Water & Oceans

"An environmental group asked the U.S. government on Thursday to consider classifying the orange clownfish -- Nemo, to a whole generation of children -- as endangered."

"The Portland City Council voted 5-0 during a raucous public meeting Wednesday morning to add fluoride to Portland's drinking water, ending the city's status as the only major U.S. city that hasn't approved fluoridation."

Oil and gas drilling can usually protect groundwater when enough effort is taken to install well casings and cement them properly. But even those safeguards may fail in karst formations, as the Bureau of Land Management's experience in New Mexico shows.

"The U.S. Navy can build a $100 million submarine training range off the coast of Southern Georgia and Northern Florida, a federal judge ruled Monday, dismissing a lawsuit by environmental groups claiming the project would harm the already endangered North Atlantic right whale."

"PORTLAND, Ore. -- Who bears responsibility for an impoverished child with a mouth full of rotting teeth? Parents? Soda companies? The ingrained inequities of capitalism? Pick your villain, or champion. They are all on display here as the largest city in the nation with no commitment to fluoridating its water supply -- and one of the most politically liberal cultures anywhere -- has waded into a new debate about whether to change its ways and its water."

"Aging boomers pop more pills to keep fit. Farmers feed more antibiotics and hormones to fatten livestock. Adults and children use exotic shampoos and conditioners to make their hair shiny. Most of these drugs and personal-care chemicals wind up down the drain, into sewage, land-applied sludge, reclaimed water and ultimately the Indian River Lagoon, St. Johns River and other waters."

"Canada and the United States have updated a decades-old agreement to protect the Great Lakes, adding new commitments to protect aquatic habitats, curb invasive species and help coastal communities adapt to climate change."