We're having a heat wave ... Image: NOAA. A hair-raising Pentagon report [PDF] on the potentially imminent and colossal national security threat posed by climate change has been making its way around the Internet since its release in late January, and this week it picked up considerable speed. Fortune magazine was the first major news outlet to cover the report; the "Climate Collapse" feature in its Jan. 26 issue raised many an eyebrow in business and Beltway circles. Then, this past Sunday, a somewhat more histrionic article on the report ran in the British Observer and has been swirling through …

Embrey Dam Removal Heralds Larger Trend The Army Corps of Engineers blew up the Embrey Dam in Fredericksburg, Va., yesterday, allowing the Rappahannock River to flow unmolested from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay for the first time since 1910 -- and making it the longest free-flowing river feeding into the Chesapeake, a renewed migration route for fish that live in the bay but swim upriver to freshwater to spawn. The dam was originally used to generate power, and then to create a drinking-water reservoir, but for the past five years has been essentially useless. The multiyear community …

Pentagon Report Details Apocalyptic Climate Change Scenario Major European cities are submerged and become uninhabitable. Famine spreads across the globe. Countries race to develop nuclear capabilities to fend off invaders seeking food and resources. China and India devolve into chaos. The U.S. becomes a large fortress to prevent an onslaught of millions of refugees. "Once again, warfare would define human life." 1950s B movie? Wild-eyed leftist fantasy? No, this is a scenario described in a secret Pentagon report commissioned by legendary defense strategist and uber-hawk Andrew Marshall (dubbed "Yoda" by colleagues for his extensive experience and influence). The report on …

Great Barrier Reef Is Doomed, Says Report Australia's Great Barrier Reef -- the world's largest chain of living coral and one of the seven wonders of the natural world -- will be almost completely destroyed by rising sea temperatures by 2050, predicts a new report released by Queensland University's Center for Marine Studies. "Coral cover will decrease to less than 5 percent on most reefs by the middle of the century, under even the most favorable assumptions," says the report, which goes on to forecast that damage to the reef -- one of the world's top tourist attractions -- will …

Sierra Club and Auto Workers Unite Against Bush Fuel-Economy Plan Bush's new fuel-economy plan is even ticking off the United Auto Workers union. The UAW has often been at odds with enviros over auto efficiency standards, but now it's teaming up with the Sierra Club to fight the administration's proposal. In a joint op-ed published in The New York Times this week, the heads of both groups make the case that the plan would threaten the livelihoods of thousands of Americans working in plants that manufacture small cars and would increase pollution and worsen the nation's dependence on foreign oil. …

Big Recipient of Industry Money to Head House Energy Committee With Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) retiring at the end of this year, the plum leadership spot on the House Energy and Commerce Committee is poised to go to Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), a true friend of the energy industry if ever there was one. Barton has received more campaign contributions from the energy sector than any other single House member -- $1.6 million since 1989, when the Center for Responsive Politics began keeping records, the group said in a report this week. His biggest contributor in the current election cycle …

From Badlands to worse. Photo: NPS. To Theodore Roosevelt, a man who battled chronic asthma, the remote Badlands of North Dakota were as beloved for their fresh air as for their dramatic views and big game. "Wildflowers and sagebrush spiced the clean, dry North Dakotan breeze. Roosevelt's asthmatic lungs rejoiced in this air, as did his soul in the sheer size and emptiness of the landscape," Edmund Morris wrote in The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. Now ol' T.R. is probably spinning -- or wheezing -- in his grave. Just before Valentine's Day this year, the Bush administration gave the North …

Bush Administration Extends Contentious "Dual-Fuel" Rules In a move that will make it easier for automakers to meet fuel-efficiency standards without actually improving the fuel efficiency of their vehicles, the Bush administration announced yesterday that it will extend for four years a system that gives auto manufacturers credits for producing "dual-fuel" vehicles that can run on either gasoline or an ethanol blend. Environmentalists criticized the move, pointing out that only 1 percent of dual-fuel vehicles actually do run on an ethanol blend, in part because fewer than 200 of the 176,000 gas stations in the country offer it. Enviros also …

Enviro Groups Sue to Stop Alaska Drilling A coalition of seven environmental groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to stop a plan to open 8.8 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska to oil and gas development. The groups -- including the National Audubon Society, Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Alaska Wilderness League, and Sierra Club -- do not want to block all development. Rather, they want the plan reconsidered in light of federal protections for wildlife and habitats, and they want an adequate study of the likely environmental impact. Interior Secretary Gale Norton -- named in …

Bush Admin. Decision Could Boost Pollution in National Parks In a move that could lead to more pollution in national parks, the Bush administration on Friday said it will permit North Dakota to change the way it estimates air pollution in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Seems like a small thing, but the new estimation formula is likely to produce lower emissions predictions, paving the way for a new coal-fired power plant to be built near the park. Enviros fear that the U.S. EPA will cut similar deals with other states -- for example, Utah, where there's a proposal to build …