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