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Ruins at Chaco Canyon. pedrik / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is pushing ahead with the sale of oil and gas leases on land outside of Chaco Culture National Historical Park and other sites revered by Native American tribes, The Associated Press reported.
The latest listing—which quietly appeared on the BLM website not long after the government reopened after the shutdown—comes about a year after then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke postponed a lease sale in the Greater Chaco Region in response to intense public pressure over cultural and environmental concerns.
<p><span></span>BLM will open a protest period for comments from Feb. 11 through Feb. 20 for a sale scheduled for March 28, according to the agency's notice. More than 50 parcels in New Mexico and Oklahoma will be on the auction block.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xOTEzNjQ5Ny9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNjEzODE0OX0.66WMBcj96Y-xO_NbnlmYG7Atz_hweX2vPLtua3XaVBA/img.png?width=980" id="248a8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="185ceb463e862fa1db4048ae2cf5864b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="add caption...">Chaco Culture National Historical Park, located in northwestern New Mexico, is shaded in light purple. </small><small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="add photo credit...">BLM New Mexico Oil and Gas Lease Sale Parcels</small></p><p>During the record-long government impasse, Democrats, environmentalists and others <a href="https://wildearthguardians.org/press-releases/during-shutdown-trump-urged-to-halt-fracking-permits-2-million-acre-lease-sale/" target="_blank">fiercely criticized</a> the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump" target="_self">Trump</a> administration for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/government-shutdown-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-drilling-2625539238.html">moving ahead</a> with drilling permits on <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" target="_self">public lands</a> while most other agencies were shut. <br></p><p>"It's a mistake that while critical public services were shuttered for 35 days during the government shutdown, BLM still moved forward with this opaque process," Sen. Tom Udall, Democrat of New Mexico, told the AP about the latest lease. <br></p><p>The AP noted that it is possible for BLM to withdraw the latest land sales depending on the outcome of the protest period.</p><p><span></span><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/will-fracking-be-the-demise-of-chaco-canyon-national-historical-park-1882094991.html" target="_self">For years</a>, environmental groups, tribes and other opponents have raised flags about <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking" target="_self">fracking</a> encroaching on and threatening Chaco Canyon, a major center of ancient Pueblo culture and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. </p><p>As it happens, the park sits in the central San Juan Basin in northwestern New Mexico that's booming with shale gas extraction. <a href="https://www.tomudall.senate.gov/news/press-releases/udall-addresses-new-mexico-legislature" target="_blank">Roughly 90 percent</a> of the Great Chaco Region is already leased for oil and gas development, but more fossil fuels lie beneath those lands. The New Mexico BLM <a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/editorials/chaco-canyon-needs-protection/article_b8103c9f-2506-5f2a-89f1-0871fcaa5c9b.html" target="_blank">wants to sell parcels</a> that are close or just along the park's 10-mile, no drilling buffer zone.</p><p>Ironically—as Rebecca Sobel, senior climate and energy campaigner for <a href="https://wildearthguardians.org/" target="_blank">WildEarth Guardians</a>, pointed out to EcoWatch—newly elected Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, signed an executive order just this week that committed the state to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a>. </p><p>How did the New Mexico BLM respond to that order? "By announcing its intent to auction off more public land in the state to industrialized fracking," Sobel lamented. </p><p>"Oil and gas has already devastated our state's air quality, water quality and flow, and public health," she added. "It's clear the Trump administration will stop at nothing to sacrifice public interest for private profits."</p><p><span></span>Sobel noted that a "record-breaking 10,000 protest comments" were submitted in response to a December 2018 oil and gas lease sale in the state, and yet the BLM "ignored the public and wasted no time in proposing even more public land for fracking."<br></p><p>"We're looking to New Mexico's newly elected state and federal representatives to finally address fracking impacts, and with this week's Executive Order on Climate and a slew of proposed statewide bills aimed at enforcement and accountability around oil and gas, we hope New Mexico can tun the tide and reign in this dangerous industry, protecting our people and sacred landscapes," she concluded.</p>
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5 Key Environmental Ballot Measures to Track at Your Election Watch Party Tonight
06 November 2018
Politics
Erik (HASH) Hersman / Flickr / CC BY 2.0
Today is election day in the U.S., which means that if you are a U.S. voter whose state doesn't have early voting, today is the day to head to the polls and make your voice heard.
<p>A lot of the races in this year's midterm election have big consequences for the environment. The <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/home" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> has even assembled a list of 10 "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/sierra-club-fossil-fools-elections-2608134355.html" target="_self">Fossil Fools</a>" to boot from office because they consistently prioritize <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" target="_blank">fossil fuel</a> interests over the environment and public health. </p><p>But environmental voting isn't just about picking certain candidates over others. A number of states are also considering important ballot measures that give voters a direct say on environmental issues, from protecting <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered species</a> to promoting <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy/" target="_self">renewable energy</a>. Here are five to keep track of as you watch the results come in tonight. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>1. Initiative 1631, Washington State</strong></p><p>If Washington voters approve <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Washington_Initiative_1631,_Carbon_Emissions_Fee_Measure_(2018)" target="_blank">I-1631</a> today, they would make their state the first in the nation to impose a fee on carbon emissions, as <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/washington-carbon-tax-big-oil-2616808725.html" target="_self">EcoWatch has pointed out previously</a>. The initiative would charge $15 per metric ton of carbon emissions beginning in 2020 and raise the fee by $2 every year until the state meets its 2035 emissions goals. The funds would be directed towards clean energy and transit, and cleaning up polluted communities. </p><p>The fossil fuel industry has outspent the "Yes" campaign two-to-one, but initiative has some very prominent supporters.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1058728756393713665" id="twitter-embed-1058728756393713665" type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1058728756393713665&created_ts=1541255580.0&screen_name=BillGates&text=Climate+change+may+be+the+toughest+problem+humanity+has+ever+faced+%E2%80%94+but+it%27s+solvable.+Washington+has+a+unique+opp%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F20OkwrU9dL&id=1058728756393713665&name=Bill+Gates" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="2L1XAE1576663025"></iframe>
</p><p><strong>2. Proposition 112, Colorado</strong><br></p><p>In an attempt to limit risks from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/" target="_self">fracking</a>, <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Colorado_Proposition_112,_Minimum_Distance_Requirements_for_New_Oil,_Gas,_and_Fracking_Projects_Initiative_(2018)" target="_blank">Proposition 112</a> would ban oil and gas development within 2,500 feet of homes, buildings, water sources or other sensitive areas. If it succeeds, it could actually be a major blow to Colorado's growing shale industry, as <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/11/05/business/colorado-oil-proposition-112/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> explained:</p><blockquote>If approved, the ballot question would eliminate future drilling locations in a chunk of the surging Denver-Julesburg, or DJ, basin in Colorado, one of the nation's largest oil-producing states. Much of the Colorado land held by oil companies like Anadarko Petroleum (<a href="https://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=APC" target="_blank">APC</a>) and Noble Energy (<a href="https://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=NBL" target="_blank">NBL</a>) would suddenly be off limits to new drilling.</blockquote><p>Not surprisingly, the oil and gas industry is also spending hard to stop this measure, to the tune of more than $30 million. But supporters remain defiant.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
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</p><p><strong>3. Proposition 127, Arizona</strong><br></p><p><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Arizona_Proposition_127,_Renewable_Energy_Standards_Initiative_(2018)" target="_blank">Proposition 127</a> would require Arizona utilities to get 50 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2030. Currently, as <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/11/states-will-vote-on-these-energy-and-environment-issues-in-midterm-elections/" target="_blank">Ars Technica pointed out</a>, the state plans to get 15 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025, so the proposition would majorly scale up the state's renewable energy commitment. </p><p>Both opponents and supporters of the measure have spent a lot to win the day, making it the most expensive ballot measure in Arizona history. </p><p>The <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/?_ga=2.123413192.216361842.1541507066-269590339.1541507066#.W-GIjGj7Trc" target="_blank">Union of Concerned Scientists</a> <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/jeff-deyette/arizona-vote-yes-on-prop-127?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=tw" target="_blank">came out strongly in support</a> of the measure, arguing that it would save utility customers money, improve public health by reducing air pollution, create jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, among other benefits. </p><p><em>The Good Place</em>'s Ted Danson also lent his support.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
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</p><p><strong>4. Amendment 9, Florida</strong><br></p><p>Florida's <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Florida_Amendment_9,_Ban_Offshore_Oil_and_Gas_Drilling_and_Ban_Vaping_in_Enclosed_Indoor_Workplaces_Amendment_(2018)" target="_blank">Amendment 9</a> tries to kill two birds with one stone. It would both ban <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling" target="_self">offshore oil drilling</a> on land beneath state waters and ban vaping in indoor spaces. </p><p>This odd combination occurred because Florida's Constitution Revision Commission, which meets every 20 years to suggest amendments to the state's constitution, has the right to bundle changes on the ballot. They argued that combining the two made sense because they were both environmental issues and because it would save space on the ballot, <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/11/5/18055844/amendment-9-florida-vaping-offshore-drilling" target="_blank">Vox explained</a>. </p><p>But it might backfire. Several local newspapers expressed concerns about forcing voters to say yes or no to two different things at once in their endorsements. Others see it as a win-win.</p><p>"The issues together send a message of clean air, clean water," Constitution Revision Commission member Lisa Carlton, who wrote the pre-bundled vaping measure, told <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/10/this-single-ballot-measure-could-ban-both-fossil-fuels-and-vaping/" target="_blank">Grist</a>. "I cannot think of anything more important than protecting our near shores in Florida."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
</p><p><strong>5. Ballot Measure 1, Alaska</strong><br></p><p><a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_Ballot_Measure_1,_Salmon_Habitat_Protections_and_Permits_Initiative_(2018)" target="_blank">Ballot Measure 1</a> would impose new requirements and a new permitting process for any developments that would impact bodies of water that <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" target="_self">salmon</a> and other fish call home. It's a response to the controversial <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-suspends-pebble-mine-2529694490.html" target="_self">Pebble Gold Mine</a>, a project that was so threatening to the local watershed that even <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Trump'</a>s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put its efforts to approve it on hold. </p><p>Oil and gas interests, as well as 12 of Alaska's Native Regional Corporations, say that existing protections for salmon are sufficient and the measure would hurt the economy, Ars Technica reported. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">Wildlife</a> groups like the <a href="https://alaskaconservation.org/" target="_blank">Alaska Conservation Foundation</a> are supporting it.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Taiwanese humpback dolphins. Center for Biological Diversity
The National Marine Fisheries Service protected rare Taiwanese humpback dolphins on Tuesday, listing the species as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act. The decision comes in response to a March 2016 petition from the Animal Welfare Institute, Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians seeking U.S. protections to help prevent the extinction of a population that now numbers fewer than 100 individuals.
<p>"These rare dolphins deserve every possible chance to escape extinction, and we are thrilled that the National Marine Fisheries Service has stepped up and given them the protections of the Endangered Species Act," said Taylor Jones, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species">endangered species</a> advocate for WildEarth Guardians. "A myriad of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dolphins">dolphin</a> species are at risk due to human activities, and we owe these intelligent creatures the best protections we can give them." </p><p>Taiwanese humpback dolphins are threatened by <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/gillnets">gillnet</a> fishing, pollution, boat traffic and development along Taiwan's densely populated west coast, including the proposed construction of large wind farms. An endangered listing will enable the U.S. to provide technical expertise and resources to support Taiwan in conserving the rare dolphin.</p><p>"This is good news that will help these rare dolphins avoid extinction. International cooperation is the key to saving certain critically endangered species," said Abel Valdivia, an ocean scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Now that U.S. officials have made the right call on this listing, they should immediately start working with Taiwan on a recovery plan. The Endangered Species Act is a powerful tool that can still save the Taiwanese humpback dolphin and other small cetaceans struggling to survive." </p><p>The Taiwanese humpback dolphin, also known as the Taiwanese white dolphin, is a biologically and culturally important subspecies of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin. In 2014 the National Marine Fisheries Service denied a previous petition to protect the Taiwanese humpback dolphin, concluding that the population was not distinct from the Chinese white dolphin, which swims in deeper waters closer to China's coastline. New taxonomy studies, however, conclude that the Taiwanese humpback dolphin is a distinct subspecies with unique characteristics, whose numbers continue to decline to alarmingly low levels. </p><p>"This is a major victory for the Taiwanese dolphin," said Tara Zuardo, Animal Welfare Institute senior wildlife attorney. "The Endangered Species Act will help enable the United States to provide the resources needed to help protect and conserve this imperiled population. We are grateful that the National Marine Fisheries Service recognized the need to take immediate action."</p><p>An estimated 50 percent to 80 percent of all life on Earth is found in the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans">oceans</a>. More than half of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life">marine species</a> may be at risk of extinction by 2100 without significant <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> efforts. Despite this grave situation, the U.S. largely fails to protect marine species under the Endangered Species Act.</p><p>The Endangered Species Act is an effective safety net for imperiled species: It has prevented extinction for more than 90 percent of plants and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/animals/">animals</a> under its care. Scientists estimate that 227 species would have gone extinct by 2006 if not for its protections. Protecting species with global distributions can help focus U.S. resources toward enforcement of international regulations and recovery of the species.</p>
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Conservation Groups: Fracking, Drilling Would Ruin Public Lands Near Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park
10 April 2018
Popular
Medano Creek, Great Sand Dunes National Park, Alamosa, CO. Gail K E / Flickr
Conservation groups are calling on the Trump administration to cancel plans to lease thousands of acres of federal public lands for oil and gas development near western Colorado's Great Sand Dunes National Park and Blanca Peak without fully analyzing environmental or cultural harms.
<p><a href="http://www.wildearthguardians.org/" target="_blank">WildEarth Guardians</a>, the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>, <a href="https://foe.org/" target="_blank">Friends of the Earth</a>, <a href="http://rockymountainwild.org/" target="_blank">Rocky Mountain Wild</a>, <a href="http://www.slvec.org/" target="_blank">San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council</a>, <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a>, and <a href="http://www.wildconnections.org/" target="_blank">Wild Connections</a>, submitted extensive <a href="https://climatewest.files.wordpress.com/2018/04/fnl-co-sept-2018-ea-comments.pdf" target="_blank">comments</a> Friday on Interior Secretary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke">Ryan Zinke</a>'s <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=dispatchToPatternPage&currentPageId=140375" target="_blank">proposal</a> to auction off 21,000 acres of public lands in Colorado in September. Of the lands nominated for auction, 18,000 acres are located near <a href="https://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm" target="_blank">Great Sand Dunes National Park</a> and Blanca Peak. In the comments, the groups noted that the Bureau of Land Management conducted little to no analysis on the potential harm from drilling and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fracking/">fracking</a> to Colorado's air, water, night skies, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a> habitat, cultural resources or the national park.</p><p>"The area near Great Sand Dunes National Park is uniquely beautiful and very susceptible to the harms from drilling and fracking," said Becca Fischer, a climate guardian with WildEarth Guardians. "Once BLM leases these lands, it cannot close the door to noise pollution, light pollution, and threats to our clean air and water. Yet, the BLM failed to conduct a meaningful analysis of these impacts."</p><p>"This fracking plan would ruin some of Colorado's most scenic, remote and valuable wildlife habitat," said Diana Dascalu-Joffe, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Unfortunately nothing is more important to the Trump administration than fossil fuel industry profits."</p><p>Last month, in response to intense public pressure from <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> groups and others, Zinke <a href="https://climatewest.org/2018/03/09/victories-for-climate-public-lands-this-month/" target="_blank">removed public lands</a> in New Mexico near Chaco Canyon National Historical Park and in Montana near <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/yellowstone-national-park">Yellowstone National Park</a> from the auction block based on cultural and environmental concerns.</p><p>The pace of public lands approved for leasing by the BLM continues to drastically increase in 2018. In 2017 the BLM auctioned off more than <a href="https://climatewest.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=79dd79bad4ee476a8a87713f948b7ca2" target="_blank">1 million acres</a> of public lands for fracking in six western states. The BLM's proposed lease sales for the first half of 2018 in those same states already total almost <a href="http://climatewest.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=79dd79bad4ee476a8a87713f948b7ca2" target="_blank">1 million acres</a>. </p><p>Oil and gas leasing on federal public lands is a major contributor to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">global warming</a> in the U.S. Leasing opens the door for oil and gas drilling and fracking, and more <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels">fossil fuel</a> burning. <a href="https://wilderness.org/federal-lands-emissions-accountability-tool" target="_blank">Reports</a> indicate that 20 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. can be traced back to fossil fuel development from federal public lands and waters.</p><p>"We should not be sacrificing these places, the wildlife there, history and opportunities to an outdated vision of energy independence," said Kimberly Pope, Sierra Club's Our Wild America organizer in Colorado. "We have an obligation to leave great natural places for others to experience."</p>
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conservation
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colorado
great sand dunes national park
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fossil fuels
donald trump
wildearth guardians
center for biological diversity
friends of the earth
rocky mountain wild
san luis valley ecosystem council
sierra club
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yellowstone national park
Plan to Kill Colorado Mountain Lions, Black Bears Prompts Lawsuit Against U.S. Fish & Wildlife
09 March 2018
Animals
A mountain lion mother and cub in the Rocky Mountains. Rarepic in / Flickr
Three conservation and animal-protection organizations sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Thursday for funding a Colorado Parks and Wildlife plan to kill hundreds of mountain lions and dozens of black bears without analyzing the risks to the state's environment.
The multi-year plan to kill black bears and mountain lions in the Piceance Basin and Upper Arkansas River areas of Colorado is intended to artificially boost the mule deer population where habitat has been degraded by oil and gas drilling. The killing plans were approved despite overwhelming public opposition, and over the objection of leading scientific voices in Colorado.
<p>The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado by the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>, <a href="http://www.humanesociety.org/" target="_blank">The Humane Society of the United States</a> and <a href="http://wildearthguardians.org/" target="_blank">WildEarth Guardians</a>. The lawsuit faults the Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to adequately analyze the impacts of these lethal predator-control experiments under the National Environmental Policy Act.</p><p>"It's appalling that the Fish and Wildlife Service bankrolled this killing without bothering to truly examine the environmental risks," said Andrea Santarsiere, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Reckless oil and gas drilling has destroyed mule deer habitat, and outdated predator-control techniques can't fix that. Slaughtering bears and mountain lions will only further damage these ecosystems."</p><p>The Piceance Basin Plan will last three years. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will use specialized contractors, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program, to kill mountain lions and black bears using inhumane traps, snares and hounds. The killing will be focused on and around the Roan Plateau, considered one of the most biologically diverse areas in Colorado. Up to 75 black bears and 45 cougars will be killed for a cost of approximately $645,000—75 percent of which will be paid for with federal taxpayer dollars.</p><p>"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service authorizing the use of millions of public dollars meant to promote wildlife restoration to kill Colorado's bears and mountain lions is outrageous," said Stuart Wilcox, staff attorney for WildEarth Guardians based in Denver. "Scapegoating species key to ensuring Colorado's ecosystems remain resilient—because the state wants to ignore the true impacts of the filthy fossil fuel industry—adds insult to injury."</p><p>The Upper Arkansas River Plan will last nine years, during which time Colorado Parks and Wildlife plans to kill more than 50 percent of the mountain lion population in the area. Colorado expects the killing of up to 234 mountain lions will cost nearly $4 million, 75 percent of which will be federally funded.</p><p>"The Fish and Wildlife Service has an obligation under federal law to evaluate the environmental implications of its actions, relying on the best available <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/">science</a>, and to allow the public to review that analysis," said Anna Frostic, managing attorney for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a> and animal research at The Humane Society of the United States. "The agency has failed to comply with these statutory duties, ignoring potentially devastating impacts on black bears and mountain lions." </p><p>Rather than provide an independent analysis disclosing the environmental impacts of the Piceance Basin and Upper Arkansas River plans, the Fish and Wildlife Service tried to adopt an environmental assessment prepared by Wildlife Services, a wholly separate agency, whose purpose is to kill so-called "nuisance" animals nationwide.<br><br><strong>Background</strong><br>Mountain lions and black bears are critical to their native ecosystems. Mountain lion predation produces carrion that feeds more bird and mammal scavengers than that of any other predator on the planet. Black bears' diverse diet of fruits results in broad dispersion of seeds, and their foraging behavior creates disturbances that allow sunlight to reach plants below the forest canopy, making them "ecosystem engineers."</p><p>Bears and cougars are vulnerable to persecution and could be extirpated from these two regions as a result of the plans. The Fish and Wildlife Service failed to consider the many substantial environmental harms that are likely to result from the plans, such as the harm to the local ecosystem of this potential extirpation and the suffering and deaths of orphaned cubs and kittens.</p>
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Trump, Zinke to Auction Away 700,000 Acres of Western Public Lands for Fracking
12 December 2017
Popular
More than 300,000 acres are on the auction block in Nevada's Great Basin in 2017, including wild lands near the Ruby Mountains. PR vonB / Flickr
President Trump and Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke are continuing their onslaught against American public lands this holiday month and moving forward with plans to auction off 700,000 acres for fracking, endangering clean air and water, the climate and sacred lands.
"First it's our cherished national monuments, now Trump and Zinke are set to give away even more public lands to the fossil fuel industry," said Becca Fischer, climate guardian for WildEarth Guardians. "Rather than giving back this holiday season, this administration is proving that it will stop at nothing to put our public lands in the hands of dirty energy executives and sell off our rights to clean energy and a healthy environment."
<p style="">In total in 2017, the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has auctioned and is proposing to <a href="https://arcg.is/WqTTH" target="_blank">auction off more than a million acres of public lands for fracking in Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming</a>. Of that 1 million, the BLM will sell 700,000 acres in the December sales. </p><p style="">● On Dec. 7, the BLM sold <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/72396/126871/154522/Sale_Results_December_2017.pdf" target="_blank">22,000 acres</a> in northwestern Colorado and <a href="https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/projects/nepa/80914/126963/154610/Final_Sale_Results_12_07_2017.pdf" target="_blank">2,100 acres</a> in southeastern New Mexico.</p><p style="">● On Dec. 12, 99,000 acres in Montana, 388,000 acres in Nevada and 94,000 acres in Utah are slated to be auctioned off for fracking.</p><p style="">● On Dec. 14, 72,000 acres in Wyoming are slated to be auctioned off. </p><p style="">The pace of public lands giveaways is set to increase in 2018. The BLM's lease sales for the first half of the year<a href="http://arcg.is/1Hima1" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://arcg.is/1Hima1" target="_blank">already total almost 1 million acres</a>.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
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</p><p style="">"While oil and gas companies get rich, Americans are shouldering the cost of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/">climate change</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/air-pollution">air pollution</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/water">water</a> contamination, lost <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a> habitat and degraded sacred lands," said Fischer. "This administration has made abundantly clear that the American public and their lands are nothing more than a 'burden' to industry."<br></p><p style="">Zinke's "Energy Burdens" report released in October showcases the Department of Interior's plans to implement the oil and gas industry's wish list for policy revisions. The report outlines Zinke's plans to eliminate public input and grease the skids for unfettered fracking. </p><p style="">The December lease sales come amid growing protests over the BLM's management of public lands for fracking. WildEarth Guardians filed administrative appeals (also called "protests") challenging the proposed leasing in <a href="https://climatewest.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/co-dec-2017-lease-sale-protest.pdf" target="_blank">Colorado</a>, <a href="https://climatewest.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/fnl-dec-2017-protest.pdf" target="_blank">Montana</a>, <a href="https://climatewest.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/2017-11-13-nevada-oil-and-gas-lease-protest.pdf" target="_blank">Nevada</a>, <a href="https://climatewest.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/fnl-nm-dec-protest.pdf" target="_blank">New Mexico</a>, <a href="https://climatewest.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/fnl-utah-december-2017-protest1.pdf" target="_blank">Utah</a> and <a href="https://climatewest.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/fnl-wy-dec-2017-lease-sale-protest.pdf" target="_blank">Wyoming</a> as illegal under federal law. </p><p style="">"In every western state, the Bureau of Land Management is sidestepping the law, shortcutting its reviews and doing everything it can to lock out the American public," said Fischer. "Sadly, on our public lands, the BLM is putting fracking above everything."</p><p>Multi-stage fracking coupled with horizontal drilling has opened up millions of acres of public land to <a href="http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/fracking-compendium-4.pdf" target="_blank">intense industrialization</a>. For example, fracking can mean thousands of semis tearing up rural roads and kicking up dust, massive increases in air pollution and greenhouse gases, and large-scale water consumption. There are also concerns about water contamination from frack fluids, earthquakes from wastewater disposal, and the social impacts on communities that result from an influx of new people.</p><p style="">Oil and gas leasing on public lands is also a major contributor to global warming in the U.S. Leasing opens the door for oil and gas drilling and fracking, and more fossil fuel burning. Reports indicate <a href="http://wilderness.org/blog/blind-spot-plan-reduce-emissions-slowing-progress-fight-against-climate-change" target="_blank">10 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back to oil and gas development from public lands and waters.</a> </p><p style="">In 2016, WildEarth Guardians filed suit over the <a href="http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=12616#.WTi-PhMrJpU" target="_blank">failure of the BLM to limit oil and gas production to protect the climate</a>. That suit is moving forward in federal court. If successful, it will call into question the legal validity of these oil and gas sales.</p>
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Good News for Yellowstone Grizzlies? U.S. to Review 'Flawed' Ruling That Removed Protections
07 December 2017
Animals
Grizzly sow and cubs near Fishing Bridge. Yellowstone National Park / Flickr
Over the summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) decided to strip Yellowstone grizzly bears of Endangered Species Act protections, sparking condemnation from conservationists over the agency's “flawed" ruling.
But now, USFWS is reviewing this decision thanks to an appeals court ruling that restored protections for a completely different animal that was taken off the endangered species list: the Great Lakes gray wolf.
<p style="">
In August, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, DC,
<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/08/01/541010111/great-lakes-gray-wolves-spot-safe-on-endangered-species-list-for-now" target="_blank">ruled</a> unanimously that USFWS was wrong in its 2011 decision to de-list the Great Lakes gray wolf and should remain under federal protection. The three-judge panel wrote then, "The Endangered Species Act's text requires the Service, when reviewing and redetermining the status of a species, to look at the whole picture of the listed species, not just a segment of it."
</p><p style="">
As it happens, the Fish and Wildlife Service used a similar method to de-list Yellowstone-area bears. Kelly Nokes, large carnivore advocate for
<a href="http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/PageServer#.WilBQbS7_BI" target="_blank">WildEarth Guardians,</a> explained to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-grizzly-yellowstone/u-s-reviews-rule-removing-protections-for-yellowstone-grizzlies-idUSKBN1E108K" target="_blank">Reuters</a>, U.S. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a> managers removed the bears from federal protections without assessing impacts on other grizzly populations in the lower 48 states.
</p><p style="">
The Yellowstone grizzly bear has long been considered endangered, with as few as 136 bears in 1975.
<a href="https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/pressrel/2017/06222017_Secretary_Zinke_Announces_Recovery_and_Delisting_of_Yellowstone_Grizzly_Bear.php" target="_blank">But in June</a>, Interior Sec. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke">Ryan Zinke</a> announced that the population had been recovered to the point where federal protections can be removed and overall management can be returned to the states and tribes.
</p><p style="">
There are an estimated 700 today, which “meets all the criteria for delisting," the
<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/department-of-interior">Department of Interior</a>, which oversees USFWS, said.
</p><p style="">
The
<a href="http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/US-to-review-ended-protections-for-Yellowstone-12410166.php" target="_blank">Associated Press</a> reported that USFWS has now opened up a public comment session on the implications of leaving the bears unprotected. While the review is pending, the animals will stay under state jurisdiction and off the threatened species list, agency spokesman Steve Segin said. The agency plans to release its conclusions by March 31.
</p><p style="">
<span></span>Conservation groups responded with fierce outcry over the government's decision to de-list the grizzlies this summer.
</p><p style="">
“Without continued Endangered Species Act protections, the recovery of grizzly bears in Greater Yellowstone is in serious jeopardy," said Bonnie Rice, Greater Yellowstone senior representative with
<a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a>'s Our Wild America campaign. "Inadequate requirements to protect and connect Yellowstone grizzlies to other populations and hostile state management policies will mean fewer bears restricted to an even smaller area. Grizzly bears will be killed through trophy hunts on the doorstep of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks instead of inspiring millions who come to the region just for a chance to see a live grizzly bear in the wild."
</p><p style="">
“These iconic bears need to be protected, not gunned down so their heads can go on some trophy hunter's wall," said Andrea Santarsiere, a senior attorney with the
<a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>. “Facing ongoing threats and occupying less than five percent of their historic range, grizzly bears are nowhere near recovery and continue to need the strong protections of the Endangered Species Act."
</p><p style="">
“<a href="https://www.npca.org/" target="_blank">National Parks Conservation Association</a> refutes the Department of the Interior's short-sighted decision, which threatens Yellowstone grizzlies and ignores concerns, including those raised by many in the National Park Service. Despite Interior's claim, the long-term health of Yellowstone and Grand Teton grizzlies is far from certain," added Stephanie Adams, Yellowstone program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association. “We must ensure Yellowstone grizzlies have necessary protections in place for the population to thrive."
</p>
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'A Terrible Violation of America's Public Lands and Heritage': Lawsuit Targets Trump's Slashing of Protections at Grand Staircase-Escalante
05 December 2017
Popular
Hoodoos at sunrise in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Bob Wick / BLM / Flickr
Hours after President Donald Trump issued a proclamation taking an axe to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah on Monday, conservation organizations filed a lawsuit attacking the order as an abuse of the president's power.
Earthjustice is representing eight organizations in a suit charging that the president violated the 1906 Antiquities Act by stripping monument protections from this national treasure: The Wilderness Society, the Grand Canyon Trust, the Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and Western Watersheds Project. The Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and Natural Resources Defense Council are co-plaintiffs in the lawsuit and represented by in-house counsel.
<p style="">"If the Trump administration thinks Grand Staircase-Escalante can be sold out without a fight, they're in for a huge surprise," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, president and CEO of Defenders of Wildlife.</p><p style="">The Grand Staircase-Escalante contains dinosaur fossils found nowhere else in the world. Since its designation, 21 new dinosaur species have been unearthed by scientists in the monument, leading some to call these lands a "Dinosaur Shangri-la," and a "geologic wonderland." Grand Staircase holds one of the richest collections of fossils from the Late Cretaceous Period, which gives scientists and the public alike an unparalleled window into the dinosaurs that lived in these lands 10 million years ago. In mid-October, scientists <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2017/10/15/nearly-complete-tyrannosaur-fossil-airlifted-from-utahs-grand-staircase/" target="_blank">airlifted</a> one of the most complete tyrannosaur skeletons ever found out of Grand Staircase. These fossils are largely found in the Kaiparowits Plateau, where the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coal">coal</a> industry has long <a href="http://files.geology.utah.gov/online/c/c-93/gsekcoal.htm" target="_blank">coveted access</a> for coal mining that would wreak havoc on this dinosaur treasure trove that belongs to the American people.</p><p style="">"President Trump has perpetrated a terrible violation of America's public lands and heritage by going after this dinosaur treasure trove," said Heidi McIntosh, managing attorney in Earthjustice's Rocky Mountains office. "While past presidents have used the Antiquities Act to protect unique lands and cultural sites in America, Trump is instead mangling the law, opening this national monument to coal mining instead of protecting its scientific, historic and wild heritage. We will not let this stand. We will use the power of the law to stop Trump's illegal actions."</p><p style="">Trump's executive order to revoke and replace Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument came on the heels of a review conducted by Interior Sec. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke">Ryan Zinke</a>. More than <a href="http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2017/senators-join-public-lands-groups-to-call-on-trump-administration-to-listen-to-overwhelming-public-support-for" target="_blank">2.7 million Americans</a> voiced their support for national monuments across the country, and public participation in the comment period was overwhelmingly in favor of keeping these public lands and waters protected just as they are.</p>
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<p style="">"Despite the call for public comments, Trump never cared that we, the public, wanted him to keep his hands off our monuments," said Chris Krupp, public earth guardian at WildEarth Guardians. "He's not concerned with those of us that camp, hike, fish and hunt. He'd rather give another handout to oil, gas and coal companies."</p><p style="">"The Trump administration's effort to sell out our public lands is deeply unpopular and goes against American values," said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. "We will work to ensure our lands and waters remain open to the public and protected for future generations to explore and enjoy."</p><p style="">President Bill Clinton protected the lands of Grand Staircase <a href="http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=51948" target="_blank">as a national monument</a> on Sept. 18, 1996 using the Antiquities Act, a century-old law that has been used by 16 presidents since Theodore Roosevelt to protect some of our nation's most cherished landscapes and cultural heritage. Congress enacted the law in 1906, granting presidents the authority to create national monuments on federal lands to protect significant natural, cultural, historic or scientific features. The Antiquities Act does not, however, grant presidents the authority to diminish or rescind the monument designations of their predecessors.</p><p style="">"President Trump is attempting an unauthorized remodel of the Grand Staircase, knocking out not only geologic steps but cornerstones of the evolution of species, human history, and our cultural heritage as well," said Tim Peterson, Utah Wildlands program director with the Grand Canyon Trust.</p><p style="">"Grand Staircase is a cradle of biodiversity and losing even an acre would be a crime," said Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity. "Scientists have identified nearly four dozen new species of butterflies here. We must protect this monument's wildlife, stunning landscapes and cultural treasures for future generations. Trump and the fossil-fuel industry have picked the wrong battle."</p><p style="">After President Clinton designated Grand Staircase, an intricate land swap between the state and federal government was completed. Congress passed legislation modifying the monument's boundaries in 1998 and then approved a land swap in which the state of Utah received 145,000 acres of mineral-rich federal lands and $50 million from the federal treasury. That $50 million has since gone to support Utah's public schools, and the swap would be <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060053899" target="_blank">incredibly difficult to unravel</a>. The Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration established the Land Exchange Distribution Account to dole out the proceeds from these state-federal trades. At least <a href="https://trustlands.utah.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/SITLA-stewardship-0615.pdf" target="_blank">27 Utah counties</a> have since received a total of $441 million.</p><p style="">Grand Staircase-Escalante has proven a <a href="https://headwaterseconomics.org/wp-content/uploads/Escalante.pdf" target="_blank">tourism and economic boon</a> for Southern Utah since its designation. Between 2001 and 2015, the population in the two counties bordering Grand Staircase grew by 13 percent, jobs increased 24 percent and real personal income grew 32 percent. Travel and tourism boomed in the region, offering 1,630 jobs around Grand Staircase. In the big picture, recreation from adventure-seekers, hikers, amateur geologists and families simply getting outdoors now funnels more than <a href="http://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=5553785&itype=CMSID" target="_blank">$12 billion</a> into Utah's economy.</p><p style="">"I'm a resident of Kanab, and there are a lot of local businesses that are completely dependent on tourism related to Grand Staircase-Escalante," said Laura Welp of Western Watersheds Project, and a former Bureau of Land Management botanist at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. "The entire 'staircase' of spectacular geological layers, with its world-class fossil resources, deserves to be protected intact from the threat of coal mining and other types of commercial exploitation."</p><p style="">"Americans from across the nation should be outraged by President Trump's unlawful attempt to eviscerate the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, one of our country's wildest and most scientifically significant federal public landscapes," said Stephen Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance<strong>,</strong> Utah's largest conservation organization. "No one will look back on this decision in 15, 25 or 50 years and say Trump did the right thing by protecting less of this magnificent place. And by promoting this illegal act, Utah's parochial congressional delegation and local politicians have firmly come down on the wrong side of history."</p>
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national monuments
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New Mexico's Largest Utility Will Stop Burning Coal, Despite Trump's Clean Power Plan Rollback
11 October 2017
Energy
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt announced Monday that the Trump administration is rolling back the Clean Power Plan to end the previous administration's "war on coal" but there's a big problem: Obama didn't kill the coal industry—the market for cheap natural gas and increasingly affordable renewable energy did.
Case in point, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that New Mexico's largest utility still plans to phase out coal as a power source in 2031. The Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) currently uses coal for 56 percent of its energy generation but wants drop use to 12 percent by 2025.
<p style=""><span></span>"The actions we have planned represent the most cost-effective ways to serve our customers with reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible energy," Ray Sandoval, a company spokesman, explained to the publication.</p><p>In April, Pat Vincent-Collawn, CEO of PNM Resources, said <a href="http://www.wri.org/blog/2017/05/6-graphics-show-how-us-utilities-are-turning-corporate-demand-renewables-growth" target="_blank">moving toward</a> renewables and natural gas is "the best, most economical path to a strong energy future for New Mexico."</p><p>PNM intends to stick with the Obama-era regulation even though it specifically targeted emissions from the nation's coal-burning power plants.<br></p><p style="">Pruitt argues that the 2015 climate policy overstepped federal law by setting emissions standards that power plants could not reasonably meet. </p><p style=""><span></span>But PNM's move is part of a larger trend of utilities around the country that are turning away from coal. According to The Santa Fe New Mexican, "In April, a survey by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that 46 coal-burning units at 25 power plants across 16 states will close or significantly reduce production by 2018."</p><p style="">PNM isn't alone in sticking with the Clean Power Plan. Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group also plans reduce carbon dioxide emissions to the levels set by Obama regulation despite Trump's plans to nix it. </p><p>"This is much more driven by fundamental economics as opposed to what is or isn't going on in Washington," president and CEO Allen Leverett <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2017/05/04/we-energies-parent-will-cut-coal-emissions-despite.html" target="_blank">told shareholders</a> five months ago. </p><p style="">Jeremy Nichols, climate and energy director at <a href="http://www.wildearthguardians.org/site/PageServer#.Wd5UuxNyLBI" target="_blank">WildEarth Guardians</a>, further commented that "things are moving away from coal, Clean Power Plan or not. Nowhere is that more evident than New Mexico."<br></p><p><span></span>A <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-15/coal-s-share-of-u-s-power-mix-seen-falling-by-half-by-2040" target="_blank">report</a> from Bloomberg New Energy Finance projects that about two-thirds of coal-fired plants to close by 2040, while gas-fired electricity is seen to rise by 22 percent and renewables could jump by a stunning 169 percent.<br></p>
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Battle Begins to Restore Protections for Greater Yellowstone Grizzly Bears
04 September 2017
Popular
iStock
By WildEarth Guardian
Wednesday, WildEarth Guardians sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, challenging the agency's flawed rule stripping grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of Endangered Species Act protections. The service's premature removal of crucial federal safeguards undermines the recovery of the species as a whole, while subjecting grizzlies stepping outside the safety of our national parks to state-sanctioned trophy hunting.
"The Service failed to carry out its paramount—and mandatory—duty to ensure grizzly bears in the contiguous United States are recovered to the point at which the protections of the Endangered Species Act are no longer necessary," said Kelly Nokes, carnivore advocate for WildEarth Guardians. "The Service's decision is riddled with flaws, not based in science nor the law, and places this icon of all that is wild squarely in the crosshairs of extinction once again."
<p style="">The lawsuit faults the service for illegally designating grizzlies in Greater Yellowstone as a "distinct population segment" and simultaneously removing protections from the population without first considering the impact such removal will have on imperiled grizzly populations located elsewhere in the lower 48 states. The suit also highlights the service's failure to use the best available science when it determined that grizzlies in the Yellowstone region are recovered.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed"><iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-878359553489764352" id="twitter-embed-878359553489764352" type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-878359553489764352&created_ts=1498252211.0&screen_name=EcoWatch&text=Yellowstone+Grizzly+Bears+to+Lose+Endangered+Species+Protection+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2FXjADo2xnmi+%40environmentca+%40ConservationOrg&id=878359553489764352&name=EcoWatch" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="K8BUI31504534244"></iframe></p><p style="">"Biologists agree that grizzly recovery hinges on connecting isolated populations and distributing the genes they carry," said Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the <a href="https://westernlaw.org/" target="_blank">Western Environmental Law Center</a> representing WildEarth Guardians. "Under this illegal and ill-advised plan, dispersing grizzlies essential to species recovery would be the first to die."<br></p><p style="">Grizzlies in the Yellowstone region remain threatened by dwindling food sources, habitat loss and fragmentation, and illegal killing. The Yellowstone population is isolated and has yet to connect to bears elsewhere in the U.S., including to bears in and around Glacier National Park. Grizzlies also have yet to reclaim key historic habitats, including the Bitterroot Range along the Montana-Idaho border.</p><p style="">Hunted, trapped and poisoned to near extinction, grizzly bear populations in the contiguous U.S. declined drastically from nearly 50,000 bears to only a few hundred by the 1930s. In response to the decline, the service designated the species as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1975, a move that likely saved them from extinction. The species has since struggled to hang on, with only roughly 1,800 currently surviving in the lower 48 states. Grizzlies remain absent from nearly 98 percent of their historic range.</p><p style="">At last count, approximately 690 grizzly bears resided in the Greater Yellowstone region in 2016, down from 2015's count of 717 bears. The last two years had near record-breaking grizzly mortality, with at least 139 bears killed since 2015 (including 20 documented deaths thus far in 2017, 58 dead bears in 2016 and 61 dead grizzlies in 2015). Of those, at least 98 bears died due to human-causes and 30 deaths remain undetermined or are still under investigation.</p><p style="">Wednesday's lawsuit challenges the service's final rule removing Endangered Species Act protections from grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. WildEarth Guardians is represented by Matthew Bishop and John Mellgren of the Western Environmental Law Center and Kelly Nokes of WildEarth Guardians.</p>
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Trump Administration Denies Pacific Bluefin Tuna Endangered Species Act Protection
07 August 2017
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Buyers look through frozen tuna on sale at the fish market in Tokyo's Tsukiji district. Rob Gihooly
The Trump administration rejected a petition Monday to protect imperiled Pacific bluefin tuna under the Endangered Species Act. This powerful apex predator, which commands top prices at fish auctions in Japan, has been overfished to less than 3 percent of its historic population. Although the National Marine Fisheries Service announced in October 2016 that it was considering listing the Pacific bluefin, it has now concluded that protections aren't warranted.
"If the paychecks of fishery managers and federal officials were tied to the status of this marvelous creature, they would have done the right thing," said Carl Safina, president of the Safina Center and a scientist and author who has worked to draw public attention to the plight of the bluefin tuna.
<p>Japan, South Korea, Mexico, the U.S. and other countries have failed to reduce fishing enough to protect this iconic species, a luxury item on sushi menus. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/14/what-the-sixth-extinction-will-look-like-in-the-oceans-the-largest-species-die-off-first/?utm_term=.640532e85e8c" target="_blank">One recent study</a> found that bluefin and other large marine organisms are particularly vulnerable to the current mass extinction event; their loss would disrupt the ocean food web in unprecedented ways, and they need more protection to survive. </p><p>"Pacific bluefin tuna will spiral toward extinction unless we protect them. The Endangered Species Act works, but not when the Trump administration ignores the plight of animals that need help," said Catherine Kilduff, an attorney with the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a>. "This disappointing decision makes it even more important for consumers and restaurateurs to <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/fish/Atlantic_bluefin_tuna/bluefin_boycott/" target="_blank">boycott bluefin</a> until the species recovers." </p><p>In June 2016 petitioners requested that the Fisheries Service protect Pacific bluefin tuna as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species">endangered</a>. The coalition includes the Center for Biological Diversity, The Ocean Foundation, Earthjustice, Center for Food Safety, Defenders of Wildlife, Greenpeace, Mission Blue, Recirculating Farms Coalition, The Safina Center, SandyHook SeaLife Foundation, Sierra Club, Turtle Island Restoration Network and WildEarth Guardians, as well as sustainable-seafood purveyor Jim Chambers.</p><p>"The Trump administration's war on the oceans has just launched another hand grenade—one that hastens the extirpation of bluefin tuna from U.S. waters and ultimately hurts fishing communities and our food supply," said Todd Steiner, biologist and executive director of <a href="https://seaturtles.org/" target="_blank">Turtle Island Restoration Network</a>.</p><p>Almost all Pacific bluefin tuna harvested today are caught before reproducing, putting in doubt their future as a species. Just a few adult age classes of Pacific bluefin tuna exist, and these will soon disappear due to old age. Without young fish to mature into the spawning stock to replace the aging adults, the future is grim for Pacific bluefin unless immediate steps are taken to halt this decline.</p><p>"Instead of celebrating the Pacific bluefin tuna for their impressive and important role in the ocean, humans are sadly fishing them to the brink of extinction in order to put them on the dinner plate," said Brett Garling of <a href="https://www.mission-blue.org/" target="_blank">Mission Blue</a>. "It's more than regrettable that this gastro-fetish is robbing the ocean of one of its most iconic species. The time is now to wake up and realize that tuna are worth much more swimming in the ocean than in soy sauce on a plate."</p>
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marine life
pacific bluefin tuna
turtle island restoration network
tuna
overfishing
mission blue
the safina center
greenpeace
endangered species
the ocean foundation
wildearth guardians
jim chambers
earthjustice
safina center
center for food safety
defenders of wildlife
wildlife
center for biological diversity
sierra club
recirculating farms coalition
sandyhook sealife foundation
species extinction