America the beautiful? House bills have other theme

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11203/1162028-192.stm

Concealed weapons against conservation

Not only are many Republicans in Congress fans of the gun-rights nuts, like the NRA, they also continue bowing to the corporate polluters who bankroll their election campaigns. Here’s an op-ed overview of the pro-pollution lawmakers’ attempts at using the rider process to gut conservation and environmental laws, stuff like the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, and more. What a bunch of clowns.

Removing barriers to salmon migration

Having grown up in the West (California, New Mexico and Idaho), I am intimately familiar with the damage done to fisheries, especially salmon, by the empire of dams built to shackle North American rivers, most notably those on the Snake River. This NY Times article takes a nice, hard look at the pending removal of two hydroelectric dams from the once salmon-rich Elwha River in Olympic National Park.

Northwst Neb. new hot spot for mountain lions

One very nice feature of this newspaper article from Lincoln, Neb., is the complete absence of any knucklehead call for the big cats to be taken out. Best wishes to the dozen-plus cougars of Nebraska.

Some good news for the planet

This NY Times headline is a bit of a stretch, I’d say, as a much better bit of news for the planet would be a joint decision by “consumers” to begin parking their cars and trucks and walking and bicycling instead. And I mean a major change in behavior.

EPA goes after smog-causing gunk in drilling regs

This is certainly a positive development. But how about “conservation” in the first place? Like turning the lights off? And what about the fragmentation and outright destruction of wildlife habitat that accompanies nearly every new natural gas well? Why no media attention to that fact? Duh.

The cougar behind your trash can

Nice overview in this NY Times op-ed piece regarding the cougar that hiked from the Dakotas to Connecticut recently – and much more.

2007 Arctic wildfire hints at climate change cue

The BBC offers this look at the carbon released into the atmosphere from a huge 2007 wildfire in the increasingly ice-free Arctic. Not good.

Do the right thing for clean air, Mr. President

This NY Times editorial spells it out. Science, not politics and lobbyists, and public health are what matter. Do the right thing, President Obama.

Wolf advocates take their argument to court

And the anti-science wing of the U.S. Congress is on trial, in a manner of speaking. It’s clear, though, that certain lawmakers will continue attempts to impose nut science on real science. Read about the court case here.