Protected Coasts Now Threatened by Drilling
Both the first President Bush and President Clinton issued presidential directives that banned oil drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, in Alaska's famous salmon-fishing grounds in Bristol Bay, off the coast of Virginia, and up and down the east and west coasts. Congress also has annually reaffirmed a moratorium on drilling off these protected coasts. But the current Bush administration wants a radical change to that policy.

In February, the federal Mineral Management Service released a new leasing plan that will open vast formerly protected areas to oil and gas drilling. But the proposal is open to public comment, though, and if citizens express enough outrage, the agency may withdraw its proposal. The comment period ends April 10, so don't wait to declare your support for rig-free coasts.

Where Paving Roads Is Good for the Environment
For Sierra Club environmental justice organizer Oliver Bernstein, who bounces back and forth across the U.S./Mexico border like a ping-pong ball, the biggest difference from one side to the other isn't the food or language, but what's considered "environmental." In Mexico, he is more likely to attend environmental meetings about the need to pave roads, build incinerators, or buy an SUV to reach rural communities than about, say, protecting migratory birds.

In an industrial area near Matamoros, at the eastern end of the border, Bernstein says one of the most pressing problems is that the streets and canals are filled with trash and they need to pave the road so the garbage trucks can get in and pick up the waste. Environmental concerns in Mexico are more often thought of as "basic services" north of the border -- things like safe drinking water and functioning sewage systems.

Read more from Bernstein in Grist's seven-week Poverty & the Environment series.

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