Wolverines will have to wait for the protection they deserve. Photo courtesy of Lory Joly at http://oas.visitsweden.com

Leaked email reveals Fox News' climate change bias
Nonprofit media research center Media Matters recently came across an email showing that a top Fox News official ordered staff to cast suspicion on any mention of climate change science during their news reports, reports the Guardian, explaining that "it is not our place as journalists to assert such notions as facts, especially as this debate intensifies." With this latest revelation, it's no wonder then that a recent survey found that Fox News viewers are "significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources."

Wolverines told to get in line for endangered species protection
Despite being fierce hunters, wolverine populations are on the decline, enough so to be considered endangered by federal wildlife officials, reports the Associated Press. Still, thanks to a backlog of other species that are in more imminent danger, the largest member of the weasel family won't be reaping the benefits of endangered species protection anytime soon. Instead, they'll need to get behind other species on the list, whose numbers total in the hundreds.

The White House has reportedly said thanks but no thanks to the offer, reported here, by Bill McKibben and 350.org to return one of the solar panels installed on the White House roof during the Carter administration 35 years ago. No explanation was given (that I know of). One can think that it might be because McKibben was harshly critical of President Obama's role at the Copenhagen meeting last year, but that's only conjecture. It does seem to be a missed opportunity for some good press, which the administration needs just now.

Some top stories from the last two weeks at Earthjustice...

A full blue moon brought us into this new year and decade.  

Perhaps a new year will mean new policy for mountaintop removal mining. Thus far, the Obama Administration has continued to allow companies to destroy mountains, streams, and communities. Could a new article in Science help change its position?

 Many still wonder what exactly happened at the Copenhagen climate conference. Attorneys Martin Wagner and Erika Rosenthal reviewed what went down, the role Earthjustice played in the negotiations, and the way forward for climate progress.

The way forward for the PATH (Potomac-Appalachia Transmission Highline) project was successfully blocked with help from Earthjustice. Turns out the massive Big Coal transmission line simply isn’t needed to the degree its proponents claimed.

 America’s largest temperate rainforest, the majestic Tongass of Alaska, is a resource we do need. Earthjustice filed a lawsuit last week to protect the National Forest under the Roadless Rule. The Bush Administration “temporarily” exempted it back in 2006.

 Dec. 22 marked one year since the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kingston Power Plant flooded 300 acres of shoreline, and more than 25 homes, with toxic coal ash.

 Reflecting on the changing environmental movement, Patti Goldman reviewed some of Earthjustice’s efforts over the past year to help people most impacted by environmental degradation.

It's possible, suggests some media outlets, that the United Nations isn't set up to produce the powerful, binding commitment among nations needed to fight global warming. Their proof lies in the shattered hopes of the two-week Copenhagen climate conference that ended Saturday with an agreement so weak that nations are bound only to "take note" of it.

To underscore the agreement's fragility, carbon markets in Europe were slumping today, and analysts were pessimistic about the near-term future.

But, while the conference produced little more on the world stage than agenda items for future international negotiations, The New York Times believes it may have given President Barack Obama a boost at home with climate legislation in Congress. Bloomberg chimes in with a similar take.