Ben Margot / AP file

A 2-year old male California condor near Big Sur, Calif. in 2001. The species population had fallen to 22 in 1982, but an intensive captive breeding and reintroduction program have boosted the number to 405, more than half of them living in the wild.

One of the most endangered birds in the world, the California condor, has crept back from the brink of extinction through a strenuous three-decade conservation effort. But conservationists say the giant bird can’t become a self-sufficient population in the wild again unless its habitat becomes free of lead ammunition used by hunters.

"It’s huge," said David Shepherdson, deputy conservation division manager at the Oregon Zoo, which has a condor breeding program. "Lead poisoning from lead ammunition is the one thing preventing them from becoming a self-sustaining, non-endangered … wild population."

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The California condor is the largest bird in North America, with a wingspan of up to 10 feet. Historically, the species' habitat ranged all the way from Baja, Mexico, to British Columbia, Canada. The mammoth bird, a type of vulture, can fly 150 miles a day.

The population of giant California condors in the wild fell so low in 1982 — 22 birds — that U.S. Fish and Wildlife made the controversial decision to capture them all for breeding programs.

The process has been slow and painstaking. Condors typically lay just one egg every two years in the wild, and even in captivity they rarely have more than one offspring a year. Then, if they survive, they live about the same length of time as humans.

With three decades of work breeding and reintroducing them in the wild, the California condor population had climbed to 405 in an April 30 census — including more than 226 living in the wild, and another 179 living in zoos and four breeding centers, according to a report in The Oregonian, citing U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials.

But for condors, which are scavengers that feed on dead animals and "gut piles" left behind by hunters that contain fragments of lead bullets, lead poisoning is the leading cause of death. The poisoning causes a slow death by starvation or weakens the birds, making them vulnerable to predators.

Tammy Spratt / AP

A California condor egg that was on the verge of hatching at the San Diego Zoo in March. Condor's typically lay one egg every two years in the wild.

Condors were first reintroduced to the Vermilion Cliffs near the Arizona-Utah border in 1996 and that wild population now is around 60, flying through the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon National Park and lands in Utah and Nevada.

Of those released in Arizona — one of several reintroduction sites — at least 22 have died of lead poisoning, and many others have required treatment for lead poisoning through a process of "leeching" called kelation, said Kathy Sullivan, a biologist who coordinates the condor program for Arizona Game and Fish.

In California, hunters are barred from using lead ammunition in areas designated condor habitat. The alternative ammunition is often more expensive and harder to find.

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On Friday, several environmental groups issued a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Forest Service under the Endangered Species Act for allowing the continued use of lead ammunition in the Kaibab National Forest, a key feeding area for condors released in Arizona.

Banning lead ammunition "isn't like some kind of radical idea," said Sandy Bahr, director for the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, one of the groups threatening to sue. "There has been a requirement for a pretty long time for hunters who are hunting water fowl to use non-lead ammunition. … To get the manufacturers and widespread non-lead ammunition it has to be required.

"(The California condor) is a wonderful comeback story and illustration of how the Endangered Species Act works, and how a concerted effort by many interests can result in giving a species a second chance," said Bahr of the Sierra Club, an environmental lobbying group. "But we can’t just sit back and breathe a sigh of relief."

Officials at Kaibab National Forest did not respond to calls for comment.

But Sullivan, the condor program coordinator for Arizona Game and Fish, said that the state has an effective voluntary program for hunters in Arizona built through education and outreach. Licences for deer hunting and other game are drawn by lottery, and the state actually provides free non-lead ammunition to those whose names are drawn. She said a portion of hunters, instead of changing ammunition, have agreed to remove "gut piles" to prevent lead poisoning of condors. In total, the state has at least 80 percent participation by hunters.

Sullivan said the continuing lead poisoning of Arizona-released condors appears to be because many are now flying into neighboring Utah where there is no such program to limit lead exposure.

"We have a pretty darn successful program in Arizona, but the birds have shifted up to Utah," said Sullivan. "In my opinion that’s where the efforts should be."

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Bridget Besaw / Corbis

Many in native communities like Nondalton, Alaska, are among those opposed to the Pebble Mine project. A protest banner is hung on a newly built fish drying rack.

Rivers and streams in the world's premier wild salmon fishery would be greatly degraded for decades should a vast gold and copper mine be built and then see a failure in the dam holding back its mine waste, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a draft report Friday.

The proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska has stirred passions for and against, with fishermen and native tribes in the Bristol Bay watershed generally against the project.

If the tailings dam were to break, the draft report stated, some 20 miles "of salmonid streams would be destroyed and more streams and rivers would have greatly degraded habitat for decades."

Other, smaller failures could put contaminants into the streams if water from the mine is not properly managed. In addition, the native cultures that rely on salmon for food could see a significant change in their lifestyles, the report said.

Even without any failures, the EPA said, there would still be an impact on fish, including eliminated or blocked streams, removal of wetlands and a reduction in the amount and quality of fish habitat because of water use by mine operations.

The annual probability of failure for a tailings dam was estimated in the range of 1-in-10,000 to 1-in-1 million.

Project backers note that the deposit is one of the largest of its kind in the world and could produce 80.6 billion pounds of copper, 107.4 million ounces of gold and 5.6 billion pounds of molybdenum, used in steel-making, over decades.

The EPA, which said it would solicit public opinion through July 24 before issuing a final report, summarized the significance of the area this way:

The Bristol Bay watershed in southwestern Alaska supports the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world, is home to 25 Federally Recognized Tribal Governments, and contains large mineral resources.The potential for large-scale mining activities in the watershed has raised concerns about the impact of mining on the sustainability of Bristol Bay’s world-class fisheries, and the future of Alaska Native tribes in the watershed who have maintained a salmon-based culture and subsistence-based lifestyle for at least 4,000 years..

Alaska Attorney General Michael Geraghty has called the EPA's involvement premature and an overreach, The Associated Press reported.

In a March 9 letter to the EPA, he said that if it were to use the Clean Water Act to block the Pebble mine, that could have the potential to "extinguish" the state's mineral rights and leases held by others. In that case, he warned, Alaska would explore "all available legal options."

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said Friday that while she was "pleased this draft assessment does not contain a preemptive veto" she worried that could still happen before a permit is even sought for the project.

"I have consistently been clear about two things concerning the Pebble project: I will not trade fish for gold, but I oppose a preemptive veto prior to proper evaluation of an application and actual project description," she said in a statement.

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Courtesy of Land Wilson

These student activists at Sun Valley School in San Rafael, Calif., are focused on getting Crayola to change its recycling ways. With them is group facilitator Land Wilson.

They may be small in stature, but kids at a California elementary school have gotten more than 55,000 people to sign an online petition asking Crayola to "take back" and recycle used plastic markers.

Don't get these 1st to 5th graders wrong -- they say they love Crayola products and are just looking to educate the company on how to lead industry and inspire others.

"We're asking Crayola to make sure these markers don't end up in our landfills, incinerators and oceans," the children said in their petition at Change.org.

Just a week old, the "Crayola, Make Your Mark!" petition came about when the "Green Team" at the Sun Valley School in San Rafael, Calif., started looking for a new project.

"The idea evolved from conversations with kids about plastic waste and they immediately identified with how many Crayola plastic markers they had thrown away," Land Wilson, the adult volunteer who facilitates the efforts, told msnbc.com. "Forty students eagerly stepped up and wanted to do something about the problem."

"We simply want Crayola to establish an easy take back program that kids can partake in  -- i.e. prepaid return envelopes with their products or dropoff locations at retail outlets and schools," he added.

Wilson said his own two children are huge Crayola marker fans. "Over the past 8 years, we have gone through approximately 500," he figured. 

Crayola acknowledged the good intentions but said that, for now at least, there’s no practical way to take back and recycle entire markers.

"We value and encourage children to share their ideas and appreciate the suggestion that the students of Sun Valley brought to our attention," Crayola spokeswoman Stacy Gabrielle told msnbc.com. "At this time, we do not have the facilities or a process that will enable us to offer a take back program."

In describing Crayola's environmental initiatives, Gabrielle did note that the caps on each marker can be recycled at centers that take polypropylene, one of the least recyclable plastics.

Wilson said the children hoped Crayola would expand an internal program it has to recycle markers flawed on the production line.

Gabrielle did not address that directly, saying only that Crayola is not able "to take back and make new markers from used ones and provide consumers with a high quality marker that meets our rigorous safety standards for children."

So is an all-out boycott next? Don't hold your breath.

"We don't want to boycott because we love Crayola," Wilson said. "The environmental problems children hear about daily is long and they need a champion. What better champion than a company that they already know and love."

At Change.org, deputy campaign director Mike Jones said the petition has definitely caught on with users. "We've seen more than 15,000 petitions started on Change.org over the past month," he told msnbc.com, "and this campaign definitely ranks near the top this month in terms of how quickly it grew."

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• Hawaii first state to ban plastic bags at checkout

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By now, it’s hardly news when a city bans plastic bags at checkout counters -- but an entire state? That’s happened in Hawaii, where Honolulu County has joined the state’s three other counties to give Hawaii a first-in-the-nation title.

"Passing the bans did take an effort -- change always does -- but people seemed to understand the need for such an effort," Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club's Hawaii chapter, told msnbc.com of the two-year campaign across the islands.

The Honolulu County Council approved the ban late last month and Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle, who is also the county executive, initially held back his support, saying he wanted to collect more public input due to enforcement and cost concerns.

But when he signed the ban on Thursday, Carlisle was fully committed, especially since retailers were given three years to comply.

"This is groundbreaking. By signing this environmentally friendly bill, Honolulu joined our neighbor island counties," Carlisle said. "Hawaii has become the only state in the United States where every county has plastic bag legislation."

The county law bans non-biodegradable plastic bags at checkout as well as paper bags that are not at least 40 percent recycled. Retailers in Honolulu County have until July 1, 2015, to make the change.

That date "gives us plenty of time to get ready," Carlisle told msnbc.com. "Retailers will be able to use up their inventory of bags and make arrangements to educate the public on the importance of bringing their own bag."

Kauai and Maui counties already enforce bans, while Hawaii County's ban takes effect on Jan. 17, 2013. 

The Sierra Club organized rallies to support the bans, said Harris. "We also lobbied extensively for statewide legislation, which failed, but it helped direct attention to the issue and eventually got the last county to take action."

"Being a marine state, perhaps, we are exposed more directly to the impacts of plastic pollution and the damage it does to our environment," Harris said in explaining the support in all four counties. "People in Hawaii are more likely to be in the water or in the outdoors and see the modern day tumbleweed -- plastic bags -- in the environment."

Getting shoppers to switch to reusable bags is another matter.

Island supermarkets, which said they would prefer to charge a nickel or dime for plastic bags rather than live with a ban, argued that most shoppers have shifted to paper bags, which have their own environmental impact and increase store costs. 

The Surfrider Foundation, which also lobbied for the bans as part of its mission to protect beaches and oceans, acknowledged the challenge ahead.

Interactive: The paper or plastic debate

"While we are excited that the plastic bag bans have been enacted, there has been a reported increase in paper bag use from locals," Bill Hickman, the nonprofit's point man in Hawaii for plastics, said in a blogpost Monday. He added that his group might even lobby for a fee on paper bags at some point.

The state-level legislation, which would have charged users 10 cents per plastic bag, died a quiet death earlier this month, just two weeks after being introduced. A statewide ban also recently failed in California, noted Harris. 

Ted Duboise, publisher of PlasticBagBanReport.com, said he doesn't think any state is close to a ban enforced at the state level. "Too much political hem haw," he told msnbc.com.

As for a national ban, don't hold your breath, said Duboise, citing "labor, lobbyist and plastic industry interests."

Still, the number of areas with bans or bag fees has grown across the U.S. and the globe. Dozens of areas on every continent but Antarctica are listed on an interactive map at PlasticBagBanReport.com.

So is the lesson here that it's easier to get bans at the local level?

"In Hawaii, yes," said Harris. "And looking to the mainland, I would suspect the same."

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James R. Evans / U.S. Pacific Fleet

Dolphins surface as the USS Halsey destroyer maneuvers off Southern California on Sept. 30, 2011.

New Navy estimates showing many more dolphins, whales and other marine mammals could be hurt by sonar off Hawaii and Southern California caused alarm among environmentalists on Friday. The Navy, for its part, emphasized those were worst-case estimates and that the numbers cover a much larger testing area than before.

The numbers are in the Navy's new draft environmental impact statement for exercises planned from 2014-2018. In it, the Navy says that, under its preferred alternative, sonar training and testing might unintentionally harm marine mammals 2.8 million times a year over five years.

"The numbers are staggering and there is absolutely no corresponding mitigation to account for this harm," Zak Smith, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told msnbc.com.

That's up from about 150,000 instances a year in the Navy's impact statement for 2009-2013, Smith added.

But the Navy said the numbers were misleading since the new area is much larger and more activities have been added since the last statement. "It's like comparing three grapes to a watermelon," Pacific Fleet spokesman Mark Matsunaga told msnbc.com.

"These are just worst-case estimates," he added. "That's not to say we're going to go out there and hurt them all."

"Direct comparisons with the prior analysis might not be comparing apples to apples," acknowleged Smith. "But I think that's irrelevant. ... Regardless of what accounts for this change the fact is that we -- including the Navy -- now understand that the Navy's activities will have a much greater impact than previously thought."

Twelve million potential exposures over those five years are listed under "behavioral," Smith noted. It's the least harmful category, but Smith said it can include an impact like forcing a whale to abandon its habitat for several days. "Marine mammals don't have the energy to continually withstand" that kind of impact, he added.

Two million incidents are counted for temporary hearing loss, Smith said, and 2,000 are listed for permanent hearing loss.

Hearing is critical to marine mammals, much like seeing is to humans, Smith said. "It's as if some technology used in my neighborhood blinded me for the next 10 minutes. It becomes a problem if I go outside and get hit by a car."

Dolphins are the most impacted species under the new estimates, which are based on models, followed by whales and orcas.

In addition, the Navy estimates traditional explosives testing and training might kill 1,000 marine mammals during the period.

The Navy numbers were presented Thursday by John Van Name, a senior environmental planner at the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

US sued over sonar tests in whale waters

"Each time around, each time we swing through this process, we get better, we take a harder look, we become more inclusive," the Associated Press quoted him as saying.

Matsunaga added that the new estimates include "more activities that weren't analyzed the first time around" and "hundreds more sources of sound" from Navy ships.

"We're at an early stage of the process," said Matsunaga, noting that the estimates don't take into account Navy mitigation.

Smith said his group isn't looking to block sonar and explosives testing and training, but to see it used at times and places where the impacts to marine mammals are minimized.

Will the Navy work with other federal agencies to mitigate the damage?

"That's the big question," said Smith, noting that, as part of the environmental process, the Navy is now taking public comments and then will consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service. 

The NRDC, he added, will be submitting formal comments and hopes that the Navy and the fisheries service will eventually have "a very thoughtful conversation as to what they can work out."

Public comment on the draft environmental impact statement is being accepted at http://hstteis.com.   

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Pat Owen / National Park Service

This three-pawed bear was first spotted in Alaska's Denali National Park last year.

A three-pawed grizzly bear affectionately known as "Tripawed" is back in public view at Alaska's Denali National Park, after it was first spotted last year with a bloody stump where its right front foot had been.

"He's got a really funny gait," park biologist Pat Owen told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. "He kind of hops around."

At least so far, the bear doesn't seem to be a threat to park visitors. "It does not seem interested in camper food," park spokeswoman Kris Fister told msnbc.com. "It has only been observed doing normal bear things, i.e. digging for roots, etc."

Owen said it's not clear how the bear lost its paw, but the wound appears to have completely healed.

"It was a really clean cut, which leads part of me to believe it might not be a trap accident," she said. "We have no idea what happened."

The bear "showed up two weeks ago along the (park) highway," Owen added. "He's been very visible. A lot of people have seen him already."

The park considered euthanizing Tripawed last year, but Owen contacted some of her peers and was told bears missing appendages isn't that uncommon, so he was left alone.

Last weekend, the bear showed up at a vacant campground but officials won't be doing anything just yet to move him out.

"For now we'll let him do his thing and see what happens," Owen said. "He seems to get along just fine."

Tourist season officially begins on May 20, and if the bear is still around then the park will probably put up signs about the bear to avoid having to answer the same questions over and over, Owen said.

As for tracking the bear, Owen said "he’s pretty identifiable. I don’t think we need a radio collar to keep track of him."

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The Heartland Institute

This billboard was up for a day in the Chicago area last week.

Some corporate giants are caught in the middle of a battle between a think tank skeptical of manmade global warming and an environmental group that it is trying to undermine its financial health. 

On one side is Forecast the Facts, which was founded this year and claims to have 20,000 members ready and willing to use e-mail and social media to counter criticism of mainstream climate science that points to a warming world.

On the other is The Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based group that's been around for 28 years. It has called global warming a "fringe theory" and covers not only climate issues but also budget policy, education, insurance, health care and telecom issues.

Forecast the Facts has been after Heartland since February, when documents were released purporting to show donors to the think tank. Peter Gleick, a climate scientist/activist, came under fire from various sides for posing as a Heartland board member to obtain the documents.

Heartland felt the heat again last week when it launched -- and 24 hours later halted -- a billboard campaign comparing mainstream climate scientists to "madmen". The billboard used Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's image and the words: "I still believe in Global Warming. Do You?"

Forecast the Facts seized on the billboard, urging Pfizer, several insurers, Microsoft and Comcast -- whose external affairs director, Mike Rose, is on Heartland's board of directors -- and other corporations to cut financial ties even if those donations were for non-climate programs at Heartland.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and Comcast’s NBC Universal unit.)

Comcast did not comment on the issue, but  other companies have issued statements since the billboard campaign and after Forecast the Facts started lobbying them online.

Among them:

• State Farm Insurance, on its Facebook page, said it "is ending its association with the Heartland Institute" due to the billboard.
• In a blog post over the weekend, Steve Lippman, Microsoft's director of corporate citizenship, said the donations were in the form of free software available to any nonprofit. "The Heartland Institute’s position on climate change is diametrically opposed to Microsoft’s position," he added. "And we completely disagree with the group’s inflammatory and distasteful advertising campaign."
• Beverage giant Diageo told London's The Guardian over the weekend that it has no plans to work further with Heartland, after a donation two years ago for a tax policy program.
• Pfizer spokesman Peter O'Toole told msnbc.com that "we do not agree with the Heartland Institute’s position on climate change and have said so publicly a number of times. We also review our engagement with outside organizations regularly."
• The Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers, in a letter to Heartland, said that "we write to disavow any future relationship with your organization. Recent revelations of the Heartland Institute’s radical position on climate change as portrayed on the new billboard featuring Ted Kaczynski made our association with other parts of your organization untenable."

Forecast the Facts said a few other insurers pulled out as well. 

The heat from the climate controversy is accelerating a "divorce" between Heartland's Chicago headquarters and its Washington, D.C.-based insurance unit, and that a split is "imminent," according to a report Wednesday by PropertyCasualty360.com, an insurance underwriting website.

Even before the billboard campaign, Forecast the Facts was pressuring Heartland donors. 

"General Motors was the first to respond ... ending its 20-year relationship with Heartland on March 28," said Johnson. GM spokesman Greg Martin later confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that the company "decided to discontinue" its ties to Heartland. "GM's operating its business as if climate change is real," he added.

Pepsi last month stated it had been a Heartland member but had only engaged on taxation issues, not climate science.

Heartland, for its part, remains strong with 1,800 donors, including foundations and corporations, spokesman Jim Lakely told msnbc.com.

The billboard campaign ended "after 24 hours because it offended many of Heartland’s friends and supporters," he said. "If we had it to do over, we wouldn’t, and that billboard will not be appearing again."

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James Poulson / Daily Sitka Sentinel via AP

Beachcomber Emmitt Andersen, 12, holds up a plastic card set adrift by NOAA in the 1970s that he found in Sitka, Alaska.

A plastic card dropped into the ocean 33 years ago has been found on the coast of Alaska, after a potential 88,000-mile journey.

The drift card was one of thousands put into the Bering Sea by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration staff in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as part of a project to find out where oil would go if there was a spill.

About the size of a postcard, it offered a reward of $1 for its return in three languages: English, Japanese and Russian.

It was found on a beach at Sealion Cove, near Sitka, Alaska, last month by 12-year-old middle school student and keen beachcomber Emmitt Anderson. "We never know what we're going to find ... I just like to find stuff. When I don't find stuff, I'm not very happy," Anderson told the Daily Sitka Sentinel newspaper.

'Amazingly good condition'
His father Steve contacted NOAA and was put in touch with oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who tracks flotsam as it rides the world's currents.

Ebbesmeyer told msnbc.com that Anderson's drift card had likely been caught in the Aleut gyre, circulating ocean currents that take three years to make an 8,000-mile orbit.

"The question is how many times did it go around? I think it's likely it went around once, it could have gone round 11 times. It's possible it went 88,000 miles. It could have short-circuited the gyre … we'll never quite know," he said.

Courtesy Curt Ebbesmeyer

This plastic card may have traveled 88,000 mile, according to oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer.

"Everything in the ocean, particularly plastic, can travel great, great distances," he added.

Ebbesmeyer said the drift card was in "amazingly good condition."

"After 33 years in the ocean, [it] is in quite readable condition," he said. "Plastic doesn't degrade very fast."

Much of the plastic that finds its way into the sea will travel the world for years to come.

"Half of all plastic cannot sink because of its specific gravity. It's as if it was in prison in Flatland [a fictional two-dimensional world]," Ebbesmeyer said.

Study: Plastic in 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' increases 100-fold

While Anderson's drift card did not make landing very far from where it was released, others have ended up in Europe.

"Across the North Pole, down past Greenland, down to almost New York City, over to the vicinity of London, then turn south to France. That's probably the longest certifiable drift," Ebbesmeyer said.

Even if the Sitka drift card traveled 88,000 miles that may not be the longest ever journey by a piece of plastic in the sea.

An albatross found on Midway Island in the Pacific in 2004 was found to have 512 pieces of plastic in its stomach.

One piece was discovered to have come from a downed aircraft from World War II. It was likely caught in the 12,000-mile turtle gyre, which takes about six years to make its full circle.

Ebbesmeyer said that if that piece of plastic made 10 orbits in 60 years, that would mean it traveled 120,000 miles, equivalent to about five times round the Earth.

Plastic ducks, frogs
He also tracks some 28,800 plastic bath toys called Floatees – turtles, ducks, beavers and frogs – that were lost overboard from a container ship in the mid-Pacific in 1992. 

Hundreds drifted some 2,200 miles and beached -- like Emmett Anderson's drift card -- near Sitka, Alaska.

To date, a duck was seen in Maine in July 2003, while a green plastic frog was spotted in Scotland in August 2003.

Ebbesmeyer, who usually gets one or two reports a year about the floating toys, said some of them may be approaching an epic achievement: Circumnavigating the globe.

"It's possible they have gone something like in the order of round the world," he said.

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North Coast Marine Mammal Center

Crews were able to untangle a gray whale that had gotten caught in crab pots in Humboldt Bay in California.

A second gray whale entangled in fishing gear along the California coast has been freed.

The latest whale was spotted Tuesday afternoon in Humboldt Bay — south of Eureka, Calif. — with crab pots hanging from its tail fluke.

The U.S. Coast Guard, along with members from Humboldt State University Marine Mammal Stranding Network and the North Coast Marine Mammal Center, spent hours chasing down the animal so they could untangle it.

They were successful in their joint effort Wednesday morning. The rescuers said the young small whale was actually tangled with a buoy and a fishing line as well as the crab pots.

The rescuers said they think the whale only suffered minor injuries. The teams are staying out in the water to make sure it safely gets back into the wild. 

Last month, a 40-ton gray whale was found tangled in fishing line attached to three buoys off the coast of Orange County.

A rescue attempt in Southern California was unsuccessful, until the whale was spotted by a fisherman more than a week later up near Bodega Bay. 

A crab fisherman and his crew used 12-foot bamboo poles with hooks to remove the lines. 

They had no idea of the the whale's plight and only learned that they had rescued an infamous creature after returning to dock and someone asked him about an extra buoy on the boat.

This story originally appeared on NBCBayArea.com. 

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Jason Miczek / Reuters

Demonstrators march on the Bank of America headquarters in in Charlotte, N.C. during a protest timed to coincide with the company's annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday.

Hundreds of protesters converged on the Bank of America shareholder meeting in Charlotte, N.C. on Wednesday, dozens of them entering the proceedings to criticize the behemoth financial institution’s policies on mortgages, worker rights, tax avoidance, banking fees, foreclosures and energy financing.

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Organizers said there were so many reasons to dislike the bank that it was relatively easy to pull together a large group, some from as far away as Portland, San Francisco and New York.

"It was a convergence," said Jen Soriano, a member of UNITY Alliance, a group under the umbrella protest organizer called 99 Percent Power.

"Whether it is workers who have been laid off, homeowners and also tenants who have been evicted from foreclosed homes … or people who live in coal country in the Appalachia whose home in a broader sense are being destroyed by mountain top removal mining …," Soriano said. "Bank of America is pretty much the worst of the worst in terms of banks."

About 750 people marched from three directions to the Bank of American corporate headquarters, and six people had been arrested by 3 p.m. ET, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Some of the protesters — organizers estimated more than 100, but there was no way to confirm that — had purchased one share of Bank of America stock so they could enter the meeting and make their complaints directly before the bank’s CEO Brian Moynihan.

Thirty 99 Percent Power activists spoke during the 90 minute meeting, according to the group.

Unlike similar proceedings at a Wells Fargo shareholders meeting a few weeks earlier, the protesting shareholders were not forced to leave, but instead allowed to voice their objections to the bank’s policy — many related to its financing of coal related projects.

The Bank of America is the top financier of the U.S. coal industry "from cradle to grave," according to Kerul Dyer, communications manager for the San Francisco-based Rainforest Action Network. According to the group, in the past two years, Bank of America has poured $6.7 billion into funding companies engaged in a range of coal-related activities, including mountain-top removal to access coal in the Appalachian Mountains, energy generation and building coal export terminals.

"As the leading financier of coal, Bank of America funds birth defects, disease and death when it lends money to coal companies,” Bob Kincaid, president of the Appalachian Health Community Emergency. "I intend to see that Bank of America and its shareholders confront these brutal realities and demand that the bank stop financing this assault on our communities."

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A Bank of America spokesperson said the bank finances a broad range of energy projects, including a renewable energy initiative launched in 2007, through which it has invested $17.9 billion, including money spent on two of the world’s largest solar power projects.

"In 2011 alone we invested $3.65 billion in renewable energy, energy efficiency and other forms of low-carbon energy," said Brittany Shehan, a spokesperson on the company's environmental policies. "Environmental groups would have it be a bank issue; it’s really a national issue."

Coal — which has adverse environmental impacts but is relatively inexpensive — is used to generate about half of the electricity consumed in the United States, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

"Any way you slice the numbers there are so many other companies that have a stake in this value chain. Coal is a part of our economy and a big part of our energy supply," Shehan said. She did not confirm the coal-investment number provided by environmental critics.

The environmental groups also protested Bank of America’s funding of companies that extract coal by mountain-top removal using explosives.

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Shehan said that the bank in 2008 adopted a new policy on mountain-top removal. But the policy to "phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal" does not rule out all finance of the companies engaged in the practice.

The bank was also under attack over its lending and foreclosure practices, as it has been since the start of the mortgage crisis. The protesters from 99 Percent Power called on the bank to halt foreclosures and offer principal reduction for homeowners whose properties are underwater.

Bank of America is the second largest U.S. bank holding company as measured by assets.

The bank on Tuesday announced that it had sent letters to more than 200,000 customers "who may be eligible for forgiveness of a portion of the principal balance on their mortgage" under the terms of a recent settlement among five major banks, 49 state attorneys general and the federal government.

In a news release, it said that customers who qualify for the program will save an estimated 30 percent on their mortgage payments.

Event organizers said they would have 1,000 protesters, but Estes said Wednesday's crowd in Charlotte was closer to 750, the Charlotte Observerreported, citing Charlotte-Mecklenberg police Maj. Jeff Estes.

"There's been no property damage, and nobody was injured," Estes told the Observer. "We're pleased with the outcome."

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Anadarko Petroleum Corp.

This drill rig is part of an existing field in southern Utah that Anadarko will expand on under a deal with the Obama administration and environmental groups.

Up to 3,675 new natural gas wells on federal land in Utah were approved Tuesday by the Obama administration in a deal that even has the backing of key environmental groups.

"This agreement is a great example of how collaboration can allow us to uphold America’s conservation values, while bringing growth to Utah’s economy and further reducing our dependence on foreign oil by developing our resources here at home," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement.

Under the deal struck with the U.S. and environmental groups led by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), Anadarko Petroleum will avoid drilling in 15,000 acres around the White River and instead add the new wells to an existing field in southern Utah.

The Utah conservation group called the deal "goundbreaking and exciting."

"We discussed the conservation community’s concerns about the company’s project — primarily impacts to the White River proposed wilderness area and river-related recreation," SUWA attorney Steve Bloch told msnbc.com in explaining how the deal came together. "We also listened to the company’s concerns about regulatory certainty and their hope for a path forward to develop this project without appeals and litigation."

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), which worked with SUWA and studies energy issues across the country, agreed the deal shows promise.

"We do think this is a model for collaboration" that avoids litigation and conflict, NRDC lands advocate Bobby McEnaney told msnbc.com. "There are right places to drill, and wrong places to drill."

The deal also has the support of The Wilderness Society and the Sierra Club.

Republicans have attacked Obama for not opening more public lands to drilling, especially for natural gas.

“Utahns have gotten used to the Obama administration closing off federal lands to domestic energy production, so this announcement is a long time coming," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement. "The fact is that much more has to be done to open up more of our state’s land to development."

Salazar on Tuesday countered that the focus is on "expanding safe and responsible production of natural gas as part of an all-of-the-above energy strategy that’s cleaner, cheaper, and full of new jobs."

McEnaney credited Anadarko for showing "a lot of leadership" and taking a "much more proactive stance" than others in the industry.

Ray Bloxham / Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

Part of the White River that runs through southern Utah.

Anadarko did not immediately respond to msnbc.com's request for comment, but Reuters quoted spokesman John Christiansen as calling it a "new model for prudent development."

And Brad Holly, Anadarko's general manager for the project, told the Associated Press that "at the end of the day, we all want the same thing — clean air, clean water and cheaper fuel."

Environmental activists did have some criticism for the Interior Department, noting that it has shown support for the Gasco natural gas project that would see 200 wells in separate proposed wilderness area.

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