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NPR's Sarah Chayes reports from Cherbourg that French officials are facing a potential environmental disaster in the English Channel. The Italian tanker Ievoli Sun took on water in rough seas Monday and sank yesterday as it was being towed to Cherbourg. The tanker carried thousands of tons of chemicals, including one called styrene -- which environmental groups say is highly toxic. The incident has raised alarm in the French government, coming less than a year after the oil tanker Erika sank, polluting large stretches of France's Atlantic coast.

North Country Public Radio's Brian Mann reports that environmental groups are trying to persuade the timber industry to label wood and paper products that are produced from logs that are harvested in ways that help sustain forests. Such products would carry a "green" label.

Scientists are heading to Antarctica to investigate a pressing question raised by the British Royal Airforce. When aircraft fly overhead, do penguins fall over? Robert speaks with Dr. John Shears, the environmental officer for the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, England.

Susan Chisholm of Maine Public Radio reports the federal government will declare the Gulf of Maine Atlantic Salmon an endangered species. Environmentalists trying to protect the species are thrilled, but debate still rages over whether the salmon is a species entitled to special protections.

Noah talks with Lee Mueller, Lexington Herald Eastern Kentucky Bureau Reporter, about life in the region after one of the worst environmental disasters to hit the Southeastern U.S. A holding pond, containing sludge created in the process of coal washing, broke, sending the toxic mess into streams and rivers. Mueller says clean-up is really just beginning and it won't be easy. The A.T. Massey company is responsible for the spill, and has hired workers to do the clean up.

The Arizona Democratic senator has been hard to pin down, but her moderate stance is forcing progressives in her party to make concessions.

Host Bob Edwards remembers environmentalist David Brower who died last weekend.

NPR's Madeleine Brand profiles the career of Al Gore. The Vice President began his life in public service nearly 25 years ago when he won a Congressional seat in his home state of Tennessee. A few years later, he followed his father's footsteps into the U.S. Senate. From the on-set, Gore was determined to be a different kind of democrat. He initially opposed abortion and maintained strong support for the military. But he also fought big corporations and championed environmental causes.

NPR's Nina Totenberg reports on today's arguments before the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the 1970 Clean Air Act. Opponents from industry and several state governments say Congress unconstitutionally delegated too much of its power to the executive branch. The measure requires the Environmental Protection Agency to establish air quality standards that protect the public health, based on the latest science. Defenders of the law say Congress could never agree on standards, and is justified in assigning the job to the EPA.

In Central Africa, isolated hunters with primitive weapons are being replaced by well-funded, highly organized groups of foreign poachers that threaten wildlife and political stability. NPR's John Nielsen reports.