Monday, September 22, 2008

Eco-News: endangered species, energy, seaweed, Chicago and more


Eco-News is my community service project: a weekly campus-wide email of links to environmental news articles. I find some in online newspapers--especially NY Times, Grist and Bangor News--and receive others from various environmental groups. Comments are welcome. Disclaimer: inclusion of an article here does not imply my support for, or opposition to, any action or viewpoint described within. [Bracketed] comments in summaries are my own opinions.


Gray wolves in the northern Rockies were returned for now to the Endangered Species list after their removal and subsequent killings in March prompted protests and lawsuits from environmentalists (Associated Press).
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h0YqdJtE9K1Ejlz-RuOF8RH8wl1QD9385EUO0

The EPA officially vetoed a massive pumping project proposed to drain wetlands for farming in parts of the Mississippi delta [The Gulf Restoration Network, which sent me this article, was much happier about it than some of the interviewees here.] (Wall Street Journal)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122040280744093353.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources proposed removing gray wolves and bald eagles from the state's Endangered Species List (Heartland Institute)
http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results.html?artId=23700

Many coastal residents of Washington County have protested the local harvesting of rockweed by a Canadian company, and a recent meeting of the two groups continued the debate (Bangor News).
http://bangornews.com/detail/50482.html

Los Angeles Times
Proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act would eliminate the requirement for federal agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers to consult scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service or Marine Fisheries Service before deciding whether their activities would harm endangered species. The public comment period runs until October 14. [This is a one-sided opinion piece, but I haven't found anything more objective. Maybe you can.]
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-wetzler14-2008sep14,0,4365686.story

A federal court ruled that the EPA must set pollution standards for runoff from construction sites (Los Angeles Times).
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cleanwater19-2008sep19,0,4915271.story

New York Times
A major energy bill under consideration by Congress would, among other things, allow offshore oil drilling around much of the nation...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11cong.html?ref=science

...although, according to this biased but intelligent analysis (not from the NYT), there would still be obstacles to drilling.
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2008/9/11/12542/0324

A major study published in Science promoted catch-share systems as powerful means of preventing global fishery collapses [and some people are now touting them as THE solution to overfishing]...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/science/19fish.html?ref=science

...although they're controversial and do have some issues
http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/how-to-save-fish/#respond

The Nature Conservancy bought a famous 14,600-acre tract of the Adirondacks to be used for recreation and eventually preserved (and then maybe sold to the state or used for sustainable timber cutting.)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/nyregion/19adirondacks.html?ref=science

Ten northeastern states will begin a cap-and-trade system for carbon dioxide emissions, (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI) but its potential for reducing said emissions is debated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/us/16carbon.html?ref=science

Ambitious plans are in the making for cutting Chicago's greenhouse-gas emissions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/us/19chicago.html?ref=us

European goals for increased biofuel use were revised in an effort to support renewable fuels while reducing competition for food crops.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/12/business/worldbusiness/12biofuels.html?ref=science

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