"Fracking"

Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is in the news again. This practice, designed to extract natural gas by injecting water and often unregulated chemicals deep into the ground, is increasingly implicated in creating toxic pollutions in wells. Fracking not only impacts trout, but the people who live around trout. Very few states regulate this practice, thus giving natural gas interests a free pass when it comes to the environment. I have a feeling we'll look back on this practice and ask "what the hell were we thinking?"

See NY Times article here:  Fracking

The human cost of mountain top removal

Those of us in the conservation world usually focus on the environmental impacts of coal mining, but there is also a human side. And similar to the fish, this side is tragic:

Town Disappears Along With The Mountain

Maine Judge Rejects Plum Creek

This is good news for brook trout in Maine, and good news for anyone who doesn't want to see the North Woods chopped up into 1 acre house lots: Sorry Plum Creek