Voting with the GOP might seem like an easy political choice for Idaho Democrat Walt Minick. But could it be a problem when he needs clout to help the state?

"TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Long dependent on wellwater and supplies sent hundreds of miles by canal from the Colorado River, this desert city will soon harvest some of its 12 inches of annual rainfall to help bolster its water resources."

"San Joaquin Valley farms are laying off workers and letting fields lie fallow as their water ration falls."

"A plan to restore salmon runs on California's Sacramento River could help revive killer whale populations 700 miles to the north in Puget Sound."

The National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC, is playing a growing role in understanding weather and climate change.

Terry Tamminen, former environmental advisor to California's Gov. Schwarzenegger, is a key player on global climate change now.

The EPA says North Carolina Has More 'High-Hazard' Sites Than Any Other; the Industry Calls Them Safe.

The state budget crisis has caused the Massachusetts legislature to eliminate all funding for the state's Toxics Use Reduction Institute.

"Perhaps the last thing the Navy is looking for at the moment is a tangle with environmentalists. But that is exactly what it has -- over a proposed $100 million naval warfare training range off the northern Atlantic coast of Florida."

"Los Angeles will eliminate the use of electricity made from coal by 2020, replacing it with power from cleaner renewable energy sources, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said."

Heavy lobbying by companies eager to get a slice of the $23 billion-a-year organic food business is watering down USDA "organic" standards to the point where consumers "are not always getting what they expect: foods without pesticides and other chemicals, produced in a way that is gentle to the environment."

"Proposals to impose 'carbon tariffs' on imported products will violate the rules of the World Trade Organization as well as the spirit of the Kyoto Protocol, China's Ministry of Commerce said."

Heart arrhythmias in females and permanent, deleterious modifications of a gene that plays a pivotal role in reproduction are two new problems being linked to bisphenol A. New findings about the toxicity of this chemical and data suggest human exposures may be higher than U.S. regulatory agencies have assumed.

"The U.S., European Union and 12 of the world's largest nations plan to embrace 'an aspirational goal' of reducing emissions of global-warming gases by 50% by 2050, according to a draft declaration by world leaders set for release next week in Italy."

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed the federal lawsuit on ocean acidification, charging that the EPA has failed to comply with its mandate under the Clean Water Act to protect Washington State’s ocean waters from excessive CO2.