Top 10 Endangered Southern Areas

Recently the Southern Environmental Law Center released its list of the top 10 places in America's South that face "immediate, potentially irreparable threats in 2009." They represent a cross-section of the major environmental issues facing these states — coal mining and burning, land use, transportation planning, oil and natural gas drilling, deforestation, biodiversity, wetlands, coastal environment, logging, and more.

• SELC release. Contact: Caroline March-Long, 434-295-5938.

The endangered sites are:

VIRGINIA:

• Clinch and Powell Rivers
• Interstate 81 corridor
• Marine waters

NORTH CAROLINA:

• Globe Forest
• Pamlico River
• Great Pee Dee River

SOUTH CAROLINA:

• Johns Island

GEORGIA:

• Salt marshes

ALABAMA:

• Weeks Bay

TENNESSEE:

• Cherokee National Forest