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The article reports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is being sued by 12 state governments because of changes in reporting laws regarding industrial pollution which allow higher levels of emissions. U.S. Congress is also considering legislation that would reverse the EPA's decision. A comparison of U.S. environmental laws regarding industrial pollution with those of Europe is presented.

The article reports that governors from Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and the premier of Manitoba, Canada, signed a regional agreement to cap carbon gas emissions in November 2007. The regional group is attempting to reach reduction goals set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The reductions are expected to be the result of an increased use of wind power, improved energy efficiency and the limiting of emissions from coal-fired power plants.

This article reports that such low air fares can not last long if some European government ministers get their way. While the European Union's greenhouse gas emissions fell by 3 per cent from 1990 to 2002, emissions from its international air traffic soared by almost 70 per cent. In February, German and French ministers suggested imposing a tax of up to € 300 per tonne of aviation fuel. The strategies being mooted include an emissions trading scheme, which would allow airlines to buy and sell permits for the CO2 they produce.

Chaining oneself to bulldozers and throwing paint over company executives is more likely to influence environmental policy than schmoozing on Capitol Hill. The study compares the number of bills passed by U.S. Congress with tactics employed by green groups in the same year. Jon Agnone, a sociologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, found that sit-ins, rallies and boycotts were highly effective at forcing new environmental laws. Each protest raised the number of pro-environment bills passed by 2.2 per cent. Environmental legislation is 75 per cent more likely to pass when Democrats control both houses of Congress.

Details plans announced this week by Carlo Ripa di Meana, the European Community's Commissioner for the Environment, which involve the establishment of a force of inspectors who would check on members' compliance with the Community's environmental laws. Meeting on climate change in Turin; Environmental damage done by the Gulf war; Upcoming UN Conference on Environment and Development to be held in Brazil; More.

Reports on the meeting of the Nations of the Antarctic Treaty in Chile in 1990. Consideration of the ban on mineral exploration on the continent; Conflict over the Convention for the Regulation of Antarctica Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA); Environment treaty; Opposition to mining in Antarctica.

Discusses the complexity of the bargains negotiated for the global climate treaty in 1990 with regard to the control of emissions of greenhouse gases. How money is less important to a nation's well-being than political security or independence; Suggestion that the original Antarctic treaty is inflexible; Need for a workable strategy for protecting the environment.

Reports that Britain's Environmental Protection Bill has now become an Act. Terms of the Act include larger fines for polluters, greater public access to information and an integrated approach to combating emissions.

Reports on the British government's decision to repeal section 143 of the 1990 Environmental Protection Act which requires public registration of contaminated land. Pressure exerted by property and insurance industries on Environmental Secretary John Gummer; Adoption of new approach preventing public awareness of contaminated land location; Contradiction with 1991 consultation paper outlining the need for public registers.

Editorial. Comments on a progress report issued by Michael Heseltine, the Secretary of State for the Environment in Great Britain. The report found gaping deficiencies in the government's environmental activities. Prime minister John Major's creation of a central agency along the lines of the US Environmental Protection Agency; What Heseltine must do.