The relentless grip of the Arctic Ocean that defied man for centuries is melting away. The sea ice reaches only half as far as it did 50 years ago. In the summer of 2006, it shrank to a record low; this summer the ice pulled back even more, by an area nearly the size of Alaska. Where explorer Robert Peary just 102 years ago saw "a great white disk stretching away apparently infinitely" from Ellesmere Island, there is often nothing now but open water. Glaciers race into the sea from the island of Greenland, beginning an inevitable rise in the oceans.

SAN JOSE DE MAIPO, Chile — With a population of 16 million people, Chile doesn't produce much of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. But it's paying the price.

Giant glaciers are disappearing. Mudslides are becoming more common. Snow no longer falls in the spring, replaced instead by tepid rains.

Last May, an entire lake in southern Chile disappeared practically overnight after the Tempano Glacier, which had acted as a dam, melted and destabilized.

The Bush administration bucked up the U.S. auto industry today in the fight over tougher fuel economy standards, telling Congress the president likely would veto an energy bill if it contains the Senate’s fuel economy provisions

The move creates another hurdle for backers of the Senate’s plan to set a standard of 35 miles per gallon by 2020 for news cars and trucks, who were unable to force a vote on the proposal in the House after intense lobbying by Detroit automakers and Toyota Motor Co.

SACRAMENTO - Attorney General Jerry Brown says California has waited long enough for the federal government to take action on global warming.

Brown said Monday that he will sue the Environmental Protection Agency for stalling on a decision about whether to let California and 11 other states force automakers to produce cleaner cars.

The lawsuit, to be filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, comes 22 months after California first asked the EPA to let California impose tougher regulations on emissions of greenhouse gases from cars, pickup trucks and sports utility vehicles.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Richard D. Liebert turned his back against a hard wind the other day, adjusted his black cap and gazed across golden fields of hay. Explaining why he is against construction of a big coal-burning power plant east of town, Mr. Liebert sounded like one more voice from the green movement.

“The more I learn about global warming and watch the drought affect ranchers and farmers, I see that it’s wind energy, not coal plants, that can help with rural economic development. Besides, do we want to roll the dice with the one planet we’ve got?”

But Mr. Liebert, despite his sentiments, fits nobody’s stereotype of an environmentalist. He is a Republican, a cattle rancher and a retired Army lieutenant colonel who travels to South Korea to train soldiers to fight in Iraq.

He is also an example of a rising phenomenon in the West. An increasingly vocal, potent and widespread anti-coal movement is developing here. Environmental groups that have long opposed new power plants are being joined by ranchers, farmers, retired homeowners, ski resort operators and even religious groups.

The state sees an energy alternative in chicken manure.

A $410,250 state grant will help Energy Works North America LLC convert chicken manure to electricity on an Adams County poultry farm.

Michael J. McCaskey, who heads business development for the company, said the plant, when finished a year from now, will generate 3.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.

That's enough to power 2,000 homes for a year.

The plant will be at the Hillandale-Gettysburg LLC poultry farm in Tyrone Twp. near Gettysburg. McCaskey said the plant will use gasification to convert manure from 3.5 million chickens on the farm.

Most of the manure now goes into the soil, where it could pollute waterways. The plant will get rid of 85 percent of the manure on the farm, he said.