In a victory for America’s Arctic, a federal court today issued an opinion requiring that the U.S. Department of the Interior withdraw and reconsider the Bush Administration’s 2007 to 2012 oil and gas lease sale program for the outer continental shelf.

The court upheld the claim that the environmental sensitivity rankings in the lease sale program are irrational, and thus required that the lease sale program be “vacated” for reconsideration.

The Environmental Protection Agency has sent a proposal to the White House that could lay the groundwork for regulating greenhouse gas pollutants that cause climate change.

The EPA’s March 20 proposal is significant because it states that global warming is endangering the public's health and welfare, a reversal of the Bush administration’s landmark decisions to reject scientific and technical recommendations in favor of further public comment on the threat posed by global warming pollution.

It’s a good day when you can be reasonably assured that a trip to the Windows or Delicate Arch at Arches National Park won’t be tarnished by the thought that most of the public land surrounding the park is in the hands of the oil and gas industry.

Washington is abuzz right now with talk of how the new Obama administration can undo some of the environmental damage done by their predecessors in the White House. There’s so much to be done, and everyone’s asking where to start.

The Wilderness Society joined other conservation groups Jan. 12  to ask the incoming Obama Administration to make it more difficult for local Forest Service officials to approve projects that would destroy the integrity of our roadless forests. The need for such a move comes after years of Bush Administration efforts to replace established national protections for roadless forests with policies that allow protection decisions to be made at a state level.