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Greens and Navy reach compromise over low-frequency sonar

The U.S. Navy and environmental groups have reached a compromise in a long-running dispute over the Navy’s use of low-frequency sonar, which greens say can befuddle whales and sometimes cause them to beach and die. The Navy on Tuesday agreed to restrict use of low-frequency active sonar in areas known to be whale breeding grounds […]

VBS travels to the most polluted city in the world

VBS.tv travels to the most polluted city on earth, the coal mining town of Linfen, China: It’s a five-part series — check out the rest on VBS.tv.

Feds axe acreage of spotted owl habitat

The amount of old-growth forest designated as critical habitat for the northern spotted owl was slashed 23 percent, or 1.6 million acres, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Tuesday. One might think that means that spotted owls are doing well for themselves, but no: the spotted owl population is dropping by 4 percent […]

Roadless rule shot down, again

The Clinton-era “roadless rule” has been declared invalid by U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer. The rule, which prohibits development on 58.5 million acres of national forest, has had a long and rocky past. Brimmer first put the kibosh on it in 2003, and while an appeal was pending, the Bush administration switched it out for […]

New data point shows that OPEC’s production hit highest level ever last month

I’ve written about energy issues a few times and been wrong as often as I’ve been right. One of the reasons predictions about energy prove so difficult is that data on oil production are so poor. But we do have a new data point out today that shows that OPEC’s production hit its highest level […]

Snippets from the news

• Jewish groups voice green concerns. • T. Boone Pickens invests in natural-gas-fueled taxis. • Invasive snake causes problems in Guam. • “Off-road rage” a problem on public lands. • Australia may get world’s largest solar plant. • Technology could make wind turbines quieter.

Some big whales no longer in trouble

There’s bad news and good news from the world of marine megafauna. The bad: Almost a quarter of the 80 types of whales, dolphins, and porpoises are in trouble, with nine listed as “endangered” or “critically endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Entanglement in fishing gear poses the main threat. The good: […]

Stopping MTR

“Now there is an increasingly powerful and vocal national movement to stop mountaintop removal [mining]. I’m saying we’re going to have it stopped by the end of next year … the end of 2009.” — Matt Wasson, director of programs for Appalachian Voices

Galbraith on ‘the free market’

TPM Cafe is hosting a roundtable on economist James Galbraith’s new book The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too. Here’s a bit from Galbraith’s introductory post: The judicial coup of December 2000 that installed Bush and Cheney brought back some of Reagan’s men and his most extreme policies […]

Snippets from the news

• Corporate boards go green. • California condors will go extinct unless lead bullets banned. • Big-box stores go for solar. • Chem industry tries to convince consumers that BPA is safe. • Villages won’t move for Sudanese dam. • Is there lead in your garden?