Free Republic

Michigan residents will likely be paying more for their electricity after a well-funded ballot initiative prompted the state’s largest utilities to adopt higher renewable energy usage. On Friday, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy — Michigan’s two biggest utility companies — announced a compromise with a ballot committee to dramatically increase their renewable portfolio standards. DTE and Consumers have agreed to establish a goal of at least 50 percent clean energy by 2030, which includes a pledge that 25 percent of their electricity sales originate from renewable sources by that same year. In return, Clean Energy, Healthy Michigan will essentially drop...

FORT HUACHUCA — This Southern Arizona Army post has again been informed it will be sued if the most recent biological opinion with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is not renegotiated. However, Garrison Commander Col. Melissa Sturgeon said the fort stands by the 2007 opinion as being sound science. Earthjustice, a nonprofit public interest law firm, informed the fort, other military officials and the Fish and Wildlife Service of the intent to file a lawsuit in 60 days from Wednesday unless the post takes action to correct what it considers violations of the Endangered Species Act. If another biological...

Global Warming is a subject of great concern, and many people are looking for ways to reduce their “environmental footprint.” There is much discussion about switching to compact fluorescent bulbs and hybrid automobiles. These changes will help, but they are only part of the picture. There is very little discussion of the enormous impact made by architecture and urban planning. Tim Frank, a senior policy advisor to the Sierra Club on livable communities, will talk about “Cohousing and Global Warming” on Monday, June 25. The free presentation will be from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at the Fair Oaks Community Library,...

FORT HUACHUCA — The post’s environmental stewardship has led a federal agency to conclude the fort’s presence in the Upper San Pedro River Basin is “not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any federally listed species or adversely modify their critical habitat,” Garrison Commander Col. Jonathan Hunter said Friday morning. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its newest biological opinion about the post on Friday. While some see the new biological opinion as good news, Hunter and others also say the fort and civilian community that share the Upper San Pedro River Basin are not off the hook...

<p>SACRAMENTO, Calif. - California fisheries managers may soon shift away from their decades-old emphasis on stocking lakes and streams with hatchery raised trout, focusing more on improving waterways that can sustain wild fish populations.</p> <p>The debate is being driven by catch-and-release fly fishermen who say the state has been too focused on supplying hatchery-raised fish to recreational anglers; by environmentalists who say artificially seeding mountain lakes with hatchery fish may be harming endangered frogs; and by California's record $35 billion budget deficit.</p>