Pity poor Ron Stevens, Alberta’s deputy premier, who is in Washington to spin the oil sands story and tell Congress that the province represents an “environmentally responsible source of energy supply to the United States”.
The timing could not have been worse for Ron but the dirty and polluting legacy of oil sands was […]

A judge has told the US government to decide within weeks whether to list polar bears as an endangered species.
The federal judge rejected the Bush administration’s pleas for a further delay, and ordered it to make and implement its decision by 15 May. A listing could restrict oil and gas exploration in the US Arctic, […]

Britain agreed to bankroll controversial drilling for oil and gas off Russia’s Sakhalin island, despite a warning from its own officials of the “potentially devastating effects” on a critically endangered species of whale.
The decision to flout their own experts’ advice is revealed in deeply embarrassing documents the British Government fought for three years to keep […]

A controversial land swap proposal could open portions of an Alaska wildlife refuge to oil drilling, but the scheme is already dividing native Alaskans.
Supporters of the plan to exchange land in the Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge, which lies just south of the more-famous ANWR, want the plan approved before the pro-oil Bush Administration leaves […]

The US government agency responsible for compiling the country’s list of endangered species yesterday faced a new legal challenge over its failure to protect the polar bear.
Environmental groups are suing the Bush administration in a federal court in California, claiming the Fish and Wildlife Service is now in breach of its own mandate.