Petroleum, periwinkles, Plum Creek, agriculture

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

Congress overrided GWB's veto of a bill funding numerous water-management projects, including wetland and coastal restoration, and authorizing some others. (Associated Press)
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/congress-hands-bush-first-veto-override/20071108131109990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

A container ship hit the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge on Wednesday, spilling 58,000 gallons of fuel oil, much of which is still spreading through the sea there despite concentrate efforts to remove it and rescue tarred birds. (San Francisco Chronicle)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/11/11/MNSETAB1P.DTL&tsp=1
[This is one of the most recent articles; many more can be found on this and other news sites]

A bill currently being considered by the Senate would prohibit oil and gas drilling, as well as mining, on 1.2 million acres of Wyoming land. (The Wilderness Society)
http://www.wilderness.org/WhereWeWork/Wyoming/BridgerTetonLeasesHalted.cfm?TopLevel=Teton

On the continuing debate over ship-speed laws proposed to prevent strikes of North Atlantic right whales (Washington Post).
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/20/AR2007102000533_pf.html

The federal government is quietly considering a new set of offshore protected areas in the Gulf of Mexico, and some stakeholders are concerned about being denied opportunities to give imput on it (Times-Picayne)
http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1193723467112420.xml&coll=1&thispage=1

The US Department of Agriculture set a voluntary standard for grass-fed ruminant (cow, sheep, goat) meat. (USDA press release)
http://www.ams.usda.gov/news/178-07.htm

New York Times
*An editorial by Michael Pollan about the big Food and Farm Bill still being crafted in congress. His thesis statement: for environmentally and nutritionally beneficial add-ons to do much good, commodity subsidies as currently done have got to go.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/opinion/04pollan.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&oref=slogin

Massachusetts leaders proposed a bill to mandate a [small] percentage of biofuel into all of the state's home heating oil and diesel fuel, phased-in over the next several years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/us/06boston.html?ref=science

Report: acidification of seawater, caused by increasing levels of absorbed CO2, disrupts the shell-thickening defense mechanism of our own common periwinkles.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/science/06obsnai.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin

Bangor Daily News
A $35.5 million bond for land conservation, land-working communities and state-park improvements was endorsed in Tuesday's elections.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=156268&zoneid=500

The Washington County wind farm under consideration last week has now been approved by LURC.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=156306&zoneid=500

Hearings on Plum Creek's proposed development around Moosehead Lake have been finally scheduled, for December; the plan still is still being met with disapproval, and not only by environmental groups.
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=156336&zoneid=500