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A lizard known for its dinosaur-like features is back in line for endangered species protection, according to backers of the tiny, desert reptile. A federal judge in Arizona on Tuesday ruled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service erred when it dropped the Flat-tail Horned Lizard from consideration as a "threatened" species eligible for special legal protection. In a 15-page ruling, District Court Judge Neil Wake said the government "violated the Endangered Species Act" by failing to evaluate the impact of habitat loss on the species when it withdrew a proposal to list it as threatened. The ruling, according to environmentalists...

ARIVACA, Ariz. -- Jim Chilton is one of hundreds of ranchers targeted by environmental groups for allegedly allowing cattle to despoil the West's backcountry. Now Mr. Chilton is showing ranchers how to turn the tables on the green groups by using their own playbook. The Center for Biological Diversity in Tucson is known for its lawsuits against ranching practices -- and for its methods of posting photos on the Internet that it says depict land destruction. So when the Center came after Mr. Chilton, he struck back with a defamation suit in Arizona Superior Court in Tucson last year....

Critical Areas Ordinance foes register name, taking it from less vocal property rights group Just who is the ``real'' Rural Majority?Ron Ewart of Fall City and Preston Drew of Carnation think it's rural folks like them. Foes of government, they oppose any regulation they figure tramples on their property rights. On their side are roughly 18,000 residents who signed petitions to do away with the county's controversial Critical Areas Ordinance and two other pieces of environmental regulation.What they didn't have was a catchy name that, as a bonus, carried great symbolic weight.They've got one now -- at the expense of...

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for shooting whales. Get a bunch of tourists, put them on boat, send it out to the North Pacific and let them fire off some rounds for an hour or two. Of course the ammunition used would be Kodak and Fuji stock, but it's a lot more humane than blowing them up. And it doesn't make the water go all red. With the exception of some Japanese and Scandinavian fisherman, a few Japanese scientists and the Japanese government, in the minds of most people -- whale hunting ranks up there with clubbing baby seals...

Hiking along a ridge trail at Point Reyes National Seashore, Peter Douglas can see the shadow of his past and a glint of the future. The deep-green landscape of conifer trees and chaparral is where he built his first home, raised two sons and spread his grandmother's ashes. He helped establish this place as a national park and a personal reminder of why he perseveres as a leading advocate for California's 1,100-mile coastline. A political Houdini, Douglas has spent a lifetime sparring with developers, local government and even fellow environmentalists over his vision of coastal protection. This year marks his...

San Francisco plays host this week to mayors from around the globe who will be attending a United Nations conference dedicated to adopting sound environmental practices for urban centers -- where the majority of the world's population lives. The U.N. conference -- an annual event in its third decade, but the first in the United States -- comes 60 years after the city served as the setting for the signing of the charter that created the international body. This time, the issues at hand are quite different. The theme of the conference is "green cities,'' and the mayors will hammer...

(This is part of the transcript of Mark Steyn interviewed by Hugh Hewitt talking about seal hunts and environmentalism in Canada and the upcoming British general election. The complete version includes Hillary Clinton and US senate judicial confirmations as well and could be found at the link provided above) It's the middle of the week, and so with great anticipation, Mark Steyn begins the Hugh Hewitt Show. Last week, I posted the transcript, and was overwhelmed with the response. So without further adieu, here's Hugh Hewitt and Mark Steyn: HH: I want to start with a Candian story. Up in...

WASHINGTON – The Secret Service, which has the job of guarding the president and other dignitaries, now has a new temporary duty – protecting a mother duck and her nine eggs. The duck, a brown mallard with white markings, has had several names suggested by Treasury Department people, including "Quacks Reform," "T-Bill," and "Duck Cheney." It has built a nest in a mulch pile right at the main entrance to the Treasury Department on Pennsylvania Avenue. The Secret Service's uniformed division, which provides protection for the White House and Treasury building, has set up metal guard rails to protect the...

Greenpeace has discovered that invading the workplace can be as hazardous as finding toxins there. Growing ever more corporate as the world’s largest environmental lobby group, Greenpeace was spoon-fed workplace invasion 101 from the oil industry, and for safety’s sake may be forced to rethink its strategy. With the practice of popping up wherever called, Greenpeacers are at the ready to move out with their props of banners and placards in tow. Thirty-five Greenpeace protesters decided to storm the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) in London, last Wednesday. According to the Times of London, they slipped into a closing door and...

Australia's energy-efficient exporting industries would be penalised under the Kyoto Protocol, Environment Minister Ian Campbell says. He said it was counter-productive to the cause of curtailing man-made climate change to prevent Australia exporting its high-quality energy products and low-emissions technology. Australia and the United States are the only major industrialised countries to have resisted signing the Kyoto Protocol, which comes into force on Wednesday. The protocol aims to limit greenhouse emissions and introduce an international carbon trading scheme, but the government believes it will be ineffective. Labor is introducing a private member's bill requiring Australia to ratify the protocol. The...

  Washington, D.C. (Jan. 26, 2005) – A Pima County jury has awarded Arizona rancher Jim Chilton $600,000 in a libel suit against the Tucson-based environmental group, Center for Biological Diversity.  On Jan. 21, jurors in Pima County Superior Court voted 9-1 that the Center made “false, unfair, libelous and defamatory statements” regarding Chilton's management of his Forest Service grazing allotment.   Chilton, a fifth generation producer and member of the Public Lands Council (PLC) and National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA), claimed the Center made false statements about him in a news advisory, and that the Center posted defaming photographs of his operation on its web site.  The photos of Chilton’s...

DALLAS -- Global warming is hot! -- pun fully intended. Within the space of a year, a blockbuster action movie and now a sure-to-be best-selling novel have both focused on the perils and political intrigues surrounding the question of whether, or to what extent, humans are causing the planet to overheat with all manner of apocalyptic results. Though the Fox Studio disaster flick "The Day After Tomorrow" was panned by scientists who pointed out its portrayal of climate science was wildly inaccurate, it won praise from environmentalists and some politicos for "focusing attention on the important topic of human-caused global...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- A federal judge on Friday struck down a ban on snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, calling it a "prejudged, political" move that sought to exclude the vehicles from all national parks. U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer ruled that the Clinton-era ban was invalid because it did not involve adequate public participation and failed to follow federal law. His decision could clear the way for new rules that allow the machines. The rule was "the product of a prejudged, political decision to ban snowmobiles from all the national parks," Brimmer wrote. The National Park...

Every year, at about this time, I make my personal protest against environmentalism by going out and enjoying nature. How, you might ask, can enjoying nature be considered an act of defiance against environmentalism? Consider how -- and why -- I enjoy it. I do not enjoy nature in some vague, general way. I enjoy my own particular patch of it -- the few acres where my wife and I live in a wooded, rural area. And the most precious part of our property, to me, is my orchard. What makes it so precious is that these dozen or so...

GERMAINE Greer this week went on BBC television and appealed for help. "It's about time, I reckon, we resuscitated the Communist Party." No one on the panel with her blinked at this evil idea -- although whether because they agreed with it or thought Greer was crazy and best ignored, I can't tell. I'd understand if some thought the latter. On the same show, Greer, famed for leading the feminist revolution with her The Female Eunuch, offered a nutty excuse for Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving cars. "I get a bit worried about certain heavily veiled ladies driving because...

"It is mind boggling, the billions of dollars that are squandered annually in the name of "protecting the environment". Nor are these millions, and billions, devoted to just the U.S. environment. They are just as often given away to foreign nations, many of which have a track record of corruption. I was thinking about this as I read a speech given in Stockholm, Sweden, on March 2, by John F. Turner, an Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs. If Turner were any more Green, he'd glow in the dark. He represents a vast Fifth Column of...

TUCSON, Ariz. - Scientists, including acclaimed wildlife biologist Jane Goodall, joined environmental groups Tuesday in petitioning the government to add 225 plants and animals to the endangered species list. The species are not new to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; four-fifths have been on the agency's waiting list for a decade. Some have been waiting since 1975. The average is 17 years. Goodall, known for her pioneering research on chimpanzees, signed the petitions, joined by other prominent scientists including biologists E.O. Wilson of Harvard University and Paul Ehrlich of Stanford University. "Wildlife is facing serious threats almost everywhere," Goodall...

Hundreds of millions of hatcherybred salmon will soon be counted as equals to their wild cousins, according to a Bush administration decision. The new salmon accounting system could boost numbers enough to spellthe end of Endangered Species Act protection for some Northwest salmon runs. The effort has been one of the nation's most complicated, costly and controversial wildlife recovery programs. The change is expected to ease regulations on the region's agriculture, building, hydropower and timber industries. The groups have sued the government, arguing that salmon recovery plans have illegally restricted use of their land and water. ‘‘The sledgehammer of the...

In the spirit of Earth Day, please post what you will do to save the planet from evil resource depleting human behavior.

Utah's Sundance Kid has joined more than 100 notable Americans in a campaign to celebrate the nation's wild treasures. Robert Redford on Wednesday helped launch "Americans for Wilderness," a group commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Wilderness Preservation Act. The Oscar-winning director and actor said the act -- which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law Sept. 3, 1964 -- was a bipartisan effort to recognize that some places "are so powerful we use them to identify the best of ourselves." To date, more than 105 million acres of public lands, mostly within national forests, have been set aside as...