Bruce Babbitt: Road to Nowhere still a bad idea

Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, has wilderness. The Congress has said so. But, still, the infamous "road to nowhere" threatens to wipe out this wild place. Bruce  Babbitt, former Interior secretary, tells about the boondoggle in this op-ed.

In A;laska, a historic salmon fishery and real people under threat of open-pit mine

This is a great read - great because of the quality of its prose and its argument. But that argument, conservationists are sorry to say, may very well not see the light-of-victory-day. Bristol Bay will be immediate loser, but in a long-term sense all of America and especially the native people of the far north will be on the losing end. We do better.

EPA: Proposed Alaska mine would be big trouble for salmon

You'd think this was rocket science or something akin. When one digs a hole, there is an impact. The bigger the hole, the bigger the impact. The proposed Pebble mine at Bristol Bay, Alaska, is a cold sore waiting to happen: A few might get rich, but many would be hurt, and the salmon would be harmed. Isn't it enough to see what happened to salmon in the Columbia River's watershed after dams were built? Read coverage here.

Alaska grants tax break for Big Oil to spur drilling of dwindling field

Great, great. This is just what the gazillion-dollars-rich Big Oil companies so desperately need, another big tax break. Great. The best thing for Americans and the planet, on the other hand, would be to stop drilling in Alaska, forcing the drivers of gas-guzzlers to start walking, bicycling, car pooling and bus riding. What a shock that would be.