Environmentalists scored significant victories in yesterday's gubernatorial elections, with Democrats James McGreevey and Mark Warner taking office in New Jersey and Virginia, respectively. McGreevey defeated Republican candidate Bret Schundler in a race where environmental issues, especially open spaces and clean air and water, were often front and center. Warner, who will be the first Democratic governor of Virginia since 1994, has vowed to protect water quality, curb out-of-state waste, and clean up the Chesapeake Bay. Meanwhile, voters in San Francisco approved two landmark solar energy measures that will almost double the nation's solar-energy capacity.

In a move that pleased environmentalists but irked industry, the U.S. Congress voted yesterday to ban new oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes for two years. The measure, which was part of a $24.6 billion federal energy and water bill, was passed overwhelmingly in both chambers despite President Bush's recent calls to tap into more domestic energy sources. Under the bill, states would be prohibited from green-lighting new projects while the Army Corps of Engineers studied the environmental impact of drilling Although none of the Great Lakes states allow drilling from rigs on the water, there are currently …

The environment has been a defining issue in New Jersey's gubernatorial race, where Democrat James McGreevey and Republican Bret Schundler are vying to lead the nation's most densely populated state. McGreevey, who says eight years of Republican control by former governor and current U.S. EPA head Christie Whitman were bad for the state's environment, is a champion of green causes and has been endorsed by the New Jersey Sierra Club and the New Jersey Environmental Federation. Schundler, meanwhile, opposes environmental regulations that could harm business and is an outspoken advocate of the free market and local control. The good news …

An announcement by the Bush administration yesterday that it would repeal a Clinton-era mining regulation pleased industry leaders but angered environmentalists. The regulation, which applies to hard-rock minerals such as gold, silver, and copper, allows the Interior secretary to veto new mines on federal lands if they threaten the well-being of communities or the environment. In the last five years, mining development has declined 85 percent, a fact industry leaders blame on the Clinton administration's policies. Environmentalists, however, say the hard-rock mining regulation is necessary to prevent groundwater pollution; they plan to sue to stop the repeal.

Federal wildlife agents and rangers -- the folks who protect U.S. public lands from poaching, endangered species smuggling, illegal off-road activity, and other no-nos -- were in short supply long before Sept. 11. But now their ranks are even thinner, after scores of agents were re-assigned to serve as sky marshals or guard federal buildings in the nation's capital. The shift has been largely clandestine, with the federal government declining to make a public announcement, give specific figures on how many officers have been pulled from land and wildlife posts, or address the resulting enforcement problem on public lands.

Mexico City's new airport will be built on a soggy former lake bed east of the city, federal officials announced this week. Environmentalists are angry about the decision, saying it will endanger the geese, ducks, and other birds that nest on the lake bed. The airport is also furthering tension between conservative President Vicente Fox, who supports it, and Mexico City's progressive mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. "It's absurd to construct an airport [on the lake bed], because among other things it would exacerbate uncontrolled urban sprawl in an area that doesn't have water or infrastructure," Lopez Obrador said. North …

In a decision that could have serious implications for the environment, U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced this week that he will run for governor of his home state next year. Murkowski, a former banker, has been a senator for 21 years and is the ranking Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He has made enemies of environmentalists, especially through his tireless promotion of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and logging in southeastern Alaska. Current Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer, a Democrat, plans to challenge Murkowski, but political analysts say the senator will come equipped with …

A consumer activist and political organizer hopes to be Pennsylvania's next governor -- and its first Green one. Michael Morrill of West Reading announced yesterday that he will run for the state's top office in 2002 as the Green Party candidate, on a platform that includes tougher protections for the environment, an $11 per hour minimum wage, and an end to corporate welfare. Morrill's candidacy may be a sign of the increasing popularity of Pennsylvania's Green Party, which will field 30 candidates in local elections next month. Still, Morrill faces an uphill battle; the state has not elected a third-party …

Federal species protection laws and the religious rights of Native Americans are clashing in a U.S. District Court in Seattle this week, where a 47-year-old man is on trial for violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. Terry Antoine, a member of the Cowichan band of the Salish Tribe in British Columbia, is charged with smuggling eagle carcasses from Canada into the United States, where he sold or traded them to other tribes for use in religious ceremonies. Bald eagles are sacred to many Native American tribes, but because the birds are threatened and therefore protected by law, they …

At an environmental summit being held this week in Rio de Janeiro, Latin American and Caribbean countries are forging an alliance to pressure developed nations to foot most of the bill for the planet's ailing ecosystems. During the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, industrialized nations pledged to spend 0.7 percent of their gross domestic products on sustainable development in the developing world, but that promise has gone unmet except by a handful of European nations. Representatives at this week's summit say that in the last decade, Latin America has matured politically and is ready to demand fulfillment of the pledge. The …