In Wednesday's environmental law news, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is expected to approve a $30 million plan to remove a system of dikes that separates the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Washington State from the salty waters of Puget Sound, reviving nearly 700 acres of what used to be an estuary. Over the past 150 years, the land has been diked and drained and turned into farmland, believed to contribute to the declining population of salmon and other fish and wildlife species. AP has more.

In other environmental law news...

• Environmental activists charge the EPA with having been unduly influenced by coal-power plant representatives in the formulation of a proposed rule regarding the regulation of hazardous toxins from power plants. An investigation into the charges is expected to be completed by early next year. The Washington Post has the full story.
  
  
• The World Wildlife Fund is reporting that Russian president Putin has instructed some of his ministers to sign the Kyoto Protocol ratification documents, which could then be ratified by the Russian parliament within a few weeks. The WWF release is here.
  
  
• The EPA reports that total emissions of the six principal pollutants identified in the Clean Air Act dropped again in 2003, signaling that America's air is the cleanest since 1970. The report is here. The EPA press release is here.