he Interior Department is preparing to develop its first comprehensive management plan for the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A), a move environmentalists say could permanently remove large sections of the massive reserve from future energy development. Read more

France (Reuters) - A pocket of water big enough to fill 20 Olympic pools, trapped inside a glacier on Mont Blanc, could burst at any time and endanger lives in a French Alpine valley, officials said Thursday.

Researchers at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) said 65,000 cubic meters of water discovered inside the Tte-Rousse glacier could explode and destroy everything in its path, including nearby villages and nearly 900 homes.

Such a catastrophe happened in the area in 1892, killing around 200 people. Read more

Endangered lynx soon may have more room to roam, thanks to a ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, who concluded that large swaths of Western habitat were wrongly excluded from protection.

In particular, the court ruled that tens of thousands of acres in southwest Montana, north and central Idaho and throughout Colorado should have been considered for protection. Read more

Four new marine protected areas which cover over 18,000 hectares of the Maltese marine environment have been designated by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

The sites are -
* a significant stretch of area along the north east of the islands; and three smaller areas
* Mġarr ix-Xini;
* Dwejra; and
* an area between Għar Lapsi and Fifla.

They are being protected so that the underwater habitats in the area are preserved in all their beauty, for the enjoyment of the present and future generations. Read more

MELBOURNE, Australia, Jul 30, 2010 (IPS) - In early July, whales from the world’s largest population of humpbacks began arriving in the warm, subtropical waters off Australia’s north-west coast to breed and nurse their young.

From May each year, some 22,000 humpbacks make the pilgrimage up Australia’s west coast from their Antarctic feeding grounds before beginning the return journey in September. Read more

SEATTLE — A federal judge has ruled that the federal Forest Service’s plan for using fire retardant to fight wildfires violates the law because it does not ensure protections for threatened and endangered species of fish and other animals. Read more