If you Google an image of a herring midwater trawler, you see a well-equipped large fishing ship. What you may not see are the massive nets that drag behind such ships - meant to capture anything in their path. No wonder local fishermen in Massachusetts are having a hard time competing. Most of their catch is being scooped up by these nets.

Well, today (7/21) Earthjustice scored big—three times over—in the struggle to keep trawling ships from continuing to deplete fisheries of groundfish (including cod, haddock, flounder and sole).

I used to love the taste of Filet ‘O Fish sandwiches. That scrumptious tartar sauce and the delectable white fish flakiness coupled with deep fried crunchiness—and let's not forget the chewy bun. Oh so yum.

But then I noticed that the fish started tasting a little differently. Turns out McDonald’s used to only use North Atlantic cod for its sandwiches but had to change to a different supplier in the late 1980’s after cod-fishing grounds became so overfished. Now the sandwiches are made from a motley mix of five different whitefish species.

The depletion of fish from our oceans is the result of an increased appetite for fish—as well as advances in technology to catch seafood. The result has been detrimental to our ecosystem. The Wall Street Journal writes that restaurants are now galvanizing and moving toward more sustainable fishing practices due to the effects of overfishing on business. These measures are way overdue: according to a recent United Nations study, nearly all commercial fisheries will produce less than 10 percent of their potential by mid-century—unless something changes. And since the article states that the annual seafood demand will rise to at least 150 million metric tons in two decades—something’s got to change fast.

Anyone who lives in Washington, D.C. and other smog-laden eastern regions may have kept their breathing indoors for the last few days as a result of the high pollution levels. Recent announcements by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signal the agency is doing something about that.

In two moves toward cleaner air, the EPA first agreed to review hazardous air pollution rules for 28 industries—from pesticide production operations to pharmaceutical plants—and also proposed limits for interstate air pollution in 31 eastern states and Washington, D.C. The interstate rule is aimed to slash sulfur dioxide (linked to a number of adverse effects on the respiratory system) and nitrogen oxides (also very harmful to human health). EPA estimates that this rule would avoid annually an estimated 14,000 to 36,000 premature deaths, 21,000 cases of acute bronchitis, 240,000 cases of aggravated asthma and 1.9 million days of missed school and work as a result of reactions to ozone and other air pollutants.

In other words, this is a big deal.

Hilton Kelley of Port Arthur, TX.

When Hilton Kelley of Port Arthur, Texas moved back to his hometown more than a decade ago, he didn't realize that he'd spend the ensuing years battling for clean air. And on a muggy Tuesday afternoon, he drove 90 miles west toward Houston to attend yet another EPA hearing to comment on air pollution rules.

Kelley, 49, lives in an area where there are 20 facilities, small and large, continuously pumping chemicals into the air.

"We have become the dumping ground for America's toxic waste," said Kelley. The Port Arthur community is comprised of residents that often times need two or three jobs to make ends meet, he said. "It's an area of least resistance."

Concerned Houston citizen Rosalie Guerrero recently visited a young mother who lives near a facility pumping chemicals in the air. The mother had given birth to a baby with half a brain. The baby suffered for 6 months before dying.

“I’d like to see how much that life costs,” said Rosalie, testifying at a U.S. EPA hearing in Houston on the detrimental effects of living near facilities that emit lead, mercury and cadmium in the air. “There is a cost associated with that.”

Advocates for clean air testified alongside industry representatives at hearings in Houston and Los Angeles Tuesday regarding recent EPA proposals to cut emissions of hazardous air pollutants like mercury and other toxic metals at nearly 100,000 facilities nationwide.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski

You can breathe that sigh of relief.

At the end of the hours-long debate on the effort by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) effort to keep the U.S. EPA from controlling greenhouse gases, 53 senators came out in support of America's right to clean air. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) said the Murkowski resolution was a choice between "real science and political science."

The vote of 53-47 killed the resolution but did not end the debate on whether the EPA should monitor our nation's global warming emissions. (More on that later).

In a statement, Earthjustice senior legislative representative Sarah Saylor said:

Photo: Friends of the Earth

Nearly 200 journalists, environmental activists and representatives of public interest organizations (Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen, 350.org and others) gathered in front of BP's headquarters downtown today to stage a citizen's arrest of the oil giant for the Gulf of Mexico gusher that has been fouling coastlines, killing marine life and devastating Gulf coast communities.

The assembled crowd called for a clean energy future and one that doesn't put profits over people.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., a resident of Shreveport, Louisiana who works with the Hip Hop Caucus said of BP, "Your greed is killing my people," and urged President Obama that "this is not the time to play politics."

With the recent mining tragedy in West Virginia there has been argument enough that mountaintop removal mining takes the human element out of mining – that is, machines extracting coal from deep within mines supplant the human cost of mining.

A new study shows that this belief has no merit.

According to researchers at West Virginia University and Virginia Tech, West Virginians living near streams polluted by mine waste are more likely to die of cancer. This study is the first to see the connection between the health of Appalachian streams and the health of coalfield residents. If you didn't know, mountaintop removal mining is a method that blows up mountains and dumps mine waste into streams.

Hooray for Appalachia!

Today, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced guidelines to prevent continuing harmful environmental impacts as a result of mountaintop removal mining. This is a second win for environmentalists who cheered EPA's announcement last week to veto an Army Corps of Engineers permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine in West Virginia, the largest mountaintop removal mine ever authorized in Appalachia.

These recent EPA actions come on the basis of scientific studies that have determined that the resulting waste from mountaintop removal mining significantly compromises water quality often causing permanent damage to ecosystems and waterways.

And we couldn't have done it without you. When we called on our supporters to urge DOE to adopt strong standards for water heaters, nearly 14,000 of you responded with public comments. Let's continue the momentum: in the coming months the Obama administration will consider new efficiency standards for several appliances and in December will finalize a new standard for residential refrigerators. According to DOE, the potential energy savings from strong energy efficiency standards for refrigerators could be worth more than $50 billion in reduced electric bills for American families.

DOE is also developing new standards for furnaces, air conditioning window units, heat pumps, and clothes dryers.

Let's continue to encourage the Obama administration to choose standards that will save our planet, bolster our economy, and put money back into the pockets of American families.