WASHINGTON - Fifty miles out and not on Georges Bank, those are two of the key points in the energy bill passed last night by the US House of Representatives that would open previously off-limits coastal areas to oil and gas drilling. Georges Bank, the most important fishing grounds in new England, was spared at the last minute thanks to hard work by Massachusetts representatives. more from Boston.com

"Drill Baby Drill" - It'll be good for the environment.

That's the argument advanced by Robert Hahn and Peter Passell in a NY Times editorial today. Drilling in new areas won't really change the price of gas they say, but it will generate $1.85 trillion (that's trillion with a "T") of revenue. After $400 billion (that's billion with a "B") to compensate for the loss of wilderness, the costs of clean up etc., there's still a nearly $1.5 trillion upside. They factor in the slight benefit of lower cost gas and being less vulnerable to supply disruptions and find an additional $200 billion in upside. Here's the question they ask environmentalists: "If a big chunk of that $1.7 trillion could be spent on preserving wilderness that didn’t happen to sit astride vast quantities of oil, would you really choose to spend it on keeping human hands off the currently protected sites?"

President Bush is creating a strong environmental legacy in the Pacific Ocean. In June 2006 the President created the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument, protecting an area 100 times larger than Yosemite National Park and larger than 46 of the 50 states. Now, just before his term ends he's seeking to protect three far flung areas in the Pacific including the northern Mariana Islands (location of the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot on earth), Rose Atoll in American Samoa; and a collection of reefs and atolls known as the Line Islands.  Thanks to 200 mile territorial limits a total area of more than 900,000 square miles, larger than Texas and Alaska combined, larger than all of Mexico, would be protected. The plan is receiving enthusiastic support from environmental groups. Some commercial fishing interests are objecting.

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August 27th - Ballot Measure 4 is failing by a large margin and is projected to lose.

August 26th - Alaska is home to the most productive wild salmon fishery in the United States. Today Alaskans will vote on a ballot initiative that may determine the health of that fishery. There's possibly as much as $300 billion worth of gold, copper, and molybdenum in the tundra surrounding Bristol Bay in southwest Alaska. Mining those minerals would create as many as 300 jobs.  At the same time Bristol Bay is Alaska's most valuable salmon fishery, with 31 million salmon worth $108 million landed there in 2007. If Ballot Measure 4 passes today it would prohibit any new large metal mines from polluting salmon streams or drinking-water sources. Regardless of the outcome of today's vote there's likely to be litigation for years to come.

Mining is a messy and toxic business. Digging up minerals in and of itself releases heavy metals into streams. To make extraction of valuable ore more efficient some mining operations use cyanide solutions. Newer technologies are cleaner but are they clean enough? Today Alaskans are making the call.

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