Environmental Action
March 26, 2008
Well Done Sen. Boxer, Well Done
Posted by Dan Stafford at 10:55 AM
Can you digg it?
It's been announced that Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA) is calling Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne before her Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in early April.
As we've talked about a bunch here at the EA blog, the Fish and Wildlife Service has been dragging their feet - for years now - on protecting the polar bear with the Endangered Species Act.
The most recent head-in-the-sand move was on January 9th, when FWS said they wouldn't meet the deadline and asked for 30 more days to make the determination. On January 30, FWS Director Dale Hall accepted responsibility for not meeting the deadline, and admitted the department was in violation of the Act.
January 9th went by 77 days ago, and still no word from FWS on the proposed listing. Thankfully, Sen. Boxer is mad as hell, and appears to be not taking it anymore.
In a letter to Kempthorne, Boxer said, "As Secretary of Interior, you are charged with following and carrying-out the law and making decisions based upon science...it is now nearly three months since your department was required by law to make a final decision regarding listing the polar bear. At the same time, I question why your Department did not delay approval of a major oil and gas lease sale in the Chukchi Sea, where about 20 percent of the world's polar bears live."
I'm just glad we're not the only ones who noticed that coincidence! We'll keep you posted on the hearing, and what comes out of it. Of course, given the recent wringing Sen. Boxer gave EPA Administrator Johnson, we can expect quite a show.
December 04, 2007
Coke Half Heartedly Embraces Polar Bear Protection
Posted by Dan Stafford at 11:18 AM
Can you digg it?
Some of you will remember last year when we asked Coke to help out with protecting the polar bear from the effects of global warming.
Our main request was that Coke include information on their cans about the plight of the polar bears and that the Fish & Wildlife Service is considering protection for the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act.
Coke's response at the time was basically, thanks but no thanks.
But, they've now partnered with one of the most watered-down, corporate friendly environmental groups, The World Wildlife Fund, to half heartedly protect the polar bear.
Coke has set up an 'action center' which includes such extreme types of action as planting trees and unplugging your MP3 player.
Kidding aside, it's terribly saddening that one of the world's largest companies is merely paying lip service to the cause of endangered species protection. We need real change to combat global warming, the #1 threat to the polar bear. We need caps on carbon emissions. We need to double our mileage standard for our vehicles, and many other changes that will only come about through our government.
Yet Coke and the WWF have teamed up to suggest very small lifestyle changes, which in the end will have very little impact on our emissions. Don't get me wrong, if EVERY house in America switched to CEF bulbs, we'd see a dramatic decrease in emissions. But that's just not going to happen.
Add the this the hypocrisy that Coke has been one of the top opponents to the Bottle Bill, landmark recycling legislation wherein the producers of the bottles are responsible for the recycling of them, while touting their recycling efforts, and this new move is amazingly underwhelming.
Maybe Coke isn't it.
July 25, 2007
Bill Richardson Bolsters Green Cred
Posted by Glenn Hurowitz at 11:18 AM
Can you digg it?
Bill Richardson courageously acted this week to save the highly endangered wolves of New Mexico by calling for suspension of a brutal Bush administration policy that puts taxpayer dollars toward hunting down endangered species like the wolf.
Richardson was spurred to act when a federal wildlife agent, acting under the auspices of the Bush administration policy, on July 5 shot and killed a female wolf pack leader in New Mexico (one of only about 55 mature wolves still alive in the wild in New Mexico).
According to the Center for Biological Diversity, the Bush administration sharpshooter pointed his gun at a New Mexico state biologist who objected to his shooting the wolf before he slaughtered the animal.
Richardson is already being attacked for his decision, most bizarrely by some anti-environment extremists venting on the John Edwards blog (though not, it seems, official members of the campaign staff).
It's bizarre because Edwards and Richardson each have very pro-environment platforms, though apparently these posters on the Edwards web site don't share their candidate's concern for the planet and its creatures.
Instead, they're recycling the arguments of welfare ranchers who have no shame about whining to the government any time a wolf eats a sheep or cow and demanding that our taxpayer dollars go to pay the salary of endangered species hunters - even when the wolf being targeted for destruction is a mother with pups or an alpha wolf on whom the rest of the pack depends.
Their whining has historically got them results: between 1915 and 1972, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service systematically poisoned, trapped, and shot the wolves of the American Southwest and Mexico until only five Mexican grey wolves remained in the wild. Fortunately, these wolves were captured between 1977 and 1980 in Mexico and entered into a captive breeding program.
Here's what happened next, courtesy of the Center for Biological Diversity:
Reintroduction of their offspring began in 1998, and the population was expected to reach 102 animals in 18 breeding pairs by the end of 2006 -- as a first step in recovery.
Instead, the Fish and Wildlife Service set up a predator-control regimen remarkably similar to their old extermination program. Today there are only around 55 mature Mexican wolves in the wild and five or fewer breeding pairs.
That wildlife agent who shot the ma wolf wasn't the first time the Bush administration has brought shame on the government by transforming its officers into rogue wildlife exterminators. In another incident, a Bush exterminator shot a wolf for eating a calf who was illegally occupying National Forest land.
To me, there should be a simple policy: if you're a farmer or rancher, you've got to learn to live with your surroundings. That means doing your job and living your life in a way that's not harmful to the land, the water, or the animals of the area. At the very least, as Governor Richardson is recognizing, the government shouldn't help private farmers and ranchers kill off the wildlife that is our common natural legacy (not anywhere, but especially not on public land!)
This isn't the first time Richardson has been a green champion. His global warming plan is perhaps the most ambitious of any of the candidates; when President Bush was trying to let oil and mining companies loose on Valle Vidal (The Valley of Life) in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, Richardson not only opposed it but so effectively helped nationalize the campaign (along with other New Mexicans) to protect it that in 2006, that the same President Bush who just a few years earlier had been pressing to erect oil and gas drills across the area now signed legislation to protect it.
And he's been the single most outspoken governor at the national level calling for protection of America's remaining pristine forests; when I worked in the environmental movement, he was always the first one we would call to join us on a conference call for the forests or mobilize his fellow governors.
Email Governor Richardson to thank him - and encourage more heroic acts like this one by clicking onthis action alert set up by the Center for Biological Diversity.
Glenn Hurowitz is the author of the forthcoming book Fear and Courage in the Democratic Party.
May 10, 2007
Two Species Went Extinct Under Bush
Posted by Glenn Hurowitz at 05:02 AM
Can you digg it?
Two species have gone extinct while waiting for protection under the Endangered Species Act from the Bush administration. The two are the Hawaiian haha plant and the summer run of the Lake Sammamish Kokonee salmon (pictured below):
Both went extinct because the Bush administration refused to act even after being urged to by scientists and citizens worried about their fates.
Bush has protected fewer species (57) under the Endangered Species Act than any other administration in history (Clinton protected 512 and the first Bush administration 234). Indeed, May 9 marks one year since they've protected any endangered species, the first time that's happened since the Interior Department was run by anti-environment extremist James Watt.
Details from the Center for Biological Diversity:
Bush Administration Sets All-time Record for Denying Protection to
Endangered Species: Zero New Listings in Past Year
Report Documents Rampant Executive Interference in Protection of Rare Wildlife
WASHINGTON-- Today marks exactly one year since the U.S. Department of the Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service last protected any new U.S. species under the Endangered Species Act. Fittingly, on this same day, the House Natural Resources Committee is holding important oversight hearings on implementation of the Endangered Species Act by a recalcitrant Bush administration. The last time the agency went an entire year without protecting a single species was in 1981, when the infamous James Watt was Secretary of Interior. There are currently 279 highly imperiled species that are designated as candidates for listing as threatened or endangered and that face potential extinction.
"The Bush administration has closed the doors on endangered species," said Noah Greenwald, conservation biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity. "With the pressing threats of rapid habitat destruction and global climate change, it's an outrage that not a single new species has been protected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for an entire year."
The last species protected by the administration were 12 Hawaiian picture-wing flies listed in a single rule on May 9, 2006. Overall, according to a report released today by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Bush administration has listed fewer species under the Endangered Species Act than any other administration since the law was enacted in 1973, to date only listing 57 species compared to 512 under the Clinton administration and 234 under the first Bush administration.
"The Bush administration has killed the program for protecting new species as endangered," says Greenwald, "and in the process has contributed to the extinction of at least two species. This government's war on science is also a war against wildlife."
In October of last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that the Hawaiian plant Haha (Cyanea eleeleensis) is likely extinct and thus is being considered for removal from the candidate list. The summer run of Lake Sammamish Kokonee salmon in Washington state are also believed extinct. In 2001, a group of concerned citizens petitioned to have the population protected as endangered, but despite pleas from county officials and the dire status of the fish, the Bush administration never took action. Many more species are at increased risk of extinction because of the Bush administration's lack of action.
The Center's report documents administration interference in two other key aspects of the Endangered Species Act: designation of critical habitat and development of species recovery plans. According to the report, interference by Bush political appointees, such as discredited former Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald, has led to the reduction of as much as 90 percent of all critical habitats designated under the administration and to widespread tampering with the scientific conclusions of recovery plans for the Apache trout, Northern spotted owl and West Virginia flying squirrel, among others.
"The Bush administration is systematically undermining the recovery of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates and plants," said William Snape, senior counsel with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Not only is it refusing to list species in need of protection, it is also ignoring or undercutting recovery plans at the request of its political supporters in industry."
Not coincidentally, these actions are consistent with recently leaked draft regulations that would allow the Departments of Interior and Commerce to gut every significant protection contained in the statute. Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall, Senate committee chairs Barbara Boxer and Joe Lieberman, and Republicans such as Rep. Wayne Gilchrest and Rep. Jim Saxton have all publicly complained about these problematic draft regulations.
In the Apache trout case, three scientists on the recovery team dissented from the clandestine changes made by Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall that lowered population targets and removed genetic-diversity requirements. The fish experts stated they "do not believe the Plan's revised recovery strategies and objectives are sufficient to allow the species to be delisted" and that the changes will result in "further genetic degradation and possible extinction." In another recent example concerning the Northern spotted owl, a "Washington, DC review team" that included Julie MacDonald has sought to undermine the well-established system of old-growth forest reserves so as to give favorable access to the timber industry. In the case of the West Virginia northern flying squirrel, the administration has again ignored the best available science on habitat degradation, global warming and recovery targets by prematurely moving to delist the species.
"One shudders to think of the antics this administration will attempt in its waning days of power," concluded Snape. "Now is the time for Congress to step in and prevent eleventh-hour political abuses and special favors that have the potential to destroy species, their habitats, and the opportunity for recovery."
A copy of the Center's report can be found at:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/PROGRAMS/esa/pdfs/PoliticizingExtinction.pdf
The Center for Biological Diversity is a nonprofit conservation organization with 35,000 members dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
June 21, 2006
We Beat Our Goal!
Posted by Dan Stafford at 11:38 AM
Can you digg it?
How exciting to wake up and discover that in less than five days we beat our goal of getting 2000 signatures to the Fish & Wildlife service? As of this writing in fact, we're up to 2,266.
In case you don't know, last Friday, we kicked off an effort to get the Polar Bear listed as a threatened species under the endangered species act. There are just over 20,000 of these great bears left in the world, and thanks to global warming, they're having to swim further and further for food, leading to many more drownings. Polar Bears International has some great info for those of you who'd like more about these bears.
If you haven't signed the petition yet, click here to do so. If you have signed, and want to ask a friend to sign as well, click here. If you've signed AND told your friends already, then thank you, and stay tuned for updates on this action.
PS - In the five minutes it took to write this, three more folks signed, so we're up to 2269. Nice work everybody!
March 20, 2006
Public to Inhofe: hands off the Endangered Species Act
Posted by Melissa Waage at 02:45 PM
Can you digg it?
Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) continues to demand a bill to overhaul the Endangered Species Act in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. But he may meet more resistance than he's bargaining for as he pushes for a bill that would be a companion to the ESA rollbacks passed in the House of Representatives last year. There have been some stirrings in the public debate in the last couple of weeks...
o Pro-Endangered-Species-Act editorials have been published in the Providence Journal (3/8), Hartford Courant (3/19), and Boston Globe (3/13), to name a few. This round of editorials caps a year in which more than 100 newspapers across the U.S. have editorialized in favor of a strong ESA.
o Last week 5,700 American biologists delivered a letter to Congress supporting the protections of the current, strong Endangered Species Act. You can read more about the scientists' letter at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
o Through the Aveda Corporation's Earth Month Petition and the Endangered Species Act Legacy Pledge, almost a quarter of a million people have spoken out in support of a strong Endangered Species Act. You can see the pledge and add your signature at the Endangered Species Coalition.
February 28, 2006
New report measures success of Endangered Species Act
Posted by Melissa Waage at 05:13 PM
Can you digg it?
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding. Never knew exactly what that meant, but this I do know: the proof that the Endangered Species Act works is in the improving status of the species under its protection.
Today my organization, the Center for Biological Diversity, released a new report analyzing decades of information about endangered species recovery in the Northeastern U.S. We discovered that 93% of Northeastern endangered species have improved or remained stable since being listed as endangered. That's an impressive record of success, thanks to the hard work of people and organizations throughout the region and the effective protection of the Endangered Species Act.
Why does this matter? Political opponents of the ESA often claim that the law is ineffective and must be "updated" and "modernized." This is a disingenuous argument. We already knew that the ESA has been overwhelmingly successful at its first core purpose, preventing extinction. Now, with this report, we have a better idea at how well the ESA is performing at its second core purpose, putting endangered species on the road to a full recovery. The numbers unequivocally speak for themselves. You can download the full report, first in a series of regional reports, at www.esasuccess.org.
February 08, 2006
The word of the day is "Pombo-ized"
Posted by Melissa Waage at 09:28 PM
Can you digg it?
That's the word that Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) coined to describe what could happen to the Endangered Species Act if some Senators have their way with it. "The bottom line is there is a new word in the English language, and that word is 'Pombo-ized'," Chafee said recently. "Any discussion of ESA has this word, because anything we do here will be reconciled with the House."
Here's what he was talking about: last September the House of Representatives narrowly passed an outrageous bill from Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) that would gut the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This was a triumph for Mr. Pombo, a special interest ally who's made it his mission to weaken the Act, and a defeat for wildlife on the brink of extinction. The current ESA has been enormously successful, halting the extinction of 99% of all the species ever listed as endangered.
Now Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK)--yeah, the "global warming is a hoax" guy--is looking to pass a bill to "update" the Endangered Species Act through the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which he chairs. Could an Inhofe-headed committee actually pass a good bill? Well, it's within the realm of possibility.
But here's the rub: it's likely that any ESA bill that passes the Senate would end up in conference with the Pombo bill. That is, House and Senate members would have to get together and reconcile the two bills. Behind closed doors, Pombo and Inhofe could make sure the worst provisions of the Pombo bill were adopted in their final product. Even a moderate bill could become, in the words of Senator Chafee, "Pombo-ized."
What's next for the Endangered Species Act? Hopefully Sen. Inhofe's committee will continue to work carefully as it examines possible changes to one of America's oldest and most successful environmental laws.
January 10, 2006
Pombo Implicated in Another Scandal
Posted by at 10:02 AM
Can you digg it?
The first rate foe of the environment--Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) seems to be implicated in another scandal brewing on Capitol Hill.
Not related to the well publicized Jumpin' Jack Abramoff scandal, this involves Rep. Pombo's effort to squelch a federal investigation into the activities of a wealthy Texas businessman who provided Pombo with $1,000 for his 1996 reelection campaign. While the scandal is not directly related to the environment, any bad news for Pombo is sure to be good news for the environment. For those of you who aren't familiar with Richard Pombo, who represents California's 11th district (an area south of Sacramento and east of San Francisco), he is the Chairman of the House Resources Committee and on an avowed mission to gut the Endangered Species Act. His most recent brainchild was a proposal to sell off 15 National Parks to developers. Pombo eventually retracted the proposal saying that he was only doing it to get attention. If this scandal pans out, I'm sure he'll get plenty of attention.
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