Green Options

Now that the polar bear is about to receive over 128 million acres of critical habitat designation, the state of Alaska is taking legal action to challenge the decision.

Following the announcement that threatened polar bears are set to receive over 128 million acres of critical habitat designation, Alaska Governor Sean Parnell and Attorney General Dan Sullivan responded by taking legal action against federal protection of polar bears.

I am thrilled to report that the Dole Food Company has finally dropped their ridiculous lawsuit against the filmmakers of the powerful documentary Bananas!*. It appears that the courts have ruled that the fatuous defamation lawsuit of the criminally inclined Dole was proven to be nearly as lacking as the multi-national corporation’s integrity.

Just a few minutes ago I received this rather nonchalant tweet from one of the movie’s Swedish creators, Fredrik Gertten: http://bit.ly/IoQ96 DOLE dismissing the BANANAS!* law suit it seems.

One of only three wolf pairs in Oregon was killed by U.S.D.A. Wildlife Services with approval from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The Center for Biological Diversity announced today that Oregon’s wolf recovery program suffered a serious setback when a pair of wolves residing in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in eastern Oregon were killed over the weekend by wildlife authorities.

An explosive new documentary, Bananas!*, examines global food politics by following the crusade of lawyer Juan J. Dominguez, as he fights for the rights of thousands of banana plantation workers in Nicaragua who have been made sterile from exposure to the banned pesticide DBCP (Dibromo Chloropropane). This toxic chemical has been shown to cause cancer in animals, sterility in humans, and has been banned in most of the Americas

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A luxury-home subdivision in the heart of designated California Condor habitat?

That’s exactly what Tejon Ranch Company (TRC) has in mind.

In fact, Tejon Ranch Company (TRC) has had it in for the California Condors since at least 1997. That’s when they sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prevent the reintroduction of the species into Southern California.

Why would TRC be opposed to the reintroduction of California Condors?

Because TRC would be prevented from developing any land that is designated California Condor habitat. And if a publicly traded real estate development company can’t develop real estate …. well, then they can’t make a profit.

In fact, TRC has gone to tremendous lengths to push their development deal through. Under the cloak of a “habitat conservation plan” - to mitigate “incidental take” of threatened or endangered species - they even finagled the support of major environmental organizations, like the Sierra Club.

Is the U.S. Interior Department wrongly withholding information that will reveal whether taxpayers are being ripped off in a controversial oil and gas royalty program? Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) see to think so, according to a lawsuit they filed today. Interior claims that disclosure of bidding and contracting information about its Royalty-In-Kind (RIK) sales would reveal oil company trade secrets.

An ocean acidification lawsuit filed Thursday in the state of Washington is the first of its kind.

The Waxman-Markey bill that recently was introduced into the House has already caused quit a stir, and that was before someone found a provision tucked in it’s 600 plus pages that would make it legal to sue the Government if you suffer from Global Warming.

Drug company giant Pfizer has agreed to settle out of court - to the tune of $75 million - in the case of its unlicensed medical trials on Nigerian children during a meningitis outbreak in 1996, which led to 11 deaths and serious injuries such as organ failure and brain damage in others.

The Nigerian Health Ministry called the experiment “an illegal trial of an unregistered drug” and a “clear case of exploitation of the ignorant.”

Six Greenpeace climate change activists have been cleared of causing £30,000 of criminal damage at a coal-fired power station in a verdict that is expected to embarrass the government and lead to more direct action protests against energy companies. Article by John Vidal of the Guardian.

The jury of nine men and three women at Maidstone crown court cleared the six by a majority verdict. Five of the protesters had scaled a 200-metre chimney at Kingsnorth power station, Hoo, Kent, in October last year.

The Center for Biological Diversity has won a lawsuit against the US Department of the Interior to force the government to consider listing the American pika as threatened or endangered.

The tiny rabbit-like rodent has been in steep decline in recent years, which many blame on climate change. The animal has thick fur and can’t survive in temperatures higher than 80 degrees.