Free Republic

President George W. Bush wants to kill the last wildlife sanctuary in the United States. He is more than happy to sink his claws into it, tear it apart and plunder it for his own uses. Environment? What environment? If it’s got oil, it’s ours. Who cares about some stupid animals? According to a Nov. 4 article on CNN.com, the Senate on Thursday approved a measure that would compel the Department of the Interior “to begin selling oil leases for the coastal plain of the Alaska refuge within two years.” Yes, you heard correctly. The refuge. The place where we...

A century and a half ago, California's red-legged frog graced the menus of gourmet restaurants in San Francisco and helped launch a young American writer named Mark Twain, who immortalized the leaping Gold Rush wonder in his first published short story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Humans have not repaid the favor since, gobbling up not just the long-legged amphibian but nearly all of its wetland habitat for crops and homes, threatening it with extinction. On Thursday, as part of a continued, far-reaching rollback of protected landscapes for scores of imperiled species around the country, federal officials proposed...

For years, environmentalists have petitioned government officials about preserving open space and designing eco-friendly neighborhoods, but it turns out that cost-conscious developers should be the ones advocating change. New research reveals that building "conservation communities" can be 15 to 54 percent cheaper than traditional suburban developments, according to Wisconsin-based Applied Ecological Services (AES). The difference between traditional and conservational development is in the design principles. Typical subdivisions tend to have wider streets, turf lawns, gutters and storm sewers, but those cause less water to be absorbed into the ground and more runoff, which can erode soil and pollute local water...

Utah last month submitted a wildlife action plan to the Interior Department that charts a future course for species and habitat protection and restoration. Now, so has everybody else. Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced Wednesday that wildlife agencies from all 50 states and six territories have finalized similar plans to establish a national framework for species protection. The goals: to enhance habitats, and in doing so, keep at-risk wildlife off the federally managed Endangered Species List. "We all recognize that the federal government can't do this alone; it can't conserve and protect everything that needs to be protected," Norton said...

A study of the potential impact of wind turbines on birds in eastern P.E.I. won't be completed before construction begins, leading to criticisms that the province is paying mere lip service to conservationism. The province has ordered for 10 Vestas wind turbines worth $55 million for a wind farm in eastern P.E.I. It has commissioned an environmental assessment by Becky Whittam of Bird Studies Canada, a not-for-profit conservation organization based in Sackville, N.B. However, Whittam has warned that her study would cover an entire year, including migrations and breeding seasons. Her final report won't be ready until August 2006 –...

Researchers fear a continuation of climate changes could doom California oaks and the area's beloved banana slugs.Researchers at the University of California-Santa Cruz -- which has a banana slug as school mascot -- said global warming could threaten California's iconic oak woodlands and the slugs that live in them by shifting the growing climate northward.If sea surface temperatures rise along the coast, researchers said, there could be a reduction in fog and thus too little moisture to support the trees.

LAWSUIT: A state group seeks to have the birds of prey taken off the endangered-species list. By JENNIFER BOWLES and ADAM C. HARTMANN / The Press-Enterprise A California group on Tuesday filed a lawsuit seeking to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the bald eagle from the federal endangered-species list, six years after President Clinton announced a proposal to do just that. The lawsuit comes after the recent deaths of two bald-eagle chicks near Lake Hemet east of Idyllwild, part of a small population of bald eagles that make the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains their...

TORONTO — Unchecked population growth and a badly flawed planning system are endangering Ontario’s wildlife, forests and water and posing a threat to living standards, the province’s environmental czar said Tuesday. In his annual report, Environmental Commissioner Gord Miller questioned the wisdom of what he considers Ontario’s unbridled expansion. “To what degree can certain regions in Ontario, especially southern Ontario, sustain and assimilate this relatively unchecked growth?” Miller said. The provincial Finance Ministry projects up to six million more people will call Ontario home over the next 25 years, most in the Toronto area. That’s a 50 per cent increase...

Mice may not sing for their supper but male mice seem to sing to their prospective mates. Researchers at Washington University made this discovery when they eavesdropped on male mice that had been exposed to the scent of female urine. "We started recording the vocalizations to assess the factors that lead to recognition of female pheromones but the vocalizations turned out to be much more complicated and interesting than we expected," says Timothy E. Holy, lead author of the report detailing the findings, published online today by the Public Library of Science Biology. "It's not yet clear whether singing conveys...

Large populations of deer are edging out forest birds in North America, report scientists in this month's issue of the journal Biological Conservation. The study is the first to evaluate the impact deer grazing can have on nest quality and food resources in areas unaffected by human activities such as forestry or hunting. It also offers general rules for predicting the influence these animals could have on bird ecosystems in the future. The decline of forest birds has been blamed mostly on such factors as disease, loss of habitat and an increase in the number of animals that prey on...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- This year's salmon harvest was the third largest on record, state officials said Monday. Commercial fishermen harvested 206.1 million salmon, which had an estimated total value of $295 million, according to preliminary figures released Monday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Division of Commercial Fisheries. The harvest was about 26 million fish above the preseason forecast and well above the 10-year average of 167 million fish. This year's take marked the third year since 1960 that the number of salmon caught exceeded 200 million fish. In 1995, the harvest was 217.8 million fish, and...

Greenpeace is to be fined after its flagship Rainbow Warrior II damaged a coral reef in the central Philippines during a climate awareness campaign, marine park rangers said.

To: National Desk, Congressional Correspondent, Real Estate Reporter Contact: Linda M. Johnson of National Association of Realtors(r), 202-383-7536 or lmjohnson@realtors.org SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- U.S. Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), addressing Realtors(r) at a forum here, said the current endangered species law needs reform because it is failing the habitats and the species its supposed to protect. Cardoza also updated Realtors(r) on other federal issues at a legislative and political forum held yesterday during the REALTORS(r) Conference & Expo here, Oct. 28-31. Cardoza has cosponsored legislation with Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.) that balances the need to protect endangered...

During the few minutes you spend reading this column, malaria will kill six Africans and sicken about 3,000 more, mostly children and pregnant women -- a rate of more than one million deaths and 500 million illnesses annually among the 2.2 billion people who live in malarial regions like Africa. There’s legislation moving through the Senate right now intended to reduce this tragic toll.U.S. taxpayers spend about $200 million annually on malaria control efforts. Ironically, almost none of this money is spent to kill or repel the mosquitoes that spread disease. The money is instead spent on anti-malarial drugs and...

Green Gray Areas Books that question the conventional wisdom on the environment. BY MICHAEL CRICHTON Saturday, October 29, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT 1. "Playing God in Yellowstone" by Alston Chase (Atlantic Monthly Press, 1986). That raw sewage bubbles out of the ground at Yellowstone National Park--after more than a century of botched conservation--would come as no surprise to Alston Chase, who 20 years ago wrote "Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park." Mr. Chase, a former professor of philosophy turned journalist, presents a clear critique of ever-changing environmental beliefs and the damage that they have caused...

Federal health officials should think carefully before issuing advisories recommending that women of childbearing age limit their intake of fish, new research suggests. The warnings are intended to protect fetuses from mercury, which concentrates in some fish and, at high enough levels, can damage the brains of the babies. But in a series of articles in the current American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers say the effect of the advisories may be detrimental to public health, since the fatty acids in fish help prevent serious problems like stroke and heart disease. There is also evidence that they help prenatal brains...

PORTLAND – Oregon farm and forest representatives urged a USDA panel to fund conservation programs and international trade programs in a 2007 Farm Bill forum here Oct. 25. Also in the listening session that included USDA Undersecretary Eric Bost, participants said it was important that Congress continue to fund price support programs, specialty crop grants and agricultural research in the next farm bill. Barry Bushue, president of the Oregon Farm Bureau Federation, said the Farm Bureau supports a 2007 bill patterned after the 2002 bill, and he urged the USDA to back a bill with fully funded price support programs...

WASHINGTON — As the central character in President Bush's new energy conservation program, the Energy Hog is no gentle, sweet little Smokey Bear. This villainous cartoon pig consumes energy like candy and evokes little sympathy. Yet he is the chief symbol of America's notorious fuel-wasting habits in the Bush administration's multimedia campaign to exhort people to use less energy in all walks of life. To the Energy Department and energy-efficiency experts who support the new conservation program, this campaign, introduced in the wake of higher oil prices, is badly needed to persuade Americans to take sensible steps to save energy....

AXcess News) Washington - Max Keiser is a new kind of terrorist. He uses the Internet and boycotts to manipulate stock prices. In that way he forces corporations to comply with his brand of radical environmentalism and Sustainable Development. He puts his hands around corporate throats and squeezes until they comply with his demands. Max Keiser and his ilk hate business and they hate free enterprise and are using these tactics to redistribute wealth and cause chaos in the market place. Keiser's operation is called "KarmaBanque." That new age-focused name alone should give readers an idea of the wacky worldview...

A new weapon in the battle against HIV may come from an unusual source –- tropical frogs. Investigators at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have discovered that compounds secreted by frog skin are potent blockers of HIV infection. The findings, reported this month in the Journal of Virology, could lead to topical treatments for preventing HIV transmission and reinforce the value of preserving the Earth’s biodiversity. "We need to protect these species long enough for us to understand their medicinal cabinet," says Louise A. Rollins-Smith, associate professor of microbiology & immunology, who has been studying the antimicrobial defenses of frogs for...