Ctr for BIOlogical DIVERSITY CBD

oops, duplicate fixed? ntbc w/ integrity?see ESApromoted to primary 12/17 kickass legal effortscapt 1018see 9/18 diversity as generic systems concept=an 8 22 90% of marine spec lost?!<div>=</div><div><div>=</div><div>an 12 22 sorta //</div><div>The day before nearly two weeks of negotiations kick off at the United Nations summit on biodiversity, campaigners warned Tuesday that the talks taking place this month in Montreal may offer humanity its last chance to mitigate the planet's crisis of rampant species loss, and called on policymakers to adopt an ambitious framework to protect wildlife.More than 190 nations will be represented at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), where negotiators will discuss a draft agreement aimed at conservation, slashing levels of toxic pollutants, and mitigating the climate crisis.With about <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/climate-energy-nature/2022/12/cop15-nature-biodiversity-explained-extinction-target-deal" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">one million species</a>—out of about 8.7 million known species—expected to become extinct in the coming decades, advocates said that policymakers must reverse more than a decade of failure to meet the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2022/12/06/global-leaders-cop15-urged-stop-extinction-now" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">targets</a> set in 2010 at COP10 in Aichi, Japan, including protecting 17% of terrestrial and inland water areas and conserving coral reefs."Now is the time for the world to set bold new goals to protect every last species," <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2022/12/06/global-leaders-cop15-urged-stop-extinction-now" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">said</a> Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. "We're undermining our own survival by taking nature for granted, decimating wild places and jeopardizing vulnerable communities."Advocates are pushing the 196 member nations of the convention to adopt 21 targets named in the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/article/draft-1-global-biodiversity-framework" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">draft</a> set to be presented at the meeting, including:<ul class="ee-ul" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; width: 589.444px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li>Protections for at least 30% of lands and waters by 2030;</li><li>Policies to prevent or reduce invasive species by 50%;</li><li>The elimination of plastic waste;</li><li>The reduction of pesticides in the environment by at least two-thirds;</li><li>The recognition of Indigenous peoples' rights and central role in protecting biodiversity; and</li><li>At least $100 billion in annual funding for developing countries to protect wildlife, provided by wealthy governments.</li></ul>"If delegates at the Convention on Biological Diversity can't agree that we should end extinction, it's a tragic reflection on our values," said Curry. "We've put nature in the basement of our heart, but it needs to be in the penthouse."Greenpeace International <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/57267/strongall-eyes-montreal-cop15-make-break-moment-global-biodiversity-strong/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">called</a> the meeting "the make-or-break moment for global biodiversity" while Greenpeace East Asia senior policy adviser Li Shuo called it "a chance for reinvention.""It is unacceptable for this process to continue to pump out promises and never deliver," he <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/57267/strongall-eyes-montreal-cop15-make-break-moment-global-biodiversity-strong/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">said</a>. "Negotiations over the next two weeks need to generate targets that will actually be implemented and supported."In his opening remarks on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called on negotiators to adopt a framework "that addresses the root causes of this destruction.""Deforestation and desertification are creating wastelands of once-thriving ecosystems," he said. "Our land, water, and air are poisoned by chemicals and pesticides, and choked with plastics. Our addiction to fossil fuels has thrown our climate into chaos—from heatwaves and forest fires, to communities parched by heat and drought, or inundated and destroyed by terrifying floods.""The deluded dreams of billionaires aside, there is no Planet B," Guterres added. "We must fix the world we have. We must cherish this wonderous gift. We must make peace with nature."Biologist Alexandre Antonelli, the director of science of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in the U.K., called the conference "one of the most important meetings humanity has ever had.""We have a very narrow window of opportunity to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2030 and reverse its decline by 2050," Antonelli <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/climate-energy-nature/2022/12/cop15-nature-biodiversity-explained-extinction-target-deal" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">told </a>The New Statesman on Monday. "We may never have that chance again."</div><div>=</div></div><div>=</div><div>an 822</div><div>A fledgling international effort to protect the world's oceans from further damage is "on the brink of failure," and the governments of wealthy countries are primarily to blame, Greenpeace International <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/55351/un-ocean-treaty-talks-set-to-fail-because-of-high-ambition-coalition/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">warned</a> Thursday.Diplomats gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York City are nearing the end of the fifth and final round of <a href="https://www.un.org/bbnj/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">negotiations</a> on a much-needed pact to protect biodiversity in the "high seas"—a global commons comprising the two-thirds of the ocean that lie outside the jurisdiction of any single country and where legally binding regulations are virtually nonexistent.Conservationists have long hoped that the ongoing summit—<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/08/15/marine-life-defenders-say-un-talks-last-chance-global-ocean-treaty" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">described</a> by some as the "last chance" to forge a robust global ocean treaty—would lead to the establishment of "Marine Protected Areas" and rules mandating environmental assessments prior to deep-sea mining and other industrial activities.But a handful of mostly rich countries—including the United States, Canada, and members of the so-called <a href="https://oceans-and-fisheries.ec.europa.eu/ocean/international-ocean-governance/protecting-ocean-time-action_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">High Ambition Coalition on Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction</a>—have derailed progress made on the text by prioritizing "hypothetical future profits" that could be derived from extracting <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.667274/full" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">marine genetic resources</a> over protecting aquatic species, according to Greenpeace."The oceans sustain all life on Earth, but the greed of a few countries means this round of talks for a U.N. ocean treaty are now set to fail," Laura Meller of Greenpeace's Protect the Oceans campaign said Thursday in a <a href="https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/55351/un-ocean-treaty-talks-set-to-fail-because-of-high-ambition-coalition/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">statement</a>. "The High Ambition Coalition has utterly failed. They should be the No Ambition Coalition."Members of the coalition have "obsessed over their hypothetical future profits, undermining all the other progress made at these talks," said Meller. "Unless ministers urgently pick up the phone today to their counterparts and hammer out a deal, this treaty process will fail."The health of the world's oceans, which cover roughly 70% of the Earth and are indispensible to life on the planet, has been rapidly <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/08/22/90-marine-species-face-extinction-under-emissions-status-quo-study" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">deteriorating</a> as a result of unmitigated <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/11/oceans-hotter-2021-any-time-recorded-history" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">greenhouse gas emissions</a>, surging <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/01/18/global-plastic-pollution-deadly-ticking-clock-report" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">plastic pollution</a>, and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/06/28/un-chief-warns-ocean-emergency-leaders-confront-biodiversity-loss-pollution" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="color: rgb(11, 13, 101); text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">overexploitation</a>.The high ambition coalition pledged earlier this year to finalize a treaty in 2022 that would protect 30% of the world's oceans by 2030, but the proposed text is "lowering its ambition by the minute," said Greenpeace."Less than two months ago I was in Lisbon, at the U.N. Ocean Conference, listening to these leaders promise they would deliver a strong global ocean treaty this year," said Meller. "Now we are in New York and the leaders are nowhere to be found. They've broken their promises.""We are sad and angry," Meller continued. "Billions of people rely on healthy oceans, and world leaders have failed all of them.""It now looks like protecting 30% of the world's oceans [by 2030] will be impossible," she added. "Scientists say this is the absolute minimum necessary to protect the oceans, and failure at these talks will jeopardize the livelihoods and food security of billions. We're beyond disappointed."Greenpeace also accused rich nations of taking "an unfair and neocolonial approach by refusing to commit any finance for the benefit of all countries."The refusal of the U.S., Canada, and others to provide funding "will stop a treaty from being agreed here," the group added. "With talks set to fail, countries must now take urgent action, show flexibility, and find compromise to deliver a strong treaty text" by Friday.</div><div>=</div>=1021 an comm dr
Just ahead of a major United Nations summits on biodiversity and the climate—and amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic—a global consortium has launched a planetary health declaration in which they "raise an alarm that the ongoing degradation of our planet's natural systems is a clear and present danger to the health of all people everywhere" that must be countered with a fundamental paradigm shift transforming nearly every aspect of society."The planetary health science is clear," the São Paulo Declaration on Planetary Health, published Tuesday at <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02181-4/fulltext" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">The Lancet</a>, states. "We can no longer safeguard human health unless we change course."Authored by the Planetary Health Alliance, a global coalition hosted within the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the declaration is endorsed by over 250 organizations representing 47 countries."The urgency of this moment is hard to overstate," said declaration lead author Sam Myers, director of the Planetary Health Alliance and research scientist at Harvard, in a statement ahead of the launch.The document centers on what various stakeholders—from urban planners to governments to artists—must urgently do as part of the "Great Transition," what the declaration authors frame as the necessary "fundamental shift in how we live on Earth."To the agricultural sector, the document recommends utilizing "all ways of knowing, including the latest science and millennia of traditional and Indigenous knowledges, to implement agricultural systems that meet demand and reduce pressure on natural systems."Economists, meanwhile, are urged to reject a focus on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in favor of "metrics and investments that support preservation and regeneration of Nature, human well-being, equity, and happiness—the things we truly value."Numerous recommendations are laid out for governments with "an urgent first step" being promoting "public access to health services as a human right." Covid-19 recovery plans must also focus on decarbonizing the energy sector and ensuring equity for the most disenfranchised and marginalized communities.The general public is also called to action."We invite you to consider yourself a partner in planetary healing," states the declaration. "We all live together in an interconnected world and the actions of each of us inspire others. Therefore, together, we pledge to dedicate our lives to the service of humanity, and to the protection and restoration of the natural systems on which humans and all other species who share our home depend."Put together, the document says its recommendations should serve as "a compass guiding us towards the most promising pathways to support a more just and resilient post-pandemic world."Courtney Howard, an emergency physician in Canada and a contributor to the declaration, put the document in the context of global vaccine inequity."In the midst of Covid, disparities in vaccine accessibility must be part of the same conversation as addressing planetary emergencies," Howard said in a statement."On an interconnected planet, no one is safe until everyone is safe," she added. "We need vaccine equity, and in the long run, protecting nature will be the true vaccine against future pandemics and other planetary emergencies."<div>=</div><div>what fresh hell?</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trump-epa-chiefs-vision-would-create-an-apocalyptic-devastated-planet-critics-warn/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trump-epa-chiefs-vision-would-create-an-apocalyptic-devastated-planet-critics-warn/</a></div><div>
</div><div>environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler is under fire for a Thursday speech laying out a vision for the agency that critics warn would unleash untold environmental devastation should it come to pass.Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, delivered the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-administrator-wheeler-delivers-address-nixon-presidential-library" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">remarks</a> at the Nixon Library in southern California to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the EPA. The agency was established under the Nixon administration.Wheeler also framed as positive steps the administration’s environmental protection rollbacks and attacks on science. The EPA chief said that “members of former administrations and progressives in Congress have elevated single issue advocacy—in many cases focused just on climate change—to virtue-signal to foreign capitals, over the interests of communities within their own country.”“Communities that deal with the worst pollution in this country—and tend to be low-income and minority—face multiple environmental problems that need solving,” Wheeler said. He suggested President Donald Trump’s “opportunity zones” plan—<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/31/business/tax-opportunity-zones.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">recognized by experts </a>as a giveaway to the rich—as a remedy to environmental injustice.wheeler declared it “very disappointing to see governors on the East Coast, such as [New York] Governor Cuomo, unilaterally block pipelines that would take natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York and New England.”“We helped President Trump successfully implement the new NEPA regulations with the goal of reviewing federal permits within two years,” Wheeler said of the administration’s <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/15/we-will-sue-vow-green-groups-after-trump-guts-nations-key-environmental-law" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">attack</a> on the bedrock environmental law.He also touted “a proposed rule that would remove onerous and expensive regulation of gene-edited plant protectants” and the administration’s “science transparency rules,” referring to what its critics call a “<a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/04/super-tuesday-news-dump-epa-expands-rule-limiting-science-agency-can-use-make-public" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">secret science rule</a>” to limit scientific evidence the EPA will consider in its work.Mustafa Santiago Ali, a former EPA official who helped found the agency’s environmental justice office, took issue with Wheeler’s plans for environmental justice.“Every one of the actions the Trump administration has taken, either by weakening or rolling back basic air and water protections, has put #environmentaljustice communities in greater harm,” he <a href="https://twitter.com/EJinAction/status/1301646996634206210" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tweeted</a> Thursday. “No one believes a Trump second term would value Black and Brown lives!” he added.Brett Hartl, government affairs director at conservation group Center for Biological Diversity, rebuffed Wheeler’s claim that the Trump administration has been a champion of EPA’s mission.“Wheeler and the Trump administration have done grave and lasting damage to the EPA by elevating polluters and their profits above all else, and no slick speech can change that fact,” said Hartl. He further accused Wheeler of being “ignorant of the immense environmental progress made over the last 50 years because Congress and President Nixon recognized when they established the EPA that no one has a right to pollute our air, water, or land.”“If Wheeler’s vision becomes real in the decades ahead,” warned Hartl, “our children and grandchildren would inherit nothing less than an apocalyptic, devastated planet.”Hartl continued: “Instead of following the proud bipartisan traditions of the EPA, Wheeler has decimated protections for our nations wetlands and rivers, rolled back protections for toxic pollutants spewed into the air, rubberstamped pesticides that cause brain damage in children, and utterly ignored the climate crisis. He is a horror-show, through and through.”</div><div>
</div><div>=</div>=<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/27/headlines/insect_populations_plummet_amid_urbanization_and_deforestation" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/27/headlines/insect_populations_plummet_amid_urbanization_and_deforestation</a>= Endangered species at heart of environmental groups’ challenge Three California-based conservation advocates sued the EPA for endangering wildlife and public health as a result of exposure to a carcinogenic insecticide.The lawsuit—filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Environmental Health, and Californians for Pesticide Reform—alleges that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to properly weigh impacts on rare species from a chemical they call both a carcinogen and a neurotoxin
malathion----
FMC to buy DuPont's pesticide business <div></div><div><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body css-listicle-body-2644865096" style="margin-top: -15px; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="body-description" style="clear: both;">Talk is cheap, says the acting executive secretary of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, who begged governments around the world to make sure that 2020 is not another year of conferences and empty promises, but instead is the year to take decisive action to stop the mass <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/species-extinction" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">extinction of wildlife</a> and the destruction of habitat-sustaining ecosystems, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/humans-risk-living-in-an-empty-world-warns-un-biodiversity-chief-aoe" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a> reported.<a href="https://www.cbd.int/secretariat/executive-secretary/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Acting Executive Secretary Elizabeth Maruma Mrema</a> warned that the absence of concrete action to stop <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">deforestation</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pollution" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">pollution</a> and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">climate crisis</a> will mean that humanity has given up on the planet.<div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-1" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/world-economic-forum-climate-crisis-empty-world-2644865096.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" data-id="1" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem1">Mrema who grew up in Tanzania near Mount Kilimanjaro has seen the streams near her childhood home dry up, turning a fertile forest into bare land, she said to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/humans-risk-living-in-an-empty-world-warns-un-biodiversity-chief-aoe" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a>.Her stark assessment of an empty world came just ahead of the Davos World Economic Forum, which starts on Wednesday. The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/davos-thunberg-trump-climate-change-2644863489.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">climate crisis is expected</a> to take center stage.The World Economic Forum said this year that climate-related risks overshadow all other risks, and it placed loss of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">biodiversity</a> as the third biggest risk to the world, ahead of infectious diseases, terrorism and war between countries. It was only outranked by other climate-related threats, with <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">extreme weather</a> as the top threat, followed by a failure to adapt and mitigate the climate crisis, according to the <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/what-s-missing-from-the-2020-global-risks-report/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">World Economic Forum</a>."For the first time in the history of the Global Risks Perception Survey, environmental concerns dominate the top long-term risks by likelihood among members of the World Economic Forum's multistakeholder community," according to the executive summary of the Forum's <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-report-2020/executive-summary/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">2020 Global Risks Report</a>.</div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-2" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/world-economic-forum-climate-crisis-empty-world-2644865096.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" data-id="2" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem2" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mrema is tasked with creating an international agreement to protect nature on the scale of the 2015 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Paris agreement</a>. She noted in urgency that the disappearance of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coral-reefs" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">coral reefs</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rainforests" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">rainforests</a> and other life supporting ecosystems will lead to an "empty world" and have "catastrophic" consequences for societies, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/humans-risk-living-in-an-empty-world-warns-un-biodiversity-chief-aoe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a>."People's lives depend on biodiversity in ways that are not always apparent or appreciated. Human health ultimately depends on ecosystem services: the availability of fresh water, fuel, food sources. All these are prerequisites for human health and livelihoods," she said to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/humans-risk-living-in-an-empty-world-warns-un-biodiversity-chief-aoe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a> in an exclusive interview.Scientists have warned that human-activity is fueling the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sixth-mass-extinction" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">sixth mass extinction</a> in history as animals and plants are disappearing at rates tens to hundreds of times faster than at any point in the last 10 million years. In fact, researchers predict that nearly 1,000 species will be lost over the next century and animal size will decrease 25 percent, as conditions favor smaller more adaptable animals, according to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-shrinking-animals-2638682794.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1" target="self" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">EcoWatch</a>.In October, governments will meet in China to formalize an agreement on protecting biodiversity. The draft proposal released last week calls for a modest commitment to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/un-biodiversity-sixth-mass-extinction-2644807009.html?rebelltitem=1" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">protect at least 30 percent of the planet</a>, controlling invasive species and reducing pollution from plastic waste, according to the draft from the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/conferences/post2020/wg2020-02/documents" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">Convention on Biological Diversity</a>, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/humans-risk-living-in-an-empty-world-warns-un-biodiversity-chief-aoe" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a> reported.</div><div class="rebellt-item col1" data-basename="particle-3" data-href="https://www.ecowatch.com/world-economic-forum-climate-crisis-empty-world-2644865096.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3" data-id="3" data-is-image="False" data-reload-ads="false" id="rebelltitem3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mrema told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/humans-risk-living-in-an-empty-world-warns-un-biodiversity-chief-aoe" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a> she hopes the attendees will negotiate a more rigorous and ambitious agreement. However, if this modest one fails, the consequences will be dire."The risks will be major," she said to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/20/humans-risk-living-in-an-empty-world-warns-un-biodiversity-chief-aoe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5;">The Guardian</a>. "One is that we will not have listened to the science and the evidence provided. Because we will not have listened, it means the global community will have said: let biodiversity loss continue, let people continue to die, let the degradation continue, deforestation continue, pollution continue, and we'll have given up as an international community to save the planet. I hope that's not where any of us would want to be."</div><div class="post-pager js-listicle-pager" data-listicle-style="" data-async_load_parameters="platform=desktop&display_ads=1&settings=%7B%22enter_url%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_post_section%22%3A+false%2C+%22ads_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22prevent_last_break_repetition%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_numeration%22%3A+false%2C+%22allow_url_change%22%3A+true%2C+%22ads_order%22%3A+%5B%5D%2C+%22pagination_order%22%3A+%5B%5D%2C+%22list_breaks%22%3A+null%2C+%22reorder_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22cooldown_in_seconds%22%3A+null%2C+%22source%22%3A+%22post_listicle_settings%22%2C+%22next_post_url%22%3A+null%2C+%22up_down_voting%22%3A+false%2C+%22show_columns_on_mobile%22%3A+false%2C+%22numeration_sort%22%3A+-1%2C+%22allow_url_update%22%3A+true%2C+%22use_pagination%22%3A+false%2C+%22body_text_above%22%3A+false%2C+%22use_ads%22%3A+false%2C+%22items_as_posts%22%3A+false%2C+%22multiple_answers%22%3A+false%2C+%22no_redirect%22%3A+false%2C+%22is_guest_voting_allowed%22%3A+true%2C+%22layout_type%22%3A+1%7D" style="display: table; width: 780px;"><div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 5px !important;"><div class="from-your-siteheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; visibility: hidden !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/un-biodiversity-sixth-mass-extinction-2644807009.html?rebelltitem=1" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">The UN Wants to Protect 30% of the Planet by 2030 - EcoWatch ›</a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/earth-sixth-mass-extinction-2457269841.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction Already Underway - EcoWatch ›</a></li><li class="from-your-siteitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change-global-risk-wef-2644819254.html" class="from-your-sitelink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Climate Change Named Biggest Global Threat in New WEF Risks ... ›</a></li></ul><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase; visibility: hidden; margin-top: 20px !important; margin-bottom: -5px !important;"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/19/davos-climate-crisis-threatens-more-than-half-of-the-worlds-gdp-wef-says.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Davos: Climate crisis threatens more than half of the world's GDP ... ›</a></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/14/business/private-jets-davos-climate/index.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-color: rgb(82, 149, 70); line-height: 1.5; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;">Davos VIPs are worried about the climate crisis. They're still using ... ›</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div class="tags" style="margin: 20px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">wildlife</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/species-extinction" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">species extinction</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">deforestation</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pollution" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">pollution</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/davos-world-economic-forum" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">davos world economic forum</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/biodiversity" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">biodiversity</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/extreme-weather" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">extreme weather</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">paris agreement</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coral-reefs" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">coral reefs</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rainforests" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">rainforests</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sixth-mass-extinction" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">sixth mass extinction</a> <a class="tagsitem" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" style="text-decoration-line: none; margin: 4px 2px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1; border-radius: 20px; border: 2px solid rgb(232, 232, 232); padding: 6px 11px;">climate crisis</a></div></div><div>=</div><header style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 165px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; position: relative;"><div class="article--header" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; float: none; line-height: 1em;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/biodiversity-helps-coral-reefs-thrive-and-could-be-part-of-strategies-to-save-them-111723" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Biodiversity helps coral reefs thrive – and could be part of strategies to save them</a></h2><p class="byline" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 1.2; clear: both;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/cody-clements-676986" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">Cody Clements</a>, <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Georgia Institute of Technology</div></header><div class="content" data-raw="" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 165px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">In a study that cultivated coral 'gardens' with varying numbers of species, plots with more species were healthier. This finding could inform strategies to help coral reefs survive climate change.</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/emergency-trump-epa-pesticides-2638979880.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/emergency-trump-epa-pesticides-2638979880.html</a></div><div>
</div><div><div>no lnx many</div><div>
</div><div>Trump EPA OKs ‘Emergency’ Use of Bee-Killing Pesticide on 13.9 Million Acres</div><div>Jordan Simmons Jun. 25, 2019 01:08PM EST POLITICS</div><div>
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</div><div>More than 40 percent of insects could go extinct globally in the next few decades. So why did the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week OK the 'emergency' use of the bee-killing pesticide sulfoxaflor on 13.9 million acres?</div><div>
</div><div>EcoWatch teamed up with Center for Biological Diversity via EcoWatch Live on Facebook to find out why. Environmental Health Director and Senior Attorney Lori Ann Burd explained how there is a loophole in the The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act under section 18, "that allows for entities and states to request emergency exemptions to spraying pesticides where they otherwise wouldn't be allowed to spray."</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>In a press release sent to EcoWatch, the Center for Biological Diversity stated:</div><div>
</div><div>The approval includes 2019 crops of cotton and sorghum in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Ten of the 11 states have been granted the approvals for at least four consecutive years for the same "emergency." Five have been given approvals for at least six consecutive years.</div><div>If an occurrence is happening six years in a row, does that justify an emergency?</div><div>
</div><div>"This administration has been grossly abusing this exemption to allow the use of this one pesticide called sulfoxaflor on a vast acreage year after year," said Burd.</div><div>
</div><div>Our biodiversity is at serious risk. For example, in Texas — where 5.8 million acres got emergency exemption to spray — more than 800 native bee species and eight species of bumblebees reside. It is also an important migration route for monarch butterflies.</div><div>
</div><div>"Monarch butterflies and eight species of bumblebees do overlap with Texas counties where there is sulfoxaflor spraying," said Burd. "Even at subacute, very low doses, sufoxaflor will have a very dramatic effect on bumblebee reproduction." The purpose of sulfoxaflor is to kill insects.</div><div>
</div><div>Farmers have only gotten away with spraying sulfoxaflor because they were granted emergency. The EPA has not approved the lethal insecticide sulfoxaflor to be used on sorghum because it is known to attract bees. At one point the EPA did allow the use of sulfoxaflor on cotton, however the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated the approval — the result of a lawsuit brought to them by beekeepers.</div><div>
</div><div>In a summary following the vacated approval in 2015, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit published conclusions:</div><div>
</div><div>The panel held that because the EPA's decision to unconditionally register sulfoxaflor was based on flawed and limited data, the EPA's unconditional approval was not supported by substantial evidence. The panel vacated the EPA's unconditional registration because given the precariousness of bee populations, leaving the EPA's registration of sulfoxaflor in place risked more potential environmental harm than vacating it.</div></div>=not all reg here, but links
<div>=</div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; overflow-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-expansion-for-bee-toxic-pesticide-2611914615.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;">EPA Considers 300,000-Acre Expansion for Bee-Toxic Pesticide</a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2611914615" data-authors="Center for Biological Diversity" data-headline="EPA Considers 300,000-Acre Expansion for Bee-Toxic Pesticide" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><div class="widgetbrief">The Center for Biological Diversity Thursday <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/pesticides_reduction/pdfs/FlupyComments_Tobacco2018.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">urged</a> the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to deny Bayer CropScience's request to allow the highly bee-toxic pesticide flupyradifurone to be sprayed on tobacco in states like Kentucky and North Carolina.</div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: 0px; overflow: hidden; opacity: 0;"><div class="widgetshow-more with-primary-color js-keep-reading js-page-view-and-reload-embeds" style="cursor: pointer; border-radius: 15px; float: left; padding: 7px; font-weight: 600; background-color: rgb(240, 240, 240);">Keep reading...</div></div></div></div><div>
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</div><div></div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/heres-one-astonishing-fact-about-earths-biological-diversity-truly-out-world">https://www.alternet.org/heres-one-astonishing-fact-about-earths-biological-diversity-truly-out-world</a>aeonFor centuries, humans have endeavoured to discover and describe the sum of Earth’s biological diversity. Scientists and naturalists have catalogued species from all continents and oceans, from the depths of Earth’s crust to the highest mountains, and from the most remote jungles to our most populated cities. This grand effort sheds light on the forms and behaviours that evolution has made possible, while serving as the foundation for understanding the common descent of life. Until recently, our planet was thought to be inhabited by nearly 10 million species (107). Though no small number, this estimate is based almost solely on species that can be seen with the naked eye.What about smaller species such as bacteria, archaea, protists and fungi? Collectively, these microbial taxa are the most abundant, widespread and longest-evolving forms of life on the planet. What is their contribution to global biodiversity? When microorganisms are taken into account, recent <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/113/21/5970" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">studies</a>suggest that Earth might be home to a staggering 1 trillion (1012) species. If true, then the grand effort to discover Earth’s biodiversity has only come within a 1,000th of 1 per cent of all species on the planet.Estimating microbial diversity even in the most ordinary of habitats presents a unique set of challenges. For more than a century, scientists identified microbial species by first culturing them on Petri dishes and then characterising cellular properties, along with aspects of their physiology such as thermal tolerances, the substrates they consume, or the enzymes they produce. Such approaches dramatically underestimate diversity, not only because it is difficult to grow the vast majority of microorganisms, but also because unrelated microbial species can perform similar functions and are unlikely to be distinguished by their appearance.<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-bottom: 20px;">During the mid-1990s, a growing number of microbiologists began to abandon cultivation techniques in favour of identifying organisms by directly sequencing nucleic acids – DNA – from ocean water, leaf surfaces, wetland sediments, and even the biofilms inside of showerheads. Over the past decade, these methods have been dramatically refined so that millions of individual microbes can be sampled at once. With this high-throughput approach, we have learned that a single gramme of agricultural soil can routinely contain more than 10,000 species. Similarly, we <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4991899/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">know</a> that nearly 10 trillion (1013) bacterial cells make up a human’s microbiome. These microbes not only aid in their host’s digestion and nutrition, but also represent an extension of its immune system. Looking beyond ourselves, microbes are found in Earth’s crust, its atmosphere, and the full depth of its oceans and ice caps. In total, the estimated number of microbial cells on Earth hovers around a nonillion (1030), a number that outstrips imagination and exceeds the estimated number of stars in the Universe. Naturally, this begs the question of how many species might actually exist.Long lists of species have been made for nearly every ecosystem on Earth, with nearly 20,000 plant and animal species <a href="https://www.esf.edu/species/SOS.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">discovered</a> each year. Many of these species happen to be beetles, but reports of rodents, fish, reptiles and even primates are not uncommon. While exciting to biologists and the public alike, new plant and animal species contribute only around 2 per cent per year to the total number of species, a sign that we might be approaching a near-complete census of those organisms on the planet.In sharp contrast, deep lineages containing untold species are being described at a rapid rate in the microbial world. A few years ago, from a single aquifer in Colorado, scientists <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14486" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">found</a> 35 new bacterial phyla; a phylum is a broad group containing thousands, tens of thousands or, for microbes, even millions of related species. The phyla discovered in that one aquifer amounted to 15 per cent of all previously recognised bacterial phyla on Earth. To put this in context, humans belong to the phylum Chordata, but so do more than 65,000 other species of animals that possess a notochord (or skeletal rod), including mammals, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and tunicates. Such findings suggest that we are at the tip of the iceberg in terms of describing diversity of the microbial biosphere....<div style="">=</div><div style="">
</div><div style="">omfg</div><div style="">
</div><div style=""><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bee-killing-pesticides-in-national-wildlife-refuges-2593236939.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/bee-killing-pesticides-in-national-wildlife-refuges-2593236939.html</a></div><div style="">
</div><div style="">trump Admin Reverses Ban on 'Bee-Killing' Pesticides in National Wildlife Refuges</div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2593236939" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="Trump Admin Reverses Ban on 'Bee-Killing' Pesticides in National Wildlife Refuges" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description">The <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="self" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> administration has lifted an Obama-era ban on the use of genetically modified crops and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pesticides" target="self" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">pesticides</a> linked to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/bees" target="self" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">bee</a> decline in certain national wildlife refuges where farming is allowed, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wildlife-pesticides/trump-administration-lifts-gmo-crop-ban-for-us-wildlife-refuges-idUSKBN1KP01K" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Reuters reported Saturday</a>.In a <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/pesticides_reduction/pdfs/2018-8-2-FWS-memo-GMO-Neonics-on-wildlife-refuges.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">memo</a> signed Aug. 2, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Principal Deputy Director Gregory J. Sheehan said the move was necessary to provide adequate food for waterfowl."There may be situations, however, where use of GMO crop seeds is essential to best fulfill the purposes of the refuge and the needs of birds and other <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildlife</a>," Sheehan wrote.Boosting waterfowl populations dovetails with the interests of sportspeople who hunt ducks and other birds, and Interior Secretary <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a> has made expanding hunting on national lands a priority, Reuters reported.But environmental groups argue the decision comes at the expense of other species."Industrial agriculture has no place on public lands dedicated to conservation of biological diversity and the protection of our most vulnerable species, including pollinators like bumble bees and monarch butterflies. The Trump administration's approval to use toxic pesticides and genetically modified crops is an insult to our national wildlife refuges and the wildlife that rely on them," President and CEO of <a href="https://defenders.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Defenders of Wildlife</a> <a href="https://defenders.org/staff/jamie-rappaport-clark" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">J</a>amie Rappaport Clark said in a <a href="https://newsroom.defenders.org/trump-administration-opens-national-wildlife-refuges-to-pollinator-poisons-and-harmful-gmos/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">statement</a>.The pesticides in question, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/neonicotinoids" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">neonicotinoids</a>, have been <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bees-neonicotinoids-ban-europe-2563782231.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">banned in the EU</a> after research linked them to the decline in the populations of bees and other pollinators.Jim Kurth, head of the refuge system under Obama, announced the ban in 2014, arguing that the use of neonicotinoids led to plants whose tissues harmed "non-target" species. Moreover, he said that "refuges throughout the country successfully meet wildlife management objectives without" genetically modified crops or the pesticides they are engineered to withstand, Reuters reported.Defenders of Wildlife further noted that the populations of game birds like geese and ducks are currently doing fine without the help of genetically modified crops.Sheehan, however, has reversed the blanket ban and said that the use of genetically modified crops and neonicotinoids would be considered in the more than 50 farming-friendly refuges on a case-by-case basis.The move came a day after California's Department of Pesticide Regulation released a <a href="https://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/registration/reevaluation/chemicals/neonicotinoid_risk_determination.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">risk assessment</a> finding that the use of four neonicotinoids on certain crops, including the corn and sorghum often grown in refuges, could cause more harm to pollinators than previously thought, <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/pesticides-gmos-national-wildlife-refuges-08-04-2018.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Center for Biological Diversity reported</a>."Agricultural pesticides, especially bee-killing neonics, have no place on our national wildlife refuges," senior <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Biological Diversity</a> attorney Hannah Connor said. "This huge backward step will harm bees and other pollinators already in steep decline simply to appease pesticide-makers and promote mono-culture farming techniques that trigger increased pesticide use. It's senseless and shameful."</div></div><div style="">
</div><div style="">=</div>omfg-s<a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/25/profit_over_grizzlies_trump_admin_tries">https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/25/profit_over_grizzlies_trump_admin_tries</a>---dn<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">GONZÁLEZ: Well, you mentioned greenhouse gas emissions, but the Trump administration is also seeking to revoke California’s authority to set its own tougher automobile emissions standards. On Tuesday, acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said the U.S. needs a single standard for fuel efficiency for cars and trucks.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">KIERÁN SUCKLING: Yeah, this is really outrageous, because the way our Clean Air Act works is it allows states to set standards if they’re higher than the federal government. And so, for 48 years running now, California has had a higher standard. It’s had that through administrations Democratic and Republican, conservative and liberal. No one’s had a problem with it, until Trump. And so, partly, this is his effect—efforts to reduce any attempt to control global warming, but it’s also clearly a personal agenda to attack California, which he believes is just generally a hostile element to him personally, and so, consequently, we have this incredibly irrational act, especially when, for example, you’ve got Barrasso talking about state’s rights: “Let’s empower the states.” Well, these Republicans only want to empower the states when the states have a lower protective standard. The second a state has a higher standard, all of a sudden all concerns about state rights go out the window, and we have to go to a federal single authority that’s going to reduce environmental protection.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">AMY GOODMAN: Kierán, what about the record of the interior secretary, Ryan Zinke? You have ThinkProgress <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/interior-zinke-public-lands-oil-drilling-d8a4cc51c5d2/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; border: 0px;">saying</a> documents released by the Department of Interior, then retracted a day later, revealed the agency officials dismissed evidence that public lands provide numerous benefits in favor of prioritizing fossil fuel interests, along with ranching and logging, and then CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/19/politics/zinke-calendar-omissions/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; border: 0px;">reporting</a> Zinke is meeting with people that are not on the public record. For example, met with Congressman Chris Collins, a New York Republican, who was the first in Congress to endorse Trump’s presidential candidacy. That was according to the official calendar. But Zinke’s calendar didn’t show who else was in the room: three representatives of a company that do business with the National Park Service—one of about of a dozen instances uncovered by CNN of Zinke’s calendar omitting who he’s actually meeting with.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">KIERÁN SUCKLING: Yeah. Zinke, I think, is going to go down as one of the worst interior secretaries in history. And his actions are very, very similar to what Scott Pruitt was doing over at EPA before he was forced to resign. And that is that he’s aggressively trying to avoid all environmental laws. He’s meeting with industry groups constantly and then hiding that, rather than simply admitting to what he’s doing in public. And the agenda is always the same: You know, what can he do to allow public lands to be destroyed? What can he do to allow more oil and gas drilling, even if it’s polluting local communities, poisoning children? It’s really a disaster.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">He has turned this agency, which is supposed to be in charge of America’s land, air, water and species, into a handout program for industry, and then going so far as to just erase all this from his calendar, from his meeting notes, to take decisions from lower officials who are trying to do their job, and erase all references to issues which harms their agenda. And in particular what you’ll see is that protecting public lands, especially on national monuments, is really good for local economies, but instead they’ll erase all that information and say, “Oh, this is hurting local economies.” And it’s not just immoral, it’s illegal. And it’s the reason why this agency gets sued so much.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And staying on the Interior Department and Zinke, the department has also commissioned an expedited environmental review of the impact of leasing part of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Now, this is a decades-long battle that the industry, the oil and gas industry, has not been able to win. What is happening here? And what could be the potential impact of this new expedited review?<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">KIERÁN SUCKLING: Yeah, this is very concerning. The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, off the coast of Alaska, has been sought after by the oil industry for many, many decades now and has always been stopped, because it’s such a crown jewel of environmental protection, and there are so many other areas available for drilling. So, Zinke now has expedited efforts to review proposed drilling up there, brought on millions of dollars of new money, which apparently don’t exist to do anything else in government, more staff, and he wants to push through, at a very rapid clip, a decision to open this up to more drilling. And he’s throwing all the environmental standards, review processes out the window. And I think it’s partly because he knows time is limited up there for him, and he wants this to become his legacy, the guy who opened up America’s biggest, most important wildlife refuge to oil drilling.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">AMY GOODMAN: Kierán Suckling, we are speaking to you in Portland, Oregon. In Yosemite right now, the national park, thousands of people are being evacuated because of terrible wildfires. I want to ask you about something else that happened in Oregon. Earlier this month, Donald Trump pardoned Dwight Hammond and his son Steven Hammond, two Oregon cattle ranchers who were convicted in 2012 of committing arson on federal lands. Prosecutors say the Hammonds set the fires to cover up their illegal deer poaching. Their conviction sparked armed right-wing militiamen, led by Ammon Bundy, to take over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, provoking a 41-day armed standoff in 2016. Can you comment on this and what message President Trump was sending with this, these pardons?<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">KIERÁN SUCKLING: This is very disturbing, because the Hammonds not only were arsonists who set fire to our public lands, threatening firefighters who were out there, but have a long history of threatening to kill federal officials. And when the Bundy militia group came up to support them when they were prosecuted, they came up there with the message of not just let’s help the Hammonds, but let’s give all of America’s public lands away to industry and state groups.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">And so, when Trump is pardoning these people, he’s really signaling—sending a signal to this right-wing base to say, “Hey, anti-government extremism, threats of violence against those you don’t like, against the government, are acceptable.” They’re encouraged. And, in fact, earlier, when he pardoned Joe Arpaio, another very controversial action, well, it turns out Joe Arpaio, Sheriff Joe, was also a supporter of this Bundy group and this radical, violent agenda. And I think it goes along with Trump gearing up this violent undercurrent in America to support him and to drive fear into others.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Last week, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh submitted to the Senate his responses to a lengthy questionnaire as part of the confirmation process. Responding to a question about the 10 most significant cases over which he sat, Kavanaugh cited his dissenting opinion in White Stallion Energy Center v. EPA, in which he argued that the EPA must consider financial costs when deciding whether to regulate emissions from power plants. Kavanaugh wrote in the questionnaire, quote, “In my view, it was unreasonable—and therefore unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act—for EPA not to consider the costs imposed by regulations in determining whether such regulations were 'appropriate and necessary.'” I’m wondering your thoughts on, if Judge Kavanaugh is confirmed for the Supreme Court, what the impact of this would be on environmental laws in the future.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">KIERÁN SUCKLING: Well, it would be extraordinary. I mean, Trump has already had one appointee on the Supreme Court. If he gets the second, he will likely be able to control the whole judicial agenda for environmental protection in this country. And that’s incredibly important, because right now the strongest, most powerful force of resistance against Trump is our legal system. And that’s because virtually everything he wants to do is illegal. The people he’s put in place, like Zinke and Pruitt, to carry out his agenda have such disdain for governance. They don’t even know how to do governmental process properly, so they’re continually sued, they’re continually found guilty. And that’s keeping America on track, this independent judiciary. So, if Trump captures the Supreme Court, we’re going to find he’s got an open agenda to do whatever he wants. And so, it’s very, very dangerous and disheartening.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">AMY GOODMAN: We just have a few seconds, but, Kierán Suckling, your organization, the Center for Biological Diversity, has sued the Trump administration 81 times in this last year and a half? Have you had any success?<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">KIERÁN SUCKLING: Yeah, we’ve actually won most of those cases. It’s been about one a week. And of those that have completed, we’ve won most of those cases. And it just shows you the power of our independent legal system and our independent judiciary to address excesses of power, even by the president of the United State=seriously? kneejerk autoresponse? "what about...?" scam?
<a href="https://theconversation.com/green-baiting-lawmakers-are-accusing-environmentalists-of-doubling-as-foreign-agents-98924">https://theconversation.com/green-baiting-lawmakers-are-accusing-environmentalists-of-doubling-as-foreign-agents-98924</a>green-baitingTwo congressional committees led by prominent Republicans are looking into whether some U.S. <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/394303-republicans-target-green-groups-over-foreign-ties" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">environmental groups are acting on behalf of foreign countries</a>.As an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=NMtmNV0AAAAJ&hl=en" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">environmental lawyer and professor</a> with ample international experience, this probe troubles me. I’m concerned that these efforts may mark the start of an attack on free speech that discourages efforts to improve American environmental policies.<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">The probe</h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">News of this investigation broke when Rep. Rob Bishop, who chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, and Rep. Bruce Westerman, who leads the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, formally notified the Natural Resources Defense Council of their concerns in early June.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><a href="https://naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/bishop-westerman_to_nrdc_06.05.18.pdf" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">Their letter</a> accused the NRDC, one of the nation’s biggest environmental groups, of criticizing U.S. environmental policies while engaging in “self-censorship” regarding China and the “ruling Chinese Communist Party.” If it is acting as an agent for Chinese interests, the lawmakers said, the group should register as such as <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usam/criminal-resource-manual-2062-foreign-agents-registration-act-enforcement" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">required by law</a>.Their letter also requested information related to the group’s disclosure policies.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Bishop and Westerman sent the <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/house-republican-targets-second-environmental-group-for-its-work-overseas-15a37e505261/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">Center for Biological Diversity</a> a similar query pertaining to that environmentalist group’s advocacy regarding the U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">And the two Republicans have asked the Pentagon for details and documents regarding the <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL1N1TF2EQ" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">nonprofits suing the military</a> on environmental grounds. The lawmakers acknowledged that these lawsuits may “represent sincere and justified concerns about the effect of federal actions on the environment.” But they also speculated that “foreign adversaries” can perhaps leverage these legal actions to “reduce U.S. defense capabilities.”<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2018/180605-1" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">Bob Deans</a>, the NRDC’s director of strategic engagement, denied that it was doing a foreign country’s bidding. Instead, “we work on behalf of every American to protect our people against dangerous pollution and leave our children a livable world,” he said.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Rather than just refute the allegations, Center for Biological Diversity Executive Director <a href="https://twitter.com/KieranSuckling/status/1009500062735478784" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">Kierán Suckling</a> questioned the motives for this investigation. He called on Bishop “to release all communications between himself and industry groups seeking to destroy America’s natural heritage” and suggested that the Utah Republican was attacking conservation groups at the behest of fossil fuel companies.The probe <a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/394303-republicans-target-green-groups-over-foreign-ties" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">could spread to other environmental groups</a>, The Hill reported.<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">Chinese activities</h2>The NRDC is a U.S.-based nonprofit with offices around the globe with an <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">official mission</a>“to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities.”<a href="https://www.nrdc.org/china" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">The group’s priorities in China</a> are generally the same as what it calls for in America and elsewhere: boosting energy efficiency, cutting coal consumption, and cleaning up ports and waterways.I am somewhat familiar with the NRDC’s work in China because I <a href="http://acoel.org/post/2014/04/18/Winds-of-Change-in-China%E2%80%99s-National-People%E2%80%99s-Congress.aspx" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">traveled there in 2014</a>with two other U.S. environmental lawyers at the NRDC’s request. The group had asked us to meet on an informal basis with Chinese government officials. The purpose of these meetings in Beijng was to explain how the U.S. government handles violations of environmental laws and damages to natural resources. In light of China’s own “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/05/china-pollution-economic-reform-growth-target" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">war on pollution</a>,” their government was looking for good models and guidance.The National People’s Congress subsequently <a href="http://acoel.org/post/2014/09/12/Observations-on-China%E2%80%99s-New-Environmental-Protection-Law.aspx" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">amended Chinese environmental laws</a>, incorporating some of the concepts we discussed – all of which were modeled on the U.S. legal system.There was no hint or suggestion during those meetings that our access to Chinese officials was conditioned on anyone speaking favorably of China’s environmental efforts. Nor was there any reason to expect the NRDC to take any particular political stance back home in the U.S. because of those interactions.Not surprisingly, the <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/media/2016/160315-0" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">NRDC has complimented China</a> for strengthening its environmental laws. But the NRDC has also criticized China’s <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/barbara-finamore/air-pollution-crisis-gives-new-momentum-environmental-regulation-china" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">staggeringly dirty air and water</a> and its vast greenhouse gas emissions.At the same time, the NRDC has gone out of its way <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/stories/7-things-you-can-do-help-nrdc-fight-trumps-agenda" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">to oppose the Trump administration’s environmental deregulation policies</a> – like <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/01/10/more-50-organizations-launch-united-resistance-campaign-trumps-cabinet-hearings" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">most of the nation’s big green groups</a>.<h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;">Okinawa dugongs</h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The Center for Biological Diversity allegedly inappropriate overseas activities have to do with dugongs. The <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/Okinawa_dugong/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">endangered marine mammals</a>, which resemble manatees, inhabit the waters surrounding the Okinawa Islands.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The center, which opposes U.S. military plans to build a new American airbase in Henoko Bay, has been leading coalitions of U.S. and Japanese environmental groups that have filed lawsuits that have <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/08/22/national/crime-legal/9th-u-s-circuit-court-appeals-revives-suit-protect-dugong-habitat-okinawa-base-site/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">delayed and could prevent the planned airbase construction</a>.<figure class="align-center zoomable" style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: relative;"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226365/original/file-20180705-122268-1p3e0kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word; display: block; max-width: 100%;">
</a><div class="enlarge_hint" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: url(" assets="assets" icons="icons" x16search-white-67f83a253e8e71281277c5cf51a362ac.png="x16search-white-67f83a253e8e71281277c5cf51a362ac.png" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgba="rgba" transition="transition" opacity="opacity" s="s" ease-in="ease-in" position="position" absolute="absolute" top="top" px="px" right="right" border-bottom-left-radius="border-bottom-left-radius" border-top-right-radius="border-top-right-radius" width="width" height="height" text-indent="text-indent" em="em" overflow="overflow" hidden="hidden"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226365/original/file-20180705-122268-1p3e0kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word; display: block; max-width: 100%;" /></div><figcaption style="margin: 0px; padding: 6px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; line-height: 18px; cursor: default;"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/226365/original/file-20180705-122268-1p3e0kh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word; display: block; max-width: 100%;">Japanese protesters objecting to American military construction in Okinawa are concerned about the potential impact on dugongs, marine mammals that resemble manatees. </a><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Japan-US-Military/d9c46925d102460987ea95e555353867/11/0" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word; display: inline; max-width: 100%;">AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi</a></figcaption></figure><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The letters to both green groups call on them to comply with the <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2009-title22/pdf/USCODE-2009-title22-chap11-subchapII.pdf" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">Foreign Agents Registration Act</a>. That law requires all people and organizations acting in the U.S. on behalf of foreign countries to register with the Justice Department as foreign agents.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Failing to do this is a crime, but <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usam/criminal-resource-manual-2062-foreign-agents-registration-act-enforcement" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">prosecutions have been rare since 1966</a>. The case against former Trump presidential campaign chairman <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/how-the-manafort-indictment-gave-bite-to-a-toothless-law/544448/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">Paul Manafort and his aide Rick Gates</a>, who are accused of violating this act, is the biggest in years.I believe that requiring these groups to register as foreign agents might hamper their work within the U.S. for two reasons. First, policymakers and lawmakers might suspect that they were more interested in working on behalf of foreign governments and interests than protecting the environment. Second, there could be repercussions in terms of <a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/2015/01/06/10-ways-to-kill-your-nonprofit/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">these nonprofits’ funding</a>, <a href="http://catalystlawllc.com/2017/09/18/legal-considerations-u-s-based-non-profits-operating-overseas/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">finances</a> and <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2018/06/shell-companies-foreign-election-spending/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">reputation</a>.This new GOP strategy can be compared <a href="http://socialsciences.ucdavis.edu/iss-journal/features/red-baiting-and-the-birth-of-modern-conservatism" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">to red-baiting</a>, the practice of persecuting and undermining people by accusing them of being communists, socialists or anarchists, that began in the Cold War. I believe these Republicans are “<a href="https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Anti-environmentalism" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap: break-word;">green-baiting</a>” environmental groups to persecute them. At the same time, they are casting doubt on the real goals of these groups’ advocacy, thereby undermining it.Ultimately, the most dangerous thing about this probe may have to do with free speech rights. Because praising a foreign country’s environmental record while criticizing U.S. policy is possible without committing treason, the only rationale I can find for this investigation is that it might stifle environmentalists.---insects 115k studied<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17052018/climate-change-animal-extinction-global-warming-habitat-loss-plants-biodiversity-paris-agreement">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17052018/climate-change-animal-extinction-global-warming-habitat-loss-plants-biodiversity-paris-agreement</a>=<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-approval-2538558599.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/keystone-xl-approval-2538558599.html</a><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Inside the Trump Admin's Fight to Keep the Keystone XL Approval Process Secret</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2538558599" data-authors="DeSmogBlog" data-headline="Inside the Trump Admin's Fight to Keep the Keystone XL Approval Process Secret" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description">By Steve HornAt a <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Order%20on%20Confidentiality%20Order%20Hearing.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Feb. 21 hearing</a>, a U.S. District Court judge ruled that the Trump administration must either fork over documents showing how the U.S. Department of State reversed an earlier decision and ultimately came to approve the <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5857" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Keystone XL pipeline</a>, or else provide a substantial legal reason for continuing to withhold them. The federal government has an <a href="https://apnews.com/2b64dbbfd05d4674972c64b8ec4cfd4d/Judge-orders-gov't-review-of-Keystone-pipeline-documents" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">order to deliver the goods</a>, one way or the other, by March 21.DeSmog has reviewed the court evidence from the environmental groups bringing the case, records which help illuminate their argument that the government is, in fact, withholding such documents. The judge will decide if those documents, legally, should be made public.The case, which <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/IEN%20v.%20State%20Department%20Complaint.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">began in March 2017</a>, pits the Indigenous Environmental Network and the North Coast River Alliance against the State Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Department of interior and <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5420" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">TransCanada</a>, the owner of Keystone XL. During his first week in office, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/donald-trump" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a> signed a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/presidential-memorandum-regarding-construction-keystone-xl-pipeline/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">memorandum</a>calling for the State Department to perform an expedited 60-day permit review of the pipeline. Two months later, the State Department gave Keystone XL the <a href="https://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/269323.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">permit it needed</a> to cross the U.S.-Canada border.Under the Obama administration, the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Alberta's <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/2632" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">tar sands</a>, underwent a years-long environmental review process which culminated in President Barack Obama <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2015/11/06/victory-obama-rejects-scandal-ridden-keystone-xl-tar-sands-pipeline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">nixing it in November 2015</a>. For the better part of the past decade, the pipeline has served as a central mobilizing force for the environmental movement.Dispute Over RecordsAt the center of this case is a dispute over the administrative records of federal agencies, which in other lawsuits are routinely made public as part of the pre-trial process.Generally, releasing such documents gives a snapshot of the full deliberative process behind federal agencies' decisions. DeSmog, in fact, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2015/04/20/emails-state-department-secretly-approved-expansion-enbridge-keystone-xl-clone" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">published a story on such documents</a> in 2015 related to a different tar sands pipeline project, which involved Enbridge's <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/12487" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Alberta Clipper</a> (also known as Line 67), part of a broader pipeline system DeSmog calls the "<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/17587" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Keystone XLClone</a>."In the TransCanada case, the State Department has argued for keeping these pre-trial records sealed while the plaintiffs, the environmental groups, have argued they should be made public. These documents, which might include emails and memos, would offer the plaintiffs and the general public an idea of how the Trump administration decided to approve the Keystone XL.The plaintiffs say that not all of those records have been turned over."Federal Defendants have wrongly omitted an unknown number of emails and other internal communications considered by the agencies during their review of the Keystone XL pipeline," the plaintiffs in the case argued in court documents on Jan. 8.In an <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/Declaration%20of%20Cecilia%20Segal%20.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">affidavit exhibited</a> as part of that filing, Cecilia Segal, an attorney for one of the plaintiffs, cited a Dec. 19 phone call she had with the federal defendants, in which they said that agency emails and other records do not need to be disclosed as part of the case.Another letter exhibited as part of the Jan. 8 filing, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/CBD%20Nov%2030%20Letter.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">written on Nov. 30 by attorneys</a> for the Center for Biological Diversity, further complained that the documents already handed over were not adequately comprehensive or organized in a manner useful for the case. And many documents, they allege, seem to be missing entirely and without explanation."We are concerned that both the State Department and Service have withheld records as privileged without identifying and certifying them on a privilege log," wrote the attorneys.</div></div>=-<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking-waste-gulf-of-mexico-2515883905.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/fracking-waste-gulf-of-mexico-2515883905.html</a><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Lawsuit Launched Against Trump EPA for Approving Fracking Waste Dumping Into Gulf of Mexico</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2515883905" data-authors="Center for Biological Diversity" data-headline="Lawsuit Launched Against Trump EPA for Approving Fracking Waste Dumping Into Gulf of Mexico" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description">The <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Biological Diversity</a> filed on Thursday a formal <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/offshore_fracking/pdfs/NOI_EPA_Gulf_of_Mexico_NPDES_Permit_12-7-17.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">notice</a> of intent to sue the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> administration for allowing oil companies to dump waste from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/fracking/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">fracking</a> and drilling into the Gulf of Mexico without evaluating the dangers to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-turtles" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sea turtles</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whales" style="text-decoration-line: none;">whales</a> or other imperiled <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" style="text-decoration-line: none;">marine life</a>.In September the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a>) finalized a Clean Water Act permit for new and existing <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling" style="text-decoration-line: none;">offshore oil</a> and gas platforms operating in federal waters off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. The permit allows oil companies to dump unlimited amounts of waste fluid, including chemicals involved in fracking, into the Gulf of Mexico."The Trump administration is letting the oil industry turn our <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oceans" style="text-decoration-line: none;">oceans</a> into toxic-waste dumps. The EPA's supposed to protect water quality, not help pollute the Gulf," said Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "It's time for the courts to remind this agency that its mission is to safeguard the environment and public health."Thursday's notice letter highlighted the fact that the agency's approval of the permit without studying risks to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">imperiled species</a> in the Gulf of Mexico is a violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.Fracking chemicals and other contaminants in produced water raise grave ecological concerns because the Gulf of Mexico provides important habitat for whales, sea turtles and fish—as well as being federally designated critical habitat for imperiled loggerhead sea turtles. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dolphins" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Dolphins</a> and other species in the Gulf are still suffering the lingering destructive effects of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.Federal waters off Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi host the largest concentration of offshore oil and gas drilling activities in the country. Previous records requests revealed that oil companies dumped more than 75 billion gallons of <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wastewater" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wastewater</a> into these waters in 2014 alone. Records also show that fracking has been on the rise in the Gulf of Mexico, and the EPA has failed to conduct any meaningful review of the environmental impacts of dumping fracking waste into the water.In October the Trump administration announced plans to auction off more than 76 million acres of Gulf of Mexico waters to oil companies. That lease sale, which is scheduled for March 2018, will be the largest oil sale in U.S. history. It includes federal waters off the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida and could vastly expand drilling and fracking in the Gulf."Only the courts can stop Trump's assault on our oceans," Monsell said. "Oil-industry pollution was already a problem in the Gulf, but this administration isn't even trying to protect wildlife from fracking chemicals. We need to fight back on behalf of marine wildlife."At least 10 fracking chemicals routinely used in offshore fracking could kill or harm a broad variety of marine species, including marine mammals and fish, Center for Biological Diversity scientists have <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2014/fracking-09-11-2014.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">found</a>. The California Council on Science and Technology has identified some common fracking chemicals to be among the most <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/toxics" style="text-decoration-line: none;">toxic</a> in the world to marine animals.Today's 60-day notice of intent to sue is required before a lawsuit can be filed to compel the federal government to comply with the Endangered Species Act.</div></div> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/elephants-lions-trump-2511386998.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/elephants-lions-trump-2511386998.html</a><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Over New Elephant and Lion Trophy Policies, Still in Effect Despite Trump's Tweets</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2511386998" data-authors="Center for Biological Diversity" data-headline="Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Over New Elephant and Lion Trophy Policies, Still in Effect Despite Trump's Tweets" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Center for Biological Diversity</a> and <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Natural Resources Defense Council</a> sued the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> administration Monday for allowing U.S. hunters to import <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/elephants" style="text-decoration-line: none;">elephant</a> and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lions" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lion</a> trophies from Zimbabwe. The <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/pdfs/Complaint_Zimbabwe_Elephant_and_Lion_Imports.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lawsuit</a> aims to protect animals and resolve confusion created by the administration's contradictory announcements in recent days.The suit comes days after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service abruptly reversed an Obama-era ban on elephant trophy imports based on catastrophic <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/African_elephants/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">elephant population</a> declines. Fish and Wildlife also recently greenlighted lion trophy imports from Zimbabwe, despite the controversial killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe in 2015.After massive public outcry, including from established Republican politicians and pundits, President Trump and Interior Sec. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a> announced a "hold" on issuing elephant trophy import permits late Friday night. President Trump suggested on Twitter that a new big-game trophy decision would be forthcoming. Unfortunately, the new federal policies allowing imports of elephant and lion trophies—referred to as "positive enhancement findings" under the U.S. Endangered Species Act—remain in effect."The Trump administration must clearly and permanently halt imports of lion and elephant trophies to protect these amazing animals from extinction," said Tanya Sanerib, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Trump's abrupt backpedaling after public outcry, while appreciated, shows how arbitrary this deplorable decision was. These incredibly imperiled creatures need a lot more than vague promises."...</div></div>=<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-budget-wildlife-2505448120.html?">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-budget-wildlife-2505448120.html</a><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Trump Budget Undercuts U.S. Commitment to Global Wildlife Conservation</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2505448120" data-authors="Mongabay" data-headline="Trump Budget Undercuts U.S. Commitment to Global Wildlife Conservation" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description">By William H. FunkProposed funding cuts to environmental programs in President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump's</a> proposed 2018 budget have drawn anxious attention from around the world. But while the biggest numbers deal with rolling back the Obama administration's <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">climate change</a> initiatives, more subtle withdrawals of federal support from lesser known international programs threaten the continued existence of some of the planet's most iconic <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/animals/" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">animals</a>.President Trump's 2018 budget proposes a 32 percent across-the-board shrinkage of U.S. foreign assistance, affecting hundreds of sustainability, health and environmental programs.As comparatively paltry as a few million dollars retracted here and there from a $1.15 trillion federal budget may seem, for those desperately striving through underfunded programs to preserve the world's <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildlife</a>, the loss of monetary and moral support from the U.S. could be devastating.And wildlife wouldn't be the only victims. The societal havoc wreaked by unchallenged trafficking cartels, and the loss of important tourist income due to vanished <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/elephants" style="text-decoration-line: none;">elephants</a>, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lions" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lions</a> and giraffes resulting in abandoned safaris, could directly impact poor communities in Africa and Asia.It remains to be seen if the U.S. Congress will embrace Trump's draconian cuts for 2018. But even if the legislature disallows the reductions next year, the administration still has between three and seven years left to run. And it seems unlikely that the president will shift very far away from his professed "America First" policies...</div></div><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/invasive-species-are-killing-people-decimating-wildlife-and-costing-billions-dollars">http://www.alternet.org/environment/invasive-species-are-killing-people-decimating-wildlife-and-costing-billions-dollars</a>=<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bluefin-tuna-endangered-species-2470265690.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/bluefin-tuna-endangered-species-2470265690.html</a><div style=""></div><div style="">
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=</div></div><div style=""><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09052017/foia-donald-trump-interior-department-missing-climate-change-data-websites">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09052017/foia-donald-trump-interior-department-missing-climate-change-data-websites</a></div><div style="">
</div><div style="">As <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/tags/donald-trump" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Donald Trump</a>'s administration continues to strip <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">climate change</a> information from federal websites, two advocacy groups and a conservation biologist are using a novel technique to try to force the government to republish the pages.A new provision in open records law, added by Congress last year, requires agencies to publish electronically any information that is<a href="https://www.justice.gov/oip/freedom-information-act-5-usc-552" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> requested at least three times through the federal Freedom of Information Act</a>, so long as that information is not otherwise exempt from disclosure. Last week, the advocacy groups and the biologist submitted identical requests for climate change information, hoping to trigger that provision, and they just might succeed."The law is pretty explicit," said Aaron Mackey, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes transparency. "The law just says, if you get three, then you have to affirmatively disclose it. This should work."The effort by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Center for Media and Democracy, and Stuart Pimm, a professor at Duke University, is the latest in a broad campaign by scientists and advocates to cache federal data about climate change and other topics that they fear may be deleted by the Trump administration.Volunteers have gathered for<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19012017/climate-change-data-science-denial-donald-trump" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> massive "data rescue" events</a> to download information. Advocates have sued. Now, the groups are trying to use the Freedom of Information Act and the new provision to get the government, starting with the Interior Department, to re-post its old climate change webpages.Last month, the <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-interior-department-scrubbed-its-climate-change-page-doi-zinke" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Department of Interior quietly edited its climate change</a> page, removing an <a href="https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20170226013128/https://www.doi.gov/climate" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">extensive discussion</a> of the effects of global warming and the department's work on the issue and replacing it with <a href="https://www.doi.gov/climate" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">two short paragraphs</a> that do not discuss any details of the impacts of climate change. Instead, it provided links to its bureau's climate change pages, including the <a href="https://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/climatechange.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">page of the Bureau of Land Management</a>,  which no longer exists, and others that have been edited."The changes basically remove any information about the causes of climate change, most notably mankind's contribution of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere," said Amy Atwood, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "It's just absurd."Paul Ross, a spokesman for the Interior Department, said in a statement emailed to InsideClimate News that "the Department's website has been updated periodically over the past few months to include additional priorities of the Department under new leadership." He declined to address the public records requests.The department has 20 business days to reply to the requests. Atwood said her group would appeal if the requests are denied.The new requirement in the open records law was an attempt to codify what has long been considered best practice, Mackey said. The overarching goal of the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is to make government more transparent, so it encourages agencies to publish information that is frequently requested or may be of broad interest, such as administrative decisions. Many agencies, <a href="https://www.doi.gov/oha/foia-reading-room" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">including the Interior Department</a>, have online "reading rooms" where they make such documents available.Mackey said that while the spirit of the law implies that agencies should publish information that's requested three times in an easily accessible area, like an online reading room, it contains no explicit direction beyond requiring them to make it "available for public inspection in an electronic format."After the EPA removed its climate change page, it <a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climatechange.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">published an archived version</a> following a series of <a href="https://envirodatagov.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/insideepaarticle_internalEPAemail.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">FOIA requests</a>. But it also removed links that would have made that archived page easy to find from the EPA's homepage. Atwood said the groups would use the same FOIA tactics to retrieve the information if the EPA deletes the archived page, or if the EPA or any other agency removes similar information.This isn't the first time the groups have attempted to use the FOIA provision. In March, they<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/publc-records-03-23-2017.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> submitted requests to eight federal agencies</a> seeking hundreds of environmental data sets out of concern that the Trump administration would remove them from public view.Atwood said they've gotten a range of responses so far. The Department of Agriculture has been working with them to try to identify and publish the data, she said, while others have simply rejected their requests or claimed—sometimes erroneously, according to Atwood—that the data was already published. The group is currently preparing to appeal those denied requests, and ultimately will go to court if the appeals fail.The Center for Biological Diversity has also used more conventional FOIA requests to try to pry loose documents from the Trump administration, including records regarding whether leaders at several agencies<a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/climate-change-03-30-2017.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;"> directed their staffs</a> to stop using the term "climate change." Last week, the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/scott-pruitt-05-03-2017.php" style="box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">group sued the EPA</a> in attempt to compel it to release emails and a schedule for its administrator, Scott Pruitt, after the agency denied a request seeking those records. Atwood said she expects to file an average of one lawsuit each week as the group's FOIA requests are denied."We're really in a position to be able to pursue information from the Trump administration," Atwood said, "and we're doing it at every turn.</div><div style="">=</div><div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Center for Biological Diversity "was founded beneath the ancient ponderosa pines of New Mexico’s Gila wilderness, where <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kier%C3%A1n_Suckling&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Kierán Suckling (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kierán Suckling</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Peter_Galvin" title="Peter Galvin" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Peter Galvin</a>, and <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Todd_Schulke" title="Todd Schulke" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Todd Schulke</a> met while surveying owls for the U.S. Forest Service. All three were in their early twenties, with a passion for wild places; Kierán was a doctoral student in philosophy, Peter was training in conservation biology, and Todd had a background running outdoor-education programs for high-risk kids." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a> They are a partner organization of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Global_Population_Speak_Out" title="Global Population Speak Out" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Global Population Speak Out</a>. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kieran_Suckling" title="Kieran Suckling" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kieran Suckling</a>, Executive Director</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sarah_Bergman" title="Sarah Bergman" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sarah Bergman</a>, Assistant Executive Director</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rose_Braz" title="Rose Braz" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Rose Braz</a>, Climate Campaign Coordinator</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Todd_Schulke" title="Todd Schulke" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Todd Schulke</a>, Forest Policy Analyst</li></ul>
<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Board" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1 Board</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Directors.282009.29" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.1 Directors (2009)</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Funders.282011.29.5B5.5D" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2 Funders (2011) [5]</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Foundations" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2.1 Foundations</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Public_Citizen_Oppose_Kerry-Lieberman_Climate_Bill" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3 Public Citizen Oppose Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Contact" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">4 Contact</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Resources_and_articles" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">5 Resources and articles</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Related_Sourcewatch_articles" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">5.1 Related Sourcewatch articles</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">5.2 References</a></li></ul></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Board</h2>Accessed January 2013: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Marcey_Olajos" title="Marcey Olajos" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Marcey Olajos</a>, Board Chair</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Matt_Frankel" title="Matt Frankel" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Matt Frankel</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Todd_Schulke" title="Todd Schulke" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Todd Schulke</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Randi_Spivak" title="Randi Spivak" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Randi Spivak</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Stephanie_Zill&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Stephanie Zill (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Stephanie Zill</a>, Treasurer</li></ul>FOUNDERS ADVISORY BOARD<ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Peter_Galvin" title="Peter Galvin" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Peter Galvin</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Robin_Silver&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Robin Silver (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Robin Silver</a></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none;">Directors (2009)</h3>Accessed October 2009: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[4]</a><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Marcey Olajos, Board Chair</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Peter Galvin</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Katherine_A.Meyer&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Katherine A. Meyer (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Katherine A. Meyer</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scott_Power&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Scott Power (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Scott Power</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Todd Schulke</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Robin Silver</li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Funders (2011) <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[5]</a></h2><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">$100,000+ - Anonymous (1), The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Katherine_L.Alden_Fund&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Katherine L. Alden Fund (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Katherine L. Alden Fund</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_Leuthold&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Michael Leuthold (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Michael Leuthold</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Steve_Leuthold_Family_Foundation" title="Steve Leuthold Family Foundation" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Steve Leuthold Family Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Marcey_Olajos" title="Marcey Olajos" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Marcey Olajos</a>, Estate of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Cheryl_Scott" title="Cheryl Scott" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Cheryl Scott</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jeffrey_S.%26_Constance_H.Woodman&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jeffrey S. & Constance H. Woodman (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Jeffrey S. & Constance H. Woodman</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Jeff%26_Connie_Woodman_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Jeff & Connie Woodman Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Jeff & Connie Woodman Foundation</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">$50,000+ - Anonymous (1), <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_G.Pritzlaff" title="Richard G. Pritzlaff" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Richard G. Pritzlaff</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Biophilia_Foundation" title="Biophilia Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Biophilia Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lindsey_Quesinberry&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Lindsey Quesinberry (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Lindsey Quesinberry</a> & <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nancy_Bower&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Nancy Bower (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nancy Bower</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Elsie_Wattson_Lamb&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Elsie Wattson Lamb (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Elsie Wattson Lamb</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">$25,000+ - Anonymous (2), <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Stanback&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Fred Stanback (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Fred Stanback</a> & <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alice_Stanback&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Alice Stanback (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Alice Stanback</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sungevity&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Sungevity (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sungevity</a></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none;">Foundations</h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Argosy_Foundation" title="Argosy Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Argosy Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Leonard_X.Bosak_and_Bette_M.Kruger_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Leonard X. Bosak and Bette M. Kruger Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Leonard X. Bosak and Bette M. Kruger Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Educational_Foundation_of_America" title="Educational Foundation of America" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Educational Foundation of America</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Environment_Now" title="Environment Now" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Environment Now</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Firedoll_Foundation" title="Firedoll Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Firedoll Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Frankel_Family_Foundation" title="Frankel Family Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Frankel Family Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard%26_Rhoda_Goldman_Fund" title="Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund</a>,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kisco_Cares_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Kisco Cares Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kisco Cares Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Libra_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Libra Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Libra Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Living_Springs_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Living Springs Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Living Springs Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Marisla_Foundation" title="Marisla Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Marisla Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=George_and_Miriam_Martin_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="George and Miriam Martin Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">George and Miriam Martin Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=McCune_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="McCune Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">McCune Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/McIntosh_Foundation" title="McIntosh Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">McIntosh Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/New-Land_Foundation" title="New-Land Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">New-Land Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=O%27Keefe_Family_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="O'Keefe Family Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">O'Keefe Family Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Proteus_Fund" title="Proteus Fund" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Proteus Fund</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Rockefeller_Family_Fund" title="Rockefeller Family Fund" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Rockefeller Family Fund</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Rose_Foundation_for_Communities_and_the_Environment&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Andrew_Sabin_Family_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Andrew Sabin Family Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Andrew Sabin Family Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sandler_Foundation" title="Sandler Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sandler Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sierra_Club" title="Sierra Club" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sierra Club</a>, San Gorgonio Chapter,<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Temper_of_the_Times_Foundation&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Temper of the Times Foundation (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Temper of the Times Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Turner_Foundation" title="Turner Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Turner Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wallace_Genetic_Fund&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Wallace Genetic Fund (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wallace Genetic Fund</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wallace_Global_Fund" title="Wallace Global Fund" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wallace Global Fund</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Weeden_Foundation" title="Weeden Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Weeden Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wilburforce_Foundation" title="Wilburforce Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wilburforce Foundation</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Woodtiger_Fund&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Woodtiger Fund (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Woodtiger Fund</a></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Public Citizen Oppose Kerry-Lieberman Climate Bill</h2>On May 17, 2010 an alliance of 15 social justice, environmental and community organizations joined together to stop the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Clean_Energy_Jobs_and_American_Power_Act" title="Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act</a> from passing. The coalition, called Climate Reality Check, believed Congress needed to head back to the drawing board and start over. The coalition included the Center for Biological Diversity, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Public_Citizen" title="Public Citizen" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Public Citizen</a>, among others. Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen stated, "It's not accurate to call this a climate bill. This is nuclear energy- promoting, oil drilling-championing, coal mining-boosting legislation with a weak carbon pricing mechanism thrown in."Grassroots members of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sierra_Club" title="Sierra Club" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sierra Club</a> also opposed the initial bill, stating that the national organization's position was nuanced and too supportive of the legislation.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contact</h2><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Web: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">http://www.biologicaldiversity.org</a></dd></dl><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Resources and articles</h2><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none;">Related Sourcewatch articles</h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Working_Assets" title="Working Assets" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Working Assets</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Capitol_Power_Plant" title="Capitol Power Plant" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Capitol Power Plant</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/District_of_Columbia_and_coal" title="District of Columbia and coal" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">District of Columbia and coal</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Douglas_Bevington" title="Douglas Bevington" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Douglas Bevington</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Monica_Bond" title="Monica Bond" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Monica Bond</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Noah_Greenwald" title="Noah Greenwald" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Noah Greenwald</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Clean_Energy_Jobs_and_American_Power_Act" title="Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/William_J.Snape_III" title="William J. Snape III" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">William J. Snape III</a></li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none;">References</h3><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/about/story/index.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Our STory</a>, Center for Biological Diversity, accessed October 27, 2009.</li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> Global Population Speak Out <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://populationspeakout.org/partners/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Partners</a>, organizational web page, accessed March 8, 2015 .</li><li id="cite_note-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_ref-3" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> Center for Biological Diversity <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/about/board/index.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Board</a>, organizational web page, accessed January 1, 2013.</li><li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_ref-4" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/about/board/index.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">Directors</a>, Center for Biological Diversity, accessed October 27, 2009.</li><li id="cite_note-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_ref-5" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> Center for Biological Diversity <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/publications/reports/AnnualRpt_2011.pdf" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 16px; background: url(" http="http" upload.wikimedia.org="upload.wikimedia.org" wikipedia="wikipedia" commons="commons" icons-mini-file_acrobat.gif="Icons-mini-file_acrobat.gif" right="right" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat">2011 Annual Report</a>, organizational web page, accessed January 1, 2013.</li><li id="cite_note-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_ref-6" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.truth-out.org/not-all-environmentalists-pleased60172" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cg="Cg" transform="transform" translate="translate" crect="Crect" x="x" y="y" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" cpath="Cpath" m831.194="M831.194" h5.234v5.391l-1.571="h5.234v5.391l-1.571" z="z" m835.424="M835.424" l.022="l.022" fg="Fg" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">"Not All Environmentalists Pleased with Climate Legislation"</a> Joshua Frank, Truthout, June 20, 2010.</li></ol><div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 5px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Categories</a>: <ul style="list-style: none none; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-style: none; padding: 0px 0.5em 0px 0.25em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:United_States" title="Category:United States" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United States</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Environment" title="Category:Environment" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Environment</a></li></ul></div></div>http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/
---<div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr; line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Center for Biological Diversity (Center), based in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tucson" class="mw-redirect" title="Tucson" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Tucson</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona" title="Arizona" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Arizona</a>, is a nonprofit membership organization with approximately 625,000 members and online activists, known for its work protecting <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species" title="Endangered species" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">endangered species</a> through legal action, scientific petitions, creative media and grassroots activism. The Center has offices and staff in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico" title="New Mexico" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">New Mexico</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona" title="Arizona" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Arizona</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada" title="Nevada" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nevada</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California" title="California" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">California</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon" title="Oregon" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Oregon</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois" title="Illinois" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Illinois</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota" title="Minnesota" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Minnesota</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska" title="Alaska" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Alaska</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermont" title="Vermont" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Vermont</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida" title="Florida" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Florida</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,D.C." title="Washington, D.C." style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Washington, D.C.</a> It was founded in 1989 by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kieran_Suckling" title="Kieran Suckling" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kieran Suckling</a>, Peter Galvin, Todd Schulke and Robin Silver.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-about-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[1]</a><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Background" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1Background</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Press" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2Press</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Rubber_Dodo_award_for_anti-environmental_record" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3Rubber Dodo award for anti-environmental record</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#See_also" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">4See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#Notes" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">5Notes</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">6External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Background[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Center_for_Biological_Diversity&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Background" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Given a small grant by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fund_for_Wild_Nature" title="Fund for Wild Nature" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Fund for Wild Nature</a>, the organization started in 1989 as a small group by the name of Greater Gila Biodiversity Project, with the objective to protect endangered species and critical habitat in the southwest.The organization later grew and became the Center for Biological Diversity. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kieran_Suckling" title="Kieran Suckling" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kieran Suckling</a>], Peter Galvin, and Todd Schulke founded the organization in response to what they perceived as a failure on the part of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Forest_Service" title="United States Forest Service" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United States Forest Service</a> to protect imperiled species from logging, grazing, and mining. As surveyors in New Mexico, the three men discovered "a rare <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_spotted_owl" class="mw-redirect" title="Mexican spotted owl" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Mexican spotted owl</a> nest in an old-growth tree",<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-about-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[1]</a> but their discovery was overshadowed by Forest Service plans to lease the land to timber companies; Suckling, Galvin, and Schulke believed that it was within the Forest Service’s mission to save sensitive species like the Mexican Spotted Owl from harm, and that the government had shirked[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Words_to_watch#Puffery" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Words to watch" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">peacock term</a>] its duty in deference to corporate interests.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>]Suckling, Galvin and Schulke went to the media to register their outrage with success: the old-growth tree was allowed to stand, and this success led to the founding of the Center for Biological Diversity.Initially, the Center focused on issues specific to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southwestern_United_States" title="Southwestern United States" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Southwestern United States</a>, but today its mission encompasses far-reaching problems such as global threats to<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_diversity" class="mw-redirect" title="Biological diversity" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">biological diversity</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change" title="Climate change" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">climate change</a>. One of the Center's biggest recent victories was in 2011, when it reached a historic legal settlement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service compelling the agency to make progress on protecting 757 imperiled but previously neglected animals and plants. The Center employs a group of paid and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_bono" title="Pro bono" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">pro bono</a> attorneys to use litigation to effect change, and claims a 93 percent success rate for their lawsuits.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-about-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[1]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Press[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Center_for_Biological_Diversity&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Press" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>On 13 June 2007, the Center spoke out against a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush_administration" class="mw-redirect" title="George W. Bush administration" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bush administration</a> proposal to reduce the protected area for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_owl" title="Spotted owl" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">spotted owls</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">United States</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest" title="Pacific Northwest" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Pacific Northwest</a>. According to Noah Greenwald, the group's representative in the Northwest, the proposed habitat cut is "typical of an administration that is looking to reduce protections for endangered species at every turn." Greenwald said that the rollback is part of a series of "sweetheart deals," in which the administration settles an environmental lawsuit out of court and, "at the industry's wishes, reduces the critical habitat." According to the Center, the move conforms to a broad trend that includes at least 25 earlier Bush administration decisions on habitat protections for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species" title="Endangered species" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">endangered species</a>. In those cases, the protected areas were reduced an average of 36 percent.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-epi-2" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[2]</a>[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Dates_and_numbers#Precise_language" title="Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">dated info</a>]On 16 December 2008, the Center announced intent to sue the United States government for introducing "regulations... that would eviscerate our nation’s most successful wildlife law by exempting thousands of federal activities, including those that generate greenhouse gases, from review under the Endangered Species Act." The lawsuit, which is critical of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_the_Interior" title="United States Department of the Interior" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">U.S. Interior Department</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Kempthorne" title="Dirk Kempthorne" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Secretary Dirk Kempthorne</a> and President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">George W. Bush</a>, was filed in the Northern District of California by the Center, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpeace" title="Greenpeace" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Greenpeace</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenders_of_Wildlife" title="Defenders of Wildlife" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Defenders of Wildlife</a>. According to the Center, "The lawsuit argues that the regulations violate the Endangered Species Act and did not go through the required public review process. The regulations, first proposed on August 11th, were rushed by the Bush administration through an abbreviated process in which more than 300,000 comments from the public were reviewed in 2-3 weeks, and environmental impacts were analyzed in a short and cursory environmental assessment, rather than a fuller environmental impact statement."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-esalawsuit-3" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[3]</a>[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research#Primary.2C_secondary_and_tertiary_sources" title="Wikipedia:No original research" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">non-primary source needed</a>]<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Rubber Dodo award for anti-environmental record[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Center_for_Biological_Diversity&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: Rubber Dodo award for anti-environmental record" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Each year since 2007, the Center for Biological Diversity has given an award "to those who have done the most to destroy wild places, species and biological diversity".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[4]</a><table class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); border-collapse: collapse; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><tbody><tr><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);" /><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);">name</th><th style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em; text-align: center; background-color: rgb(242, 242, 242);">position</th></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2007</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirk_Kempthorne" title="Dirk Kempthorne" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Dirk Kempthorne</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">US Interior Secretary</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2008</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin" title="Sarah Palin" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sarah Palin</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">Alaska Governor</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2009</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Winer&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Michael Winer (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Michael Winer</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">land speculator</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2010</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Hayward" title="Tony Hayward" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Tony Hayward</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">former BP CEO</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2011</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.Chamber_of_Commerce" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. Chamber of Commerce" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;" /></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2012</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Inhofe" class="mw-redirect" title="James Inhofe" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">James Inhofe</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;" /></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2013</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_brothers" class="mw-redirect" title="Koch brothers" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Koch brothers</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;" /></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2014</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Department_of_Agriculture" class="mw-redirect" title="U.S. Department of Agriculture" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">U.S. Department of Agriculture</a>’s Wildlife Services<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[5]</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;" /></tr><tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;">2015</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto" title="Monsanto" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Monsanto</a></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em 0.4em;" /></tr></tbody></table><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">See also[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Center_for_Biological_Diversity&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: See also" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" f="F" e="E" a="A" csvg="Csvg" http="http" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="cx" cy="cy" r="r" fill="fill" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_journalism" title="Environmental journalism" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Environmental journalism</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_environment_topics" class="mw-redirect" title="List of environment topics" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">List of environment topics</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_conservation" title="Wildlife conservation" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wildlife conservation</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_management" title="Wildlife management" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Wildlife management</a></li></ul><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Notes[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Center_for_Biological_Diversity&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Notes" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><div class="reflist" style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; list-style-type: decimal;"><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: inherit;"><li id="cite_note-about-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">^ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_ref-about_1-0" style="text-decoration: none; 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Retrieved 18 November 2015.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ACenter+for+Biological+Diversity&rft.atitle=Monsanto+wins+the+Rubber+Dodo+award+for+anti-environmental+record&rft.au=staff&rft.date=2015-11-06&rft.genre=article&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisconsingazette.com%2Fenvironment%2Fmonsanto-wins-the-rubber-dodo-award-for-anti-environmental-record.html&rft.jtitle=The+Wisconsin+Gazette&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal" class="Z3988" /></li><li id="cite_note-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Biological_Diversity#cite_ref-5" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="-webkit-user-select: none; top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up^{</a> }<cite class="citation web" style="font-style: inherit; word-wrap: break-word;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/rubber-dodo-11-05-2015.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" standalone="standalone" no="no" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cpath="Cpath" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" m1.5="M1.5" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" m5.765="M5.765" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" m9.995="M9.995" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">"Pesticide Peddler Monsanto Wins 2015 Rubber Dodo Award"</a> (Press release). Center for Biological Diversity. 5 November 2015. 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background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="entry-title" style="margin: 0px; line-height: 55px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; padding: 4px 0px;">Vitter Warns Louisiana of EPA’s Secret “Sue and Settle” Deals, Could Impact State</h1><h2 class="lead" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px; font-weight: lighter; line-height: 34px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; letter-spacing: -1px; opacity: 0.9;">Says EPA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are colluding with environmental groups</h2></header><p style="margin: 1em 0px; line-height: 1.4em; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; margin-block-start: 0px; margin-block-end: 0px; padding-inline-start: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><time class="dateline" datetime="2013-01-22" style="line-height: 1.35; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; display: block;">Tuesday, January 22, 2013</time>WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) is warning of more secret “sue and settle” deals with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups. In a letter today, Vitter encourages Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell to join the 13 states’ AGs who recently filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with EPA asking for any and all correspondence between EPA and a list of 80 environmental, labor union and public interest organizations that had been party to litigation since the start of the Obama Administration. “The collusion between federal bureaucrats and far-left environmental organizations entering legal agreements under a shroud of secrecy is the opposite of a transparent government,” Vitter said. “This is a problem across the country, but could quickly become a threat to Louisianans if we see the full weight of the EPA and Fish and Wildlife Service come crashing down on private landowners.”Vitter is encouraging Caldwell to join the other states’ AGs, and is also encouraging the inclusion of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in their investigation. The Fish and Wildlife Service was not included in the original FOIA request. In his letter, Vitter also highlights a specific recent example where the Fish and Wildlife Service entered an agreement with the Center for Biological Diversity that could impact private property owners across the South and in Louisiana with new rules on habitat for endangered species on private property because private property owners will have few resources to fight any legal challenge of a massive federal agency.

==

<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.704px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">2/15 Convergence emerges: Yellowstone River pipeline spill (after Gulf BP spill) PLUS Torrence refinery explosion (after Richmond CA), PLUS 200 offshore CA fracking well PLUS bomb trains exploding show a pattern we can't ignore. <a href="http://uprisingradio.org/home/2015/02/19/february-19-2015-exxon-refinery-explodes-ethel-paynes-legacy/" class="external text" title="http://uprisingradio.org/home/2015/02/19/february-19-2015-exxon-refinery-explodes-ethel-paynes-legacy/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.704px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: url(" http="http" www.ic.ucsc.edu="www.ic.ucsc.edu" college8core="college8core" c8wiki="c8wiki" skins="skins" monobook="monobook" external.png="external.png" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb">Uprising radio</a><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.704px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> (audio) with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonia_Juhasz" class="external text" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonia Juhasz" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; font-style: normal; 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text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.704px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: url(" http="http" www.ic.ucsc.edu="www.ic.ucsc.edu" college8core="college8core" c8wiki="c8wiki" skins="skins" monobook="monobook" external.png="external.png" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb">The Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry--and What We Must Do to Stop It</a><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16.704px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> , <a href="https://archive.org/details/ZGraphix-AntoniaJuhaszTheTyrannyOfOilTheWorldsMostPowerfulIndu568" class="external text" title="https://archive.org/details/ZGraphix-AntoniaJuhaszTheTyrannyOfOilTheWorldsMostPowerfulIndu568" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; 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http://www.alternet.org/fracking/ca-oil-wells-found-contain-carcinogenic-chemicalsAdding to the already lengthy list of reasons to be concerned about the disposal of oil industry wastewater in California, the Center for Biological Diversity says it has found <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2015/fracking-02-11-2015.html" target="blank">dangerous levels of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals</a> [3] such as benzene and toluene in fracking flowback.

Flowback is a fluid that floats up to the surface of fracked wells that contains clays, dissolved metal ions and total dissolved solids (such as salt) in addition to chemical additives used in the fracking process.

As such, flowback is a component of oil industry wastewater, and one of the chief reasons why the wastewater must be disposed of in a very cautious manner.

In California, where the toxic and cancer-causing chemicals were found to be present in flowback by the CBD, oil industry wastewater is not, unfortunately, disposed of in a cautious manner.

The most common wastewater disposal method is to inject it underground. It was recently revealed that California regulators have allowed <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/02/03/california-regulators-allowed-hundreds-oil-industry-wastewater-injection-wells-drilled-aquifers-drinkable-water" target="blank">hundreds of injection wells to pump wastewater into aquifers</a> [4] protected under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. Regulators also permitted <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/02/11/not-hundreds-thousands-oil-industry-injection-wells-dumping-wastewater-protected-california-aquifers" target="blank">thousands more wells to inject fluids from “enhanced oil recovery”</a> [5] techniques like acidization and cyclic steam injection into protected aquifers.
Wastewater is also sometimes stored in pits, but again, California regulators have failed to enforce proper safeguards. Clean Water Action released a report last year detailing the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/11/19/reports-show-regulators-are-failing-protect-californians-oil-development" target="blank">threat to California's air and water from the open, unlined pits</a> [6] used to store much of the oil industry's toxic wastewater. According to <a href="http://cleanwateraction.org/publication/pits" target="blank">the report</a> [7], at least 432 of these pits are currently in use in California, most of them operating with an expired permit or no permit at all.

“Cancer-causing chemicals are surfacing in fracking flowback fluid just as we learn that the California oil industry is disposing of wastewater in hundreds of illegal disposal wells and open pits,” said Hollin Kretzmann, the CBD lawyer who conducted the analysis. “Gov. Brown needs to shut down all the illegal wells immediately and ban fracking to fight this devastating threat to California’s water supply.”

It wasn’t just the chemicals Kretzmann found in fracking flowback that are a cause for concern, either. Laxe enforcement of reporting rules make it hard to determine the true extent of the problem, though the CBD still found enough to raise serious questions about the threats flowback fluid poses to public health:<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">• High chromium-6 levels: Chromium-6 was found in fracking flowback at levels up to 2,700 times the recommended level set by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

• Missing reports: At least 100 fracking flowback tests are missing from the reporting website managed by California’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources, in violation of state law.

• Missing benzene data: Only 329 of the 479 fracking fluid chemical tests on the state oil agency’s website measured for benzene.

*bull; Benzene common: Of those 329 chemical tests that measured for benzene, 323 detected benzene while only six did not.

• Dangerous toluene levels: Toluene, a toxin that can affect the central nervous system and harm developing fetuses, was found to exceed federal-mandated limits for drinking water 118 times.</blockquote>In some cases, benzene levels in fracking flowback were over 1,500 times the level the federal government says is safe for drinking water. Both chromium-6 and benzene are known carcinogens.

California is the country’s third-largest oil producing state, with some 20% of its oil production coming from fracked wells, <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_27327025/study-half-californias-new-wells-involve-fracking" target="blank">according to a recent study</a> [8] that also found that half of all new wells drilled in the past decade use fracking.<div class="bio-new body_environment" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="author-bio">Mike Gaworecki is an activist, writer, and musician who lives in San Francisco. He is the online campaigner for RAN's Forests program. Find Mike on Twitter:<a href="http://twitter.com/MikeG2001">@MikeG2001</a> [9]</div></div>

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Associated Press November 14, 2006

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Environmentalists sue Bush administration over global warming report

by TERENCE CHEA, Associated Press Writer

Environmentalists sued the Bush administration for failing to produce a report on global warming's impact on the United States' environment, economy and public health.

Tuesday's lawsuit seeks to compel the U.S. Climate Change Science Program to issue the national assessment, which should contain the most recent scientific data on global warming and projections for its future impacts. The plaintiffs claim the government must complete such a report every four years under the Global Change Research Act of 1990.

"Global warming is one of the most serious threats facing humanity today," according to the complaint. Without the report, decision makers and the public "are without one of the most important tools to grapple with this complex, potentially overwhelming and yet all important issue."

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which was named in the lawsuit, had not received the complaint Tuesday and could not comment on it, said spokesman Ben Fallon.

But Fallon defended the administration's record on combating global warming, pointing to increased funding for alternative energy research and partnerships with other countries.

"We feel very positive about our record on climate change," Fallon said. "The president has been focused on results-driven research and looking for practical ways to address climate change in ways that aren't damaging to the economy."

Officials at the Climate Change Science Program, also named in the complaint, did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco by the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace.

The assessment, which plaintiffs allege was due in November 2004, is the "first step in crafting solutions to the devastating consequences of climate change if we don't act now," said Julie Teel, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and former presidential candidate, who has also been calling on the administration to issue the assessment, expressed support for the lawsuit.

"It's the right time to push Washington to grapple with this issue," Kerry said in a statement. "For too many years, action on global climate change has been stopped dead in its tracks by government foot-dragging, hiding information and smothering science."

Environmentalists have accused the administration of trying to suppress dissemination of the previous assessment, issued in 2000, which predicted a dramatic rise in catastrophic storms, floods, droughts and heat-related deaths.

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