Free Republic

The US air force will this week call for the world's top scientists to come together in a 21st-century Apollo-style programme to develop greener fuels and tackle global warming. It wants universities, governments, companies and environmental groups to collaborate on a multibillion-dollar effort to work out greenhouse gas emissions of existing and future fuels. William Anderson, an assistant secretary of the air force, said the project aimed to calculate the overall carbon footprint of the world's energy sources, rather than merely measure their direct emissions. ... Anderson said the effort required was the modern equivalent of the Apollo missions to...

LOS ANGELES - President Bush cannot exempt the Navy from environmental laws banning sonar training that opponents argue harms whales, a federal judge ruled Monday. Navy officials did not immediately respond to the ruling by U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper. Mark Matsunaga, spokesman for the Navy's Pacific Fleet, headquartered in Hawaii, said officials needed time to review it before commenting. The president signed a waiver Jan. 15 exempting the Navy and its anti-submarine warfare exercises from a preliminary injunction creating a 12 nautical-mile no-sonar zone off Southern California. The Navy's attorneys argued in court last week that he was within...

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The Navy must follow environmental laws placing strict limits on sonar training that opponents argue harms whales, despite President Bush's decision to exempt it, a federal judge ruled Monday. A federal judge ruled that the Navy must limit sonar training that some say hurts whales. The Navy is not "exempted from compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act" and a court injunction creating a 12 nautical-mile no-sonar zone off Southern California, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper wrote in a 36-page decision. "We disagree with the (exemption) judge's decision," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. "We...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 - The Defense Department, which controls 28 million acres of land across the nation that it uses for combat exercises and weapons testing, has been moving on a variety of fronts to reduce requirements that it safeguard the environment on that land. In Congress, the Pentagon has won exemptions in the last two years from parts of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It has sought in recent years to exempt military activities, for three years, from compliance with parts of the Clean Air Act. Also, the Pentagon, which controls about 140 of...

The world's whales, porpoises and dolphins have no standing to sue President George W Bush over the US Navy's use of sonar equipment that harms marine mammals, a federal appeals court has ruled. The ruling was made by a three-judge panel of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, widely considered one of the most liberal and activist in the country. It said it saw no reason why animals should not be allowed to sue but said they had not been granted that right. "If Congress and the President intended to take the extraordinary step of authorising...

The Pentagon is spending millions of dollars to develop "environmentally friendly" lead-free bullets for all of the US Armed Forces. They will still kill you, the thinking seems to be, but the environment will not suffer so much. "[With lead bullets], there is a cost in health, human safety and clean-up," said Bob DiMichele, a spokesman for the US Army's environmental centre. "This is not a fire-and-forget kind of thing. Eventually, we have to pay somebody to go out there and clean up that lead." The Pentagon is paying Minnesota-based Alliant, the world's largest ammunition maker, $5m (£3.2m) to develop...

The United States Navy may no longer test a powerful sonar system needed to protect their ships against enemy submarines because the noise it makes might possibly harm fish. That's the ruling by a federal judge in - where else? - San Francisco - who apparently believes that the alleged welfare of marine life is more important than the national security. U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Laporte ruled Tuesday that the Navy and the National Marine Fisheries Service had not considered alternatives that could protect whales and other marine life from the loud sounds created by the sonar, which some...

America's Green Fifth Column By Tom DeWeese As America's military deploys troops, armor, planes and ordinance to bases in the Middle East surrounding Iraq, they will do so after years of fending off another kind of attack, one by the massed forces of environmental organizations that have done everything in their power to reduce and restrict the ability of our military to train its soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen. A Green Fifth Column has waged its own war on this nation's ability to be ready for war on land, sea and air, seeking through legislation and litigation to thwart...

Burning American flags and shouting anti-American slogans, hundreds of protesters broke through a fence at a Puerto Rico bombing range two weeks ago, smashing military vehicles with sledgehammers. The purpose of these “playful” citizens was to celebrate the U.S. Navy's departure after 60 years of military training. Vieques, Puerto Rico, was the only base where the Atlantic Fleet could fully integrate Marine amphibious landings, Naval gunfire support, and close air support by F-14 Tomcats and FA-18 Hornets from aircraft carriers. Last year Congressman Bob Filner (D-San Diego), whose district includes the homeport of the Pacific Fleet, wrote President Bush demanding...

The one abiding goal of both the Greens and animal rights lunatics is to attack America's economic base in every way possible. This is why, for the past few decades, they have sought to undermine every kind of industry in the nation, from timber to energy, from agriculture to fast foods, from mining to ranching, every and any activity that creates jobs and can contribute to the welfare of this nation has been targeted again and again. Whole books have been written on this subject, but it is instructive to take a quick look as just some of the headlines...

As war unfolds, Iraqi sleeper cells and al-Qaeda operatives aren't the only threats we face on the domestic front. Homegrown environmental radicals declared their own fatwa on the United States this week. And they're not just talking about lighting tea candles while they sing Bob Dylan tunes in their Birkenstocks. These anarchist menaces are deadly serious about undermining national security through physical and economic harm. In a manifesto published recently across left-wing Internet sites, infamous eco-thug Craig Rosebraugh called on his antiwar troops to take "direct actions'' against U.S. military establishments, urban centers, corporations, government buildings and media outlets. This...

(CNSNews.com) - Animal rights activists are blasting the U.S. Navy for its use of mine-detecting dolphins in the war with Iraq because, according to the activists, the marine mammals "have not volunteered" to be part of the war. Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife biologist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said the use of dolphins to sweep for mines in Iraq is "just ridiculous." "These are animals that, number one, have not volunteered to take part in this whatsoever. Number two, they are being put in harm's way...when they don't even know they are in harm's way," Boyles...

Green and animal rights organizations do not subsist on the sale of calendars, books, and stuffed animals. They are wealthy beyond the comprehension of most Americans and others who support them in the belief they are "protecting the environment" and saving animals from "cruelty" and "extinction." You will be astonished to learn that there are more than 4,000 environmental groups in America today. "And the number is growing," warns Ron Arnold of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, "and they are really out to get you." Worse, they have the clout and the money to do it."...

It should be obvious to anyone watching the anti-war demonstrations that environmental groups - the Greens - have joined socialist organizations, the Reds, to present a united front against regime change in Iraq. Contrary to their pious calls to protect the environment and for what they call "grassroots democracy," neither exist in Iraq. Greens and Reds have joined to support the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and denounce the intention of the United States and its partners to end his threat to the region and the world. In doing so, they are deliberately ignoring his past ecological crimes as well as...

Green and animal rights organizations do not subsist on the sale of calendars, books, and stuffed animals. They are wealthy beyond the comprehension of millions of Americans and others who support them in the belief they are "protecting the environment" and saving animals from "cruelty" and "extinction." You will be astonished to learn that there are more than 4,000 environmental groups in America today. "And the number is growing," warns Ron Arnold of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise, "and they are really out to get you. Worse, they have the clout and the money to do it."...

As America's military deploys troops, armor, planes and ordinance to bases in the Middle East surrounding Iraq, they will do so after years of fending off another kind of attack, one by the massed forces of environmental organizations that have done everything in their power to reduce and restrict the ability of our military to train its soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen. A Green Fifth Column has waged its own war on this nation's ability to be ready for war on land, sea and air, seeking through legislation and litigation to thwart the training of our military forces and hinder...