Any one of the following headlines could provide grist for a rant about bad, blatant or ridiculous conduct. Together they're so overwhelming all I can do is present them to you and wonder how are we ever going to turn the tide against the greed behind most of our environmental woes?

From NewWest.net: Partnership Sues Interior Over Energy Development in Wyoming

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Interior over the Bureau of Land Management’s authorization of 2,000 new oil and gas wells in the Atlantic Rim area of south-central Wyoming…

The BLM has outwardly acknowledged the new development’s effect on the area and its wildlife. In the final environmental impact statement, the agency states, “the natural setting would be converted to an industrialized setting by development” and the “implementation of the [project] would have adverse impact to suitable habitat for many wildlife species.”

…the BLM is adamant that given the amount of energy the area could produce (1.35 million cubic feet of gas), the project is worth it.

From the New York Times: Rule To Expand Mountaintop Coal Mining

The Bush administration is set to issue a regulation on Friday that would enshrine the coal mining practice of mountaintop removal. The technique involves blasting off the tops of mountains and dumping the rubble into valleys and streams…

Mountaintop mining is the most common strip mining in central Appalachia, and the most destructive. Ridge tops are flattened with bulldozers and dynamite, clearing all vegetation and, at times, forcing residents to move…

From 1985 to 2001, 724 miles of streams were buried under mining waste, according to the environmental impact statement accompanying the new rule.

If current practices continue, another 724 river miles will be buried by 2018, the report says.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Exxon Seeks Legal Sympathy Over Valdez

In his Savile Row threads, the senior partner from a distinguished Los Angeles law firm rose in a Seattle courtroom and argued a case that made the blood leave my face: The Exxon Corp. had suffered enough.

Eighteen years have passed, and Exxon is still imploring judges to feel its pain. On Tuesday, it asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appellate ruling that it owes $2.5 billion in punitive damages from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

And finally, from the San Francisco Chronicle: Administration Breaking Law By WItholding Global Warming Report

The Bush administration has violated a 2004 congressional deadline for presenting the latest scientific research about global warming to lawmakers and the public and must submit its report by next spring, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Federal officials have "unlawfully withheld action they are required to take," preparing a new scientific assessment by November 2004 and a research plan by July 2006, said U.S. District Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong of Oakland. "Congress has imposed clear-cut, unambiguous deadlines for compliance."

A 1990 federal law requires the government to produce a scientific report every four years on climate change and its effects on the environment, including land, water, air, plant and animal life, and human health.

The Clinton administration issued the first report in October 2000, warning of severe effects on different regions. The Bush administration has not issued a report and, according to environmental groups that filed a lawsuit in November, has tried to bury the Clinton report.

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