon by Freeman House Beacon Press, 1999, 228 pages In the wake of the federal government's much trumpeted decision in March to confer threatened and endangered status upon nine salmon runs in Washington and Oregon, Northwesterners will need to reevaluate their relationship with this once mighty species, a cultural icon as well as biological keystone. An ideal beginning would be to delve into Freeman House's Totem Salmon: Life Lessons from Another Species. In his beautifully crafted first book, House relates the story of his northern California community's salmon restoration effort, the Mattole Watershed Salmon Support Group, which was birthed …

This year could see Congress approve the most conservation spending ever, some officials are predicting. Republicans and Democrats alike have introduced six major environmental conservation bills in Congress this year, all of which would for the first time fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund with $900 million a year. Money from the fund is supposed to be used to purchase open space. Sprawl and runaway growth are becoming major issues for voters and Congress members are reacting.

Human-made marshes that filter water naturally are gaining in popularity as an alternative to high-tech water purifying systems, according to experts speaking at a National Marketplace for the Environment meeting in Anaheim, Calif. Partially treated wastewater and stormwater runoff are sent to constructed wetlands, where plants and microbes purify the water of silt and some pollutants so that it can be reused for farming and other non-drinking purposes. In Davis, Calif., a 400-acre, $6 million wetlands project should be open to the public by late summer. There are some 800 human-made wetlands in the U.S., and about 2,400 worldwide.