Help Protect Utah's
White River Wilderness
Bio Gems
The Bush administration is poised to
approve a plan for 60 new gas wells -- and a maze of roads and
pipelines -- in the spectacular White River wilderness in
northeastern Utah.
We need your immediate online action
to block this attack!
Go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/redrock/takeaction and tell the
Bureau of Land Management to study the full potential impacts on the
White River wilderness and adjacent wildlands before considering
this reckless scheme.
Last year, our BioGems Defenders sent
nearly 33,000 messages protesting a BLM analysis that failed to
acknowledge the devastating effects of putting new gas wells in this
unique western wilderness. The agency's latest study is no better.
If drilled, these wells would be some
of the first on lands that the BLM says are worthy of strict
wilderness protections.
The towering sandstone cliffs and deep
canyons of the White River region -- part of our Redrock Wilderness
BioGem -- are a refuge for deer, elk, antelope, waterfowl and golden
eagles. According to the BLM, "The spectacular scenery of the White
River provides a dramatic backdrop for the hiker, rafter, canoeist,
for fishing enthusiasts who visit this unique area."
Over the past few years, the BLM has
approved the construction of roads, pipelines and compressor
stations to the north, east and west of the White River wilderness.
But it has never examined the cumulative impacts of this development
on the region's natural values.
Go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/redrock/takeaction and urge the
BLM not to rush headlong into approving this destructive drilling
plan.
U.S. Environment Chief
Draws Fire on Global Warming
by
Deborah Zabarenko, ENN
WASHINGTON -- The Bush
administration's environment chief drew fire Thursday from
Democratic senators for delaying a decision on whether to let
California regulate global warming emissions from cars and light
trucks.
Stephen Johnson, head of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, has said the government will decide
this question by year's end, two years after California's first
request to set state air quality standards stricter than national
rules.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California
Democrat who heads the Environment and Public Works Committee, told
Johnson at a hearing she found the delay incomprehensible...
Click
here
for the rest of the story.
Rethinking Biochar
Environmental Science & Technology
Will amending soil with charcoal
make it more fertile and combat global warming?
Imagine a simple agricultural soil amendment with the ability to
double or triple plant yields while at the same time reducing the
need for fertilizer and therefore decreasing nitrogen- and
phosphorus-laden runoff. As if that's not enough, what if this
amazing ingredient also had the potential to cut greenhouse gases on
a vast scale? This revolutionary substance exists, and it isn't
high-tech, or even novel—the history of its use can be traced back
to pre-Columbian South America.
The ingredient is charcoal, in this context called biochar or
agrichar, and if a growing number of scientists, entrepreneurs,
farmers, and policy makers prevail, this persistent form of carbon
will be finding its way into soils around the world. "Biochar has
enormous potential," says John Mathews, a professor of strategic
management at Macquarie University in Australia. "When scaled up, it
can take out gigatons of carbon from the atmosphere," he adds...
Click
here
for the rest of the story.
Oil to burn in the
Arctic?
Greenpeace
After twenty years out of fashion, the
term 'cold war' has become the hot favourite in Fleet Street once
more. Not just because diplomatic relations between Russia and the
UK distinctly frosty at the moment, but Russia's current Arctic
adventures are lowering the temperature even further.
A Russian mini-submarine is currently exploring the ocean floor
beneath the Arctic ice cap, partly as an attempt to claim more
territory and extend her borders - according to the Observer, a
symbolic flag will be planted on the sea bed. But it's also about
grabbing a share of the oil and gas deposits that are thought to be
lurking in the murky sediment. Some claim that 18 per cent of the
world's oil reserves lie there and the dollar signs are starting to
light up in people's eyes. And it's not just the Russians eyeing up
this sunken treasure - Canada, the US and even Denmark (through its
territory in Greenland) are rumbling about their own rights...
Click
here
for the rest of the story.
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