EKOS Communications, Inc.

"WOODS HOLE, Massachusetts -- Dozens of North Atlantic right whales have been seen in the Gulf of Maine this month, leading right whale researchers at NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center to believe they have identified a wintering ground and potentially a breeding ground for this critically endangered species." Environment News Service had the story December 31, 2008.

"HELENA, Mont. -- The nation's largest owner of timberland disclosed Monday that it will no longer pursue changes in agreements governing its use of U.S. Forest Service roads -- changes that critics complained could transform forests into housing subdivisions. Critics of the proposed changes had included President-elect Barack Obama and Montana's junior senator. Changes in the agreements would benefit the public, but 'given the lack of receptivity, we have decided not to go forward,' Plum Creek Timber Co. Chief Executive Officer Rick Holley wrote in a letter to Missoula County, which opposed altering the agreements. Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey indicated as recently as last week that the changes negotiated privately by the Forest Service and Plum Creek would become final before he leaves office when the Bush administration ends this month." The Associated Press had the story January 5, 2009.

"WASHINGTON, DC -- The Chesapeake Bay Foundation today filed a lawsuit to require the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce pollution of all kinds enough to remove the nation's largest estuary from the federal impaired waters list. Calling it 'the most significant lawsuit in the history of Bay restoration,' with 'unprecedented national implications,' the nonprofit foundation is asking the court to order EPA to reduce pollution from all sources -- air, wastewater treatment plants, and urban, suburban, and agricultural runoff. 'We have asked that EPA accept its responsibility under the Clean Water Act. EPA must impose a legally binding pollution reduction budget, or cap, that will restore water quality,' said CBF President William Baker. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia following the expiry on Saturday of a legally required 60 day notice of intent to sue." Environment News Service had the story January 5, 2009.

"Wildlife rescuers from San Diego to San Francisco suddenly are facing a distressing biological mystery: Disoriented and bruised California brown pelicans are landing on highways and airport runways and in farm fields, alleys and backyards miles from their normal coastal haunts." Louis Sahagun reports for the Los Angeles Times January 6, 2009.

"TOKYO -- Japan said Tuesday it plans to ask Australia and possibly New Zealand and Chile to ban an anti-whaling protest ship from using their ports to refuel, heightening a cat-and-mouse game in Antarctic waters between Japan's whaling fleet and the conservationists. The Sea Shepherd group has said its anti-whaling ship, the Steve Irwin, has left pursuit of Japan's whaling fleet after chasing it for 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) and is now headed to port to refuel. It suggested on its Web site it will seek a port call in Australia, but has not provided further details." Sea Shepherd says Japan is violating treaty-set whaling bans under cover of "research." Japan calls Sea Shepherd's stink-bomb attacks "piracy." The Associated Press had the story January 5, 2008.

"U.S. President George W. Bush will designate nearly 200,000 square miles (518,000 sq km) of the Pacific ocean on Tuesday as a protected region, White House officials said, making the areas hands-off for oil drilling or other extraction procedures. Bush, who often draws ire from activists for his record on environmental issues, will declare three areas in the central Pacific 'marine national monuments,' spokeswoman Dana Perino said. 'The president's actions will prevent the destruction and extraction of natural resources from these beautiful and biologically diverse areas without conflicting with our military's activities and freedom of navigation, which are vital to our national security,' she told a briefing. She said the new protected areas will comprise the largest area of ocean set aside as marine protected areas in the world, at 195,280 square miles (505,500 sq km). The areas are home to huge underwater mud volcanoes, coral reefs, and rare species of whales among other things." Jeff Mason reports for Reuters January 5, 2008.

"BOISE, Idaho -- Workers recently completed a $236,000 renovation to U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's office bathroom in Washington, D.C., including asbestos and lead paint removal, handicapped access, a refrigerator and shower, and wood paneling to match the rest of the office. Kempthorne, Idaho's former governor, won't get much chance to use it, however, since his job ends Jan. 20. ... A Department of Interior spokeswoman says the work, done in a historic zone, was overseen by the General Services Administration to make sure it was 'appropriate and costs were reasonable.' It came in $26,000 under the approved estimate." The Associated Press had the story January 5, 2009.

Most of us assume the government is keeping track of environmental issues such as pollution in water. In reality, most pollution problems are first detected by citizens. The Environment Report's Lester Graham reports in some parts of the nation, volunteers step in to make sure their local streams and lakes are clean. Posted January 5, 2009.

Sometimes cities can seem like drab, impersonal places. But every once in a while, you see a building that stops you in your tracks. The Environment Report's Karen Kelly tells a story about a house designed to do just that January 5, 2009.

The state of Florida is working on a plan to restore water flow to its troubled Everglades. It wants to buy a huge sugar grower and the land it owns between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. The Environment Report's Ann Dornfeld went out on the lake to find out what's at stake. Posted January 5, 2009.

It's been decades, but there are now more California Condors in the wild than there are in captivity. That's thanks to two condor chicks who recently left their nests in the Grand Canyon. As The Environment Report's Sadie Babits reports January 5, 2009,, biologists are thrilled, but one of the problems that caused the decline in condors still exists.

In Yale Environment 360, Carl Zimmer writes that a number of companies, including one headed by biologist and entrepreneur Craig Venter, are developing genetically engineered biofuels that they say will provide a greener alternative to oil. But some environmentalists are far from convinced. Posted January 5, 2009.

"Governments could slow global warming dramatically, and buy time to avert disastrous climate change, by slashing emissions of one of humanity's most familiar pollutants soot according to NASA scientists. A study by the space agency shows that cutting down on the pollutant can have an immediate cooling effect and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from air pollution at the same time. At the beginning of the make-or-break year in international attempts to negotiate a treaty to replace the Kyoto protocol, the soot removal proposal offers hope of a rapid new way of tackling global warming. Governments have long experience in acting against soot. Cutting its emissions has a virtually instantaneous effect, because it rapidly falls out of the atmosphere, unlike carbon dioxide which remains there for over 100 years. And because soot is one of the worst killers among all pollutants, radical reductions save lives and so should command popular and political support. The study from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics concludes that tackling the pollution provides ''substantial benefits for air quality while simultaneously contributing to climate change mitigation'' and ''may present a unique opportunity to engage parties and nations not yet fully committed to climate change mitigation for its own sake". Geoffrey Lean reports for the UK Independent January 4, 2008.

"Old mosquitoes usually spread disease, so Australian researchers figured out a way to make the pests die younger -- naturally, not poisoned. Scientists have been racing to genetically engineer mosquitoes to become resistant to diseases like malaria and dengue fever that plague millions around the world, as an alternative to mass spraying of insecticides. A new report Friday suggested a potentially less complicated approach: Breeding mosquitoes to carry an insect parasite that causes earlier death. Once a mosquito encounters dengue or malaria, it takes roughly two weeks of incubation before the insect can spread that pathogen by biting someone, meaning older mosquitoes are the more dangerous ones." Lauran Neergaard reports for the Associated Press January 2, 2008.

"The Interior Department announced a controversial decision late Wednesday to double the rate of logging on 2.6 million acres of federally owned forests in southwestern Oregon. In doing so, it brushed aside the objections of the governor and two federal agencies charged with guarding the quality of the area's water and the health of the fish that depend on it. The decision, which was posted on the Web sites of the Bureau of Land Management's Oregon offices, has revived the battle lines formed during the fight over the extensive logging of old-growth timber in the 1980s, a practice blamed for the rapid decline in populations of the northern spotted owl. The economies of the timber industry and Oregon's rural southwestern counties took a major hit when logging on federal lands in the area was cut back by 80 percent under the terms of the Northwest Forest Plan, which took effect about 15 years ago. Representatives of both groups applauded Wednesday's decision, saying it would revive local mills and timber companies." Felicity Barringer reports for the New York Times December 31, 2008.

"WASHINGTON -- A 50 percent increase in gasoline and diesel-fuel taxes is being urged by a federal commission to finance highway construction and repair until the government devises another way for motorists to pay for using public roads. The National Commission on Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing, a 15-member panel created by Congress, is the second group in a year to call for higher fuel taxes. With motorists driving less and buying less fuel, the current 18.4-cent-a-gallon gas tax and 24.4-cent diesel tax are failing to raise enough to keep pace with the cost of road, bridge and transit programs. In a report expected in late January, commission members say they will urge Congress to raise the gas tax 10 cents a gallon and the diesel-fuel tax 12 to 15 cents a gallon." Joan Lowy reports for the Associated Press January 2, 2008.

"A coalition of 115 conservation, animal protection, ranching, and faith-based organizations from across the United States today sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama's nominee for agriculture secretary asking that he halt the government slaughter of millions of wild animals, including wolves, coyotes, bears, cougars, and prairie dogs. The letter faxed to Tom Vilsack requests that he reform the Agriculture Department's wildlife 'management' policies that the groups said 'for too long have focused on exterminating, rather than protecting, wildlife.' Each year the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 'secretive' Wildlife Services kills millions of wild animals, 'primarily on behalf of agribusiness,' the coalition wrote in its letter to Vilsack, a two-term Iowa governor." Environment News Service had the story January 2, 2008.

Michael Scott of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports January 4, 2008, on the time in 1969 that the Cuyahoga River was so polluted that it caught fire. The incident helped bring about the landmark Clean Water Act amendments of 1972. The substantial story includes photos of the river burning and video clips.

"After a blowout five years ago on the wall of a massive, above-ground coal ash landfill at TVA's Kingston power plant, engineers were under pressure to find a fix that was not only viable, but also economical. The blowout wasn't large but indicated that something was not quite right inside the 98-acre mound of sludge. Water was tunneling in the layers of ash and creating pressure points on the dike holding the structure in place. How the Tennessee Valley Authority decided to stabilize Kingston's ash landfill would have implications for its many other elevated waste dumps, an important tool in the agency's strategy to maximize its storage on-site and avoid more costly options. A Tennessean review of state records and some TVA documents shows that top officials rejected solutions that were deemed 'global fixes' because they were simply too costly. The most expensive option was listed at $25 million." Anne Paine reports for the Nashville Tennessesan January 4, 2009.

"A few little earthquakes here or there is just a part of everyday life when you live on top of the largest supervolcano in North America. But in the last eight days, there have been more than 400 earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park -- where the volcanic system powers the geysers, mudpots and steam vents. ... When a bunch of earthquakes occur in a concentrated area in a short amount of time, geologists call it a "swarm." They're not unheard of at Yellowstone, but rarely have the earthquakes reached the magnitude and frequency of the past week. ... Scientists don't know why this particular swarm is so intense, but Heasler says there's no need to worry about an imminent volcanic eruption. The last time the supervolcano erupted was 640,000 years ago." Travis Larchuk reports for NPR's All Things Considered, January 3, 2009.