The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday upheld a Bush-era permit to dump millions of tons of gold-mine tailings into Alaska's Lower Slate Lake, a move that even the government admits will wipe out the lake's fish and most other aquatic life.
On a 6-3 vote, the high court determined that the Army Corps of Engineers - and not the Environmental Protection Agency - had the authority to issue the permits. The ruling overturns the 9th Circuit's decision to vacate the permits on the grounds that they violated the Clean Water Act.
TVNL Comment: Another Bush legacy.
Environmental News Archive



A new government study of global warming confirms that climate change caused by carbon dioxide is already having a "visible impact" on the United States, and severe problems are on the way -- including longer droughts, more floods and an increase in pests like mosquitoes -- if global warming continues unchecked.
Single-use plastic bags, a staple of American life, have got to go, the United Nations' top environmental official said Monday.
Five "uncontacted" tribes are at imminent risk of extinction as oil companies, colonists and loggers invade their territiories. The semi-nomadic groups, who live deep in the forests of Peru, Brazil and Paraguay, are vulnerable to common western diseases such as flu and measles but also risk being killed by armed gangs, according to a report by Survival International, which identifies the five groups as the most threatened on Earth.
The environmental organization WWF just released a study that paints a bleak picture of what will happen to the Coral Triangle if nothing is done to protect it. Ove Hoegh-Guldberg led the research team. He says that negotiations to curb carbon emissions, to be held in Copenhagen next December, will be crucial for its survival.





























