Reversed rules, wind farms, depleted fisheries

brought to you by Sasha Paris  

College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  

Human Ecology in Action.

President Obama has suspended all of Bush's regulations which weren't yet published (including the gray-wolf delisting) but couldn't stop all of them. (Los Angeles Times, Associated Press)
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-enviro-rules22-2009jan22,0,4342793.story
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2koz1OqqNsQO15NDQw5LPVULiCgD95R8FQO0

Last fall, the permit for a major phosphate mine in southwest Florida was suspended. Now the mining company has bullied/persuaded the local powers that be into OK-ing it. A tale of politics, wetlands and eco-offsets. (Sarasota Herald Tribune)
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090116/ARTICLE/901160335/2081/NEWS

Bangor News
New England's largest "wind farm" began operating in Washington County.
http://bangornews.com/detail/97865.html

Halfway into Maine's scalloping season, the state government has canceled the other half, claiming scallop populations are too severely depleted.*
http://bangornews.com/detail/97934.html

New York Times
A court suspended a new set of oil and gas leases in federal Utah land after a lawsuit by seven environmental groups.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/us/19leases.html?_r=1

Report: Rising Asian demand is depleting reef fish in the Indo-Pacific "Coral Triangle."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/science/earth/20reef.html?_r=1&ref=science

* "DMR is between a rock and a hard place. When a fishery is booming we (harvesters) want them to leave us the hell alone and not stand in the way of prosperity. When a fishery is in crisis, we want them to leave us the hell alone to keep fishing so we can feed our families."--Andy Mays, Maine Scallop Advisory Council, commentor on this article.