When the going gets tough, call the PR department, and ask it to come up with a spiffy new acronym. It's a recognized ploy with a long history.

Here we go again.

The bold, ambitious plans to push solar power plants, windmill farms, and other green facilities is causing a major backlash among industries used to having their way with government policy -- coal companies, oil companies, the usual suspects.

The latest effort is being led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with three million members nationwide (some of those members are almost certainly very uncomfortable with what's coming; maybe there will be a mutiny; one can only hope).

The EPA just proposed to cut mercury from cement kilns! I've been talking to you about cement kiln pollution since we started this blog, and Earthjustice has been focused on this issue for nearly a decade. Check out our updated campaign page to find out how you can help.

The EPA is asking for public comments, so we need to tell Administrator Lisa Jackson to stand strong and clean up this mercury mess. She's been doing a fantastic job, and we definitely want her to keep up the good work!

Shortly after his confirmation, Secretary Ken Salazar declared that there's a "new sheriff in town" at the Department of Interior.  If there was one part of the swamp that is DC that needed draining, it was DOI, what with the sex and drugs scandal at MMS and many of former Secretary Gale Norton's cronies sentenced to time in prison.

In addition to cleaning up that mess, the new sheriff - formerly Colorado's Attorney General - has also talked and acted tough about a Utah college student named Tim DeChristopher.

On the front page of The New York Times today, Elisabeth Rosenthal takes an in-depth look at a global warming problem you may not know much about: black carbon, commonly known as soot. Carbon dioxide is the main culprit in global warming, but recently scientists have found that soot may be responsible for up to 25 percent of global warming, particularly in the Arctic.

Anyone concerned about the consequences of climate disruption (my term-of-choice for global warming) might want to pay close attention to what’s happening "down under." Julie Cart's must-read recent article in the L.A. Times, which paints an unsettling picture of a possible global future already underway in Australia, is a good place to start.

Australia is besieged, and all its residents -- plant and animal alike -- are experiencing firsthand the bitter taste of a planet driven to the edge by unchecked greenhouse gas emissions.

Hundreds of people and animals have died from heat and wildfires. Farmers in southern Australia have seen their crops collapse as annual rainfall declined precipitously. Illustrating the disparate regional consequences of climate disruption, residents of northern Australia have been forced to brave stronger monsoons and flooding.

Australia's increasingly bleak present may be our near future.

A new scientific study (pdf) paints a bleak picture for Hawai'i's false killer whales.

For nearly a decade, the National Marine Fisheries Service's data(pdf) have shown the Hawai'i longline fishery is killing these rare marine mammals at rates far beyond what the population can sustain.

The latest data show the number of false killer whales in Hawai'i's nearshore waters—a genetically distinct population—has crashed over the last 20 years, with a single pod observed in 1989 containing almost four times as many whales as the current population for the entire main Hawaiian Islands (which now numbers only about 120 whales).

Salmon in the Sacramento River, which produces most of the king salmon caught in California and Oregon, are struggling. As a result, for the second time in two years, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to ban almost all ocean salmon fishing off California in 2009.

There's good news: Major portions of the Sacramento River are still undammed and can produce salmon once again.

And bad news: California's seemingly insatiable demand for water creates two huge obstacles for salmon.

You've seen the ads by BP (formerly British Petroleum), Chevron and other oil companies, bragging about their commitment to move "beyond petroleum" by developing new sources of clean, renewable energy. With its enormous financial assets, record profits and technological expertise, could Big Oil lead us to a clean energy future?

Question: When is dry cleaning actually dry?
Answer: Never. 

When you send your dry-clean-only clothes to the local dry cleaner (and believe me, I'm the first to admit I'm a stickler for nicely pressed shirts and pants) they use special machines and a toxic solvent called perchloroethylene to get your clothes clean.

That sickly sweet smell you notice when you take off the plastic covering? That's the residue of perchloroethylene, otherwise known as perc. Federal and state regulators say that over prolonged periods of time, perc may cause cancer, can damage your kidneys and liver, and will irritate your eyes, skin, and throat.

Spring is in the air in Washington, DC and hope seems to permeate every corner of this storied city. Along with the promise of longer days and warmer weather, there's hope that the new congress and administration can help us return to a true participatory democracy. As a member of Earthjustice's legislative team, my biggest hope is that we're witnessing the dawn of a new era when it comes to environmental policy.

The promise of this new era was on full display in the East Room of the White House last week as President Obama signed the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 into law. This bill -- the most significant land-preservation legislation in a decade -- protects over two million acres of wilderness and is composed of dozens of wildly popular conservation measures.