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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">7/25/17</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">not on mac or fuji</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">esa1 capt</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=2290528c8d&e=c2e8fdabfa" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At Least 500 Jaguars Lost Their Lives or Habitat in Amazon Fires</font></a></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ew 919</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new</font></div><div><div>
</div><div><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.democracynow.org/2019/5/6/headlines/un_report_1_million_species_at_risk_of_extinction" style="%22opacity:1%3Bfill:%2315a5ea%3B%22" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" height="%2213%22" width="%2213%22" version="%221.1%22" cg="Cg" transform="%22translate%28-36.467808%2C-258.39005%29%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22m40.55%2C263.9c0-0.6213%2C0.6213-0.6213%2C0.6213-0.6213%2C1.864%2C0.6213%2C3.107%2C1.864%2C3.728%2C3.728%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0.6213-0.6213%2C0.6213-1.243-1.864-1.864-2.485-3.728-3.728z%22/%3E" c="C" g="g" e="E" rgb="rgb" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" font-size="font-size" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:cc="%22http://creativecommons.org/ns%23%22" xmlns:data="data" xmlns:dc="%22http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/%22%3E" xmlns:rdf="%22http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns%23%22">U.N. Report: 1 Million Species at Risk of Extinction</a><span style="font-size: 12.7px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> especially mammals and insects 5/19 see </span><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://rachelcarson-wiki.lt.ucsc.edu/wiki/Category:Bio-diversity" style="%22opacity:1%3Bfill:%2315a5ea%3B%22" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" height="%2213%22" width="%2213%22" version="%221.1%22" cg="Cg" transform="%22translate%28-36.467808%2C-258.39005%29%22%3E" cpath="Cpath" d="%22m40.55%2C263.9c0-0.6213%2C0.6213-0.6213%2C0.6213-0.6213%2C1.864%2C0.6213%2C3.107%2C1.864%2C3.728%2C3.728%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0.6213-0.6213%2C0.6213-1.243-1.864-1.864-2.485-3.728-3.728z%22/%3E" c="C" g="g" e="E" rgb="rgb" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" font-size="font-size" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:cc="%22http://creativecommons.org/ns%23%22" xmlns:data="data" xmlns:dc="%22http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/%22%3E" xmlns:rdf="%22http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns%23%22">Bio-diversity</a><span style="font-size: 12.7px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></div><div>
<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24042019/climate-change-fish-local-extinction-marine-species-hit-harder-land-animals-study-nature">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24042019/climate-change-fish-local-extinction-marine-species-hit-harder-land-animals-study-nature</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">S</font></b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>ea creatures, especially those that live in shallower water near the
coasts, are much more vulnerable to global warming than land animals,
new research shows.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> The <b>scientists found that local populations of
marine animals are disappearing at double the rate of land-based
species</b>.
</span></font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That's because marine animals like fish, crabs and lobster are
already more likely to be living near the threshold of life-threatening
temperatures, and because in the ocean, there are fewer places to hide
from extreme heat, </span>said Malin Pinsky, lead author of a new <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1132-4">study</a> published Wednesday in the journal <em>Nature</em>.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>"These results are stunning, in part because the impacts of climate
change on ocean life were virtually ignored just a decade ago</b>," said
Pinsky, an ocean researcher at Rutgers University. The study took a
close look at cold-blooded marine species whose body temperatures are
dependent on their surroundings.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some fish can <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28112018/atlantic-cod-climate-change-fish-population-crash-risk-arctic-food-web-impact-study">move poleward</a>
to cooler waters, but for others, those thermal refuges will be
inaccessible because the cooler areas are too far away or because
shallow water habitat along continental shelves is not continuous. That
can affect people in developing countries that depend heavily on fish as
a daily source of food.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Understanding which creatures are most at risk allows scientists and
fisheries managers to better allocate resources for conservation, Pinsky
said.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We already know terrestrial species are highly vulnerable to climate
change," he said, "and now we see that marine species are even more
vulnerable."</font></p>
<h3><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some Fish Already Reaching Thermal Limits</font></h3>
<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Locally caught fish are an important source of protein for about half
the world's population, and the new study shows that some of those
species near the equator are among the most vulnerable to global warming
because they already live near the edge of their heat tolerance.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We're heading into uncharted territories. We're already seeing
species disappear from places they've been for generations and longer,"
Pinsky said.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For example, damselfish and cardinalfish, two small species that live
on coral reefs, already live near their thermal limits and have started
to disappear from some areas, which contributes to the overall decline
of coral reef health.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Off the coast of North Carolina, summer flounder are another example,
Pinsky said. They have moved so far to find cooler waters that it's had
a big effect on fisheries, with boats having to travel more than 600
miles farther north to catch the species.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">./...
</font></p></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/no-species-is-safe-from-trumps-interior-department-appointee-susan-combs/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/no-species-is-safe-from-trumps-interior-department-appointee-susan-combs/</a></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump appointee <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/04/04/a-fierce-opponent-of-the-endangered-species-act-is-picked-to-oversee-interiors-wildlife-policy/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Susan Combs</a> who was <a href="https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/oil-gas-and-mining/susan-combs-doi-conflicts-of-interest/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">paid up to almost $2.2 million by oil companies</a> and who <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/22/texas-propose-new-plan-protect-threatened-lizard/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">blocked</a> federal protection for a <a href="https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/newmexico/documents/dunes_sagebrush_lizards_handout.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tiny Texas lizard</a> on oil fields, now wants to restructure our nation’s Interior Department to <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=9665BE81-2840-4C49-B18B-4848E1B4B04F" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">“result in improved permitting.”</a></b></font></p><div class="p1_9" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="attachment_13018" class="wp-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: none; max-width: 100%; text-align: center; position: relative; overflow: hidden;"><p class="wp-caption-text" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 11px 10px; line-height: 1.4; font-style: italic; position: absolute; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 629.984px; background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); transition: all 0.4s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Former Texas Comptroller Susan Combs is awaiting confirmation as assistant secretary for policy, management and budget in the Interior Department. Photo by Laura Skelding for The Texas </font></p></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Combs, the acting secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, told the <a href="https://www.energy.senate.gov/public/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources</a> that she wants to consolidate administration of the<a href="https://www.fws.gov/endangered/laws-policies/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Endangered Species Act</a> and the <a href="https://www.marinemammalcenter.org/what-we-do/rescue/marine-mammal-protection-act.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Marine Mammal Protection Act.</a></font></p><div class="p3_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As long as her<a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/susan-combs-03-30-2018.php" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> industry pals make a profit,</a> she won’t think twice about letting a species go extinct,” said Stephanie Kurose of the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Center for Biological Diversity.</a></font></p><div class="p4_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Combs, Trump’s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/nominations-sent-senate/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">nominee</a> to be assistant secretary of the Interior, is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-christie/grifters-weaklings-felons-christie-on-the-trump-white-house-idUSKCN1PB02L" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">just one of the grifters</a> in the Trump administration.</font></p><div class="p5_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross spent much of his first year in office as a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2018/08/06/new-details-about-wilbur-rosss-businesses-point-to-pattern-of-grifting/#4d9edff81c33" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">business partner with the Chinese government</a> even as he negotiated U.S.-China trade relations. Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke started a foundation that <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/19/ryan-zinke-halliburton-park-whitefish-montana-647731" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">helped</a> a developer backed by the chairman of <a href="https://www.halliburton.com/en-US/default.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Halliburton,</a> the oil -services firm that could benefit from Interior decisions.</font></p><div class="p6_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4387988-Susan-Combs-Financial-Disclosure.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Federal disclosure documents</a> show that from 2016 to 2017 Combs received:</font></p><div class="p7_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><ul style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 50px; list-style: none;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Up to $50,000 in rent or royalties from <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=3737527" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Chesapeake Operating LLC</a> for an oil and gas lease in La Salle County in Texas.</span></font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Up to $15,000 in rent or royalties from <a href="https://www.carrizo.com/home/default.aspx" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Carrizo Oil & Gas</a> for an oil and gas lease in McMullen County in Texas.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Up to $1 million in rent or royalties from <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.murphyoilcorp.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Murphy Oil Corp.</a> for an oil and gas lease in Karnes County in Texas.</span></font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Up to $1 million in rent or royalties from <a href="https://www.conocophillips.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">ConocoPhillips</a> for an oil and gas lease in Karnes County.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Up to $100,000 in rent or royalties from<a href="https://www.marathonoil.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"> Marathon Oil</a> for an oil and gas lease in Karnes County.</font></li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px; list-style: square; position: relative; line-height: 1.7;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Up to $2,500 in rent or royalties from <a href="https://www.phillips66.com/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Phillips 66</a> for an oil and gas lease in Karnes County.</font></li></ul><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Combs, then the Texas comptroller, worked with the oil industry to set up a <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2018/06/22/texas-propose-new-plan-protect-threatened-lizard/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">voluntary program</a> in 2012 to protect the dunes sagebrush lizard. Under Combs, Texas kept agreements with landowners to protect lizard habitat <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2018/dunes-sagebrush-lizard-05-08-2018.php" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">confidential.</a> Even the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t know where or how much land is being protected.</b></font></p><div class="p8_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 17px; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Environmentalists say those efforts haven’t been enough and have <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/dunes_sagebrush_lizard/pdfs/DSL-petition.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">asked</a> the Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the lizards under the Endangered Species Act.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/trumps-interior-department-wants-to-shut-down-your-access-to-information/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/01/trumps-interior-department-wants-to-shut-down-your-access-to-information/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Zinke <a href="https://www.dcreport.org/2018/12/17/zinke-hightails-it-out-of-town/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">is out as secretary of the Interior,</a> but in his last days in office<b> he tried to suppress what we can learn about the destruction Trump is doing to our nation’s public lands.</b></font></p><div class="p0_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Attorney <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/trump-town/staffers/daniel-jorjani" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daniel Jorjani,</a> who previously worked at the Koch-funded Freedom Partners,</b> drafted a proposed rule that would <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/12/28/2018-27561/freedom-of-information-act-regulations" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">slash the public’s ability to get public records</a> from the 10 agencies in the Interior Department.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.foia.gov/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Freedom of Information Act,</a> a federal law signed by former President Lyndon Johnson in 1966, allows people to ask for previously unreleased documents. The law was passed after <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/freedom-of-information-act" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">thousands of federal employees accused of being communists were fired</a> during the McCarthy era, and the Eisenhower administration wouldn’t release records from the dismissals.</font></p><div class="p2_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I signed this measure with a deep sense of pride that <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nsa/foia/FOIARelease66.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the United States is an open society in which the people’s right to know is cherished and guarded,”</a> Johnson said after he signed the law.</font></p><div class="p3_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Notable uses of the law include environmentalists learning that the EPA knew in the 1980s that paper mills were discharging toxic dioxin into rivers.</font></p><div class="p4_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jorjani’s proposal would allow the Interior Department to reject requests that the Trump administration decides are “unreasonably burdensome.” Currently, agencies must fulfill records requests despite how much time and effort is required to search for records.</font></p><div class="p5_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The bureau will not honor a request that requires an unreasonably burdensome search or requires the bureau to locate, review, redact, or arrange for inspection of a vast quantity of material,” he wrote.</font></p><div class="p6_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal would also allow the Interior Department to impose a monthly limit for processing records.</font></p><div class="p7_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’re deeply concerned about these proposed changes,” said Nada Culver, senior counsel for <a href="https://www.wilderness.org/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The Wilderness Society.</a></font></p><div class="p8_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jorjani, the principal deputy solicitor, was on the transition team in the Interior Department after Trump took office and has run the department’s legal office. The nominee for the job, Ryan Nelson, withdrew and was nominated to fill an appellate court vacancy.</font></p><div class="p9_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Jorjani wrote that the Interior Department wants to make the changes because of increases in records requests since Trump took office.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> FOIA requests have increased 30% from fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2018 as environmentalists and others have sought information to oppose Zinke’s <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3051026" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">rollbacks of public lands protections.</a></span></font></p><div class="p10_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Thompson, a spokeswoman for <a href="https://www.wilderness.org/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The Wilderness Society,</a> said publishing the proposed regulation wasn’t allowed during the government shutdown when only necessary or emergency notices are to be published.</font></p><div class="p11_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">People have until Jan. 28 to comment on the proposed changes.</font></p><div class="p12_19" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Zinke also <a href="https://www.dcreport.org/2018/10/23/zinke-destroy-interior-department-records/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">tried to get permission to destroy some records about what animals are protected</a> under the Endangered Species Act.</b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A recent memo at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department, part of the Interior Department, directs staffers to withhold or delay releasing some public documents about how the Endangered Species Act is carried out.</span></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see palm oil, norway</font></div><div><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://ecowatch.us7.list-manage.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=f2f19bf991&e=c2e8fdabfa" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Bornean Orangutan Population Has Fallen by Nearly 150,000 in Just 16 Years</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></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/green-groups-sue-to-get-giraffes-on-endangered-species-list--2622680004.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Green Groups Sue to Get Giraffes on Endangered Species List</font></a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url css-listicle-body-2622680004" data-elid="2622680004" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="Green Groups Sue to Get Giraffes on Endangered Species List" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Four Animal welfare groups sued the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Trump</a> administration on Thursday for failing to protect Africa's vulnerable <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/giraffes" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">giraffes</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/environment-giraffes/lawsuit-seeks-to-push-washington-on-protection-for-giraffes-idUSL1N1YC01O" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Reuters reported</a>.</font></p></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);"><span class="show-more js-expand"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Keep reading...</font></span></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://yyw.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/06/global-warming-extinction-report-the-great-dying</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">permian extinction</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-endangered-species-decisions-2613623876.html</font></p><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/trump-endangered-species-decisions-2613623876.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Leaked Trump Administration Memo: Keep Public in Dark About How Endangered Species Decisions Are Made</font></a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url expanded" data-elid="2613623876" data-authors="Center for Biological Diversity" data-headline="Leaked Trump Administration Memo: Keep Public in Dark About How Endangered Species Decisions Are Made" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a Trump administration memorandum leaked to the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is directing its staff to withhold, or delay releasing, certain public records about how the Endangered Species Act is carried out. That includes records where the advice of career wildlife scientists may be overridden by political appointees in the Trump administration.</font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms ease 0s; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"This is a clear attempt to stifle science and boost Trump's anti-wildlife agenda," said Meg Townsend, the Center for Biological Diversity's open government attorney. "The public has every right to know how our government makes decisions about the fate of our most endangered species. This memo keeps the public in the dark and creates the perfect environment for political meddling."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>The memo recommends that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service limit the information released to the public for decisions regarding species protected under the Endangered Species Act. It provides a list of types of records for agency staff to withhold, including drafts of policies and rules, briefing documents and decision meeting notes and summaries.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The agency has already implemented aspects of this guidance in actions like the <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2011/keystone-xl-pipeline-10-05-2011.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Keystone XL pipeline construction lawsuit</a>, and in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's decision last year to prematurely remove endangered species protection from <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2017/grizzly-bear-08-30-2017.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Yellowstone grizzly bears</a>, as the memo confirms.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">"Directing the agency to hide science violates every notion of the scientific process, which is supposed to be open and reviewable," said Townsend. "If the Service covers up dissenting views, it can get away with all kinds of bad decisions that could do enormous damage to some of America's most imperiled plants and animals."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>As this memo recommends that agency staff take a less transparent approach, Trump's anti-wildlife agenda is being pushed at all levels of government. </b>Removing the public's ability to know what its government is doing—which is contrary to the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act—means that it will be more difficult to legally challenge agency actions that harm imperiled wildlife.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>"This Trump memo would send all future Fish and Wildlife Service decisions into a black hole and result in more animals going extinct,"</b> Townsend said. "If the Trump administration would simply let the Fish and Wildlife Service follow the law and support decisions with science, it wouldn't need the memo or have anything to hide."</font></p></div></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></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/extinction-evolution-biodiversity-2613026936.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Humans Are Wiping Out Species So Fast That Evolution Can't Keep Up</font></a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2613026936" data-authors="Lorraine Chow" data-headline="Humans Are Wiping Out Species So Fast That Evolution Can't Keep Up" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With the consequences of human activities pushing Earth into a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/earth-sixth-mass-extinction-2457269841.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">sixth mass extinction</a>, a team of biologists have calculated that <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/plants" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">plant</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/animals" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">animal</a> species are being wiped out so quickly that evolution cannot keep up.</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Human activities—including <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pollution" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">pollution</a>, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">deforestation</a>, overpopulation, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">poaching</a>, warming oceans and extreme weather events tied to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">climate change</a>—are predicted to drive so many mammals to extinction in the next five decades that nature will need somewhere between 3 to 7 million years to restore biodiversity levels to where it was before modern humans evolved, according to an alarming new <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/10/09/1804906115" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; overflow-wrap: break-word;">analysis</a> published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<em>.</em></font></p></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);"><span class="show-more js-expand"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Keep reading...</font></span></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></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/scientist-call-for-designating-half-of-planet-as-protected-areas-2605702433.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">To Prevent 'Major Extinction Crisis,' Scientist Call for Designating Half of Planet as Protected Areas by 2050</font></a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2605702433" data-authors="Common Dreams" data-headline="To Prevent 'Major Extinction Crisis,' Scientist Call for Designating Half of Planet as Protected Areas by 2050" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Jessica Corbett</font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A pair of leading scientists is calling on the global community to spend the next few decades working toward formal protections for at least half of the world's oceans and lands, warning that as the human population nears its projected 10 billion by mid-century, several species will face a heightened threat of extinction.</font></p></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);"><span class="show-more js-expand"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Keep reading...</font></span></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omfg2</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-quietly-awards-dozens-of-lion-trophy-permits-2590084960.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-quietly-awards-dozens-of-lion-trophy-permits-2590084960.html</a></font></p><p><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">T<span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">rump Admin. Quietly Awards Dozens of Lion Trophy Permits to Hunters, GOP Donors</span></font></b></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font><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="2590084960" data-authors="Lorraine Chow" data-headline="Trump Admin. Quietly Awards Dozens of Lion Trophy Permits to Hunters, GOP Donors" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has issued more than three dozen permits for hunters to bring back <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/lions" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lion</a>trophy parts from Zimbabwe and Zambia between 2016-2018, according to copies of the permits obtained by a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The documents were obtained by <a href="https://friendsofanimals.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Friends of Animals</a> and reported by <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/lion-trophies-us-government_us_5b594812e4b0fd5c73cb950a" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Huffington Post</a> on Thursday. Thirty-three hunters received a total of 38 lion trophy permits, according to the animal advocacy nonprofit.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="text-align: center;">More than half of those hunters donated to Republican lawmakers or have ties to hunting advocacy group </span><a href="https://www.safariclub.org/" target="blank" style="text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none;">Safari Club International</a><span style="text-align: center;">, Friends of Animals said.</span></b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"The permits show that the current administration, not only has loosened restrictions on lion hunting, but is rewarding supporters," the nonprofit said in a </span><a href="https://friendsofanimals.org/news/u-s-hunters-with-connections-to-trump-received-fws-permits-to-hunt-african-lions-under-loosened-restrictions/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">press release</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The report follows the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> administration's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/elephant-trophy-imports-trump-2543499754.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">move in March</a> to allow <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/elephants" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">elephant</a> and lion trophy imports from Zimbabwe and Zambia on a case by case basis, a reversal from President Trump's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/elephant-trophy-imports-trump-zinke-2511054939.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">previous statements</a> that his administration would keep the Obama-era ban on imports of the animals.</span></font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, Secretary of the Interior <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/big-game-hunter-dead-giraffe-2583505970.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a> created an <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/11/08/2017-24328/international-wildlife-conservation-council-establishment-request-for-nominations" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">advisory committee</a> called the International Wildlife Conservation Council that is mainly comprised of trophy hunters and members of Safari Club International.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fish and Wildlife Service did not respond to HuffPost's request for comment.</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Among the hunters who received a permit was Steven Chancellor, a wealthy Indiana businessman and major GOP donor who raised more than $1 million for Republican candidates at a fundraiser at his home headlined by Donald Trump in 2016, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Friends of Animals said. Chancellor—an avid hunter who has</span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> registered 482 confirmed kills, including </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">18 lions</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, between 1980 and 2008</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, the </span><a href="https://www.courierpress.com/story/opinion/columnists/jon-webb/2018/03/27/webb-big-game-hunting-whatever-you-want-and-thats-problem/461204002/" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">Courier & Press</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> reported—is an appointee on Sec. Zinke's International Wildlife Conservation Council. He was allowed to import lion parts from a July 2016 hunt in Zimbabwe, according to the FOIA request.</span></font></p><p><span style="text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another hunter who received permits was Virginia resident Kent Greenawalt, who has donated more than $100,000 to Republican candidates and committees and $5,400 to Trump.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> He was allowed to bring back lion trophies after a hunt in Zambia in 2017 and another hunt in Zimbabwe in 2016, Friends of Animals revealed.</span></font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Big game hunters <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/big-game-hunter-dead-giraffe-2583505970.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">say</a> their sport provides a service through game management and the trophy hunting fees provide revenue that directly funds conservation and contributes to African economies.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, opponents say that killing the animals is wrong and endangers vulnerable populations.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If African wildlife is to survive the next few decades in their homelands, these elephants, lions and other animals—coveted by hunters for their strength and beauty—must be worth more alive than dead," said Friends of Animals President Priscilla Feral in the press release. "That means safeguarding habitat along with photographic safaris and ecotourism must outpace blood-drenched trophy hunting expeditions. Trophy hunting must expire and collapse from its own dead weight. Let's press for an administration that stops catering to an industry that has actually been in decline with a dwindling number of hunters."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/07/science/trump-elephant-trophy-hunting.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The New York Times</a> reported that Fish and Wildlife Service previously made determinations about trophies publicly available, but under new rules, interested parties must file a FOIA request to see details of the permits.</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/25/profit_over_grizzlies_trump_admin_tries" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.democracynow.org/2018/7/25/profit_over_grizzlies_trump_admin_tries</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div class="story_summary" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 27px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump administration has announced plans to gut the Endangered Species Act, ordering federal agencies to consider economic impacts before listing animals to be protected under the law.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> The newly proposed guidelines by the Interior Department would allow corporations involved in mining, drilling or other forms of extraction to proceed with projects that would otherwise be prohibited. The Trump administration’s proposed rules are among several recent attacks endangering the Endangered Species Act. Earlier this month, the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Congressional Western Caucus introduced a package of nine bills to “modernize” the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ESA</span>. In introducing the legislation, Republican Congressmember Don Young of Alaska said, “The Endangered Species Act has been weaponized and misused by environmental groups for too long.”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> We speak to Kierán Suckling, executive director and a founder of the Center for Biological Diversity.</span></font></p></div><hr class="hidden-xs" style="background: rgb(236, 238, 239); box-sizing: content-box; height: 1px; margin: 40px 0px; border: none; clear: both;" /></div><div class="mobile_anchor_target" id="transcript" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h5 class="transcript" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; line-height: 1;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Transcript</font></h5><div class="grey_description fine_print" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; line-height: 19px;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.</font></div><div class="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 27px; letter-spacing: -0.2px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ:</strong> The Trump administration has announced plans to gut the Endangered Species Act, ordering federal agencies to consider economic impacts before listing animals to be protected under the law. The newly proposed guidelines by the Interior Department would allow corporations involved in mining, drilling or other forms of extraction to proceed with projects that would otherwise be prohibited.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act in 1973 to provide a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats. The Trump administration’s proposed rules are among several recent efforts to weaken the Endangered Species Act.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earlier this month, the Congressional Western Caucus introduced a package of nine bills to, quote, “modernize” the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">ESA</span>. In introducing the legislation, Republican Congressman Don Young of Alaska said, quote, “The Endangered Species Act has been weaponized and misused by environmental groups for too long.” Meanwhile, in the Senate, Wyoming Republican John Barrasso, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, also introduced a draft bill to amend the act. This is Barrasso speaking at a hearing last week.</font></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">SEN</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. </span><span class="caps" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">JOHN</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">BARRASSO</span>:</span></strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Congress last reauthorized the Endangered Species Act with amendments of substance in 1988, 30 years ago. Even the U.S. Constitution has been amended more recently than the Endangered Species Act. Stakeholders are making it clear that the Endangered Species Act can be improved. A major goal of the Endangered Species Act is the recovery of species to the point that protection under the statute is no longer necessary. Since the </span><span class="caps" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">ESA</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> was signed into law, only 54 out of 2,393 species listed in the U.S. and foreign countries have been delisted because they have recovered. That’s less than 3 percent. Now, as a doctor, if I admit a hundred patients to the hospital and only three recover enough under my treatment to be discharged, Governor, I would deserve to lose my medical license with numbers like that.</span></font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> House Democrats, along with conservationists, managed to get excluded from Congress’s annual defense spending bill policies that would restrict Endangered Species Act protections for certain animals.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For more, we’re joined by Kierán Suckling. He is executive director, a founder of the Center for Biological Diversity, the group that has sued the Trump administration 81 times over the past year and a half.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kierán, welcome to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Democracy Now!</em> Talk about what is happening to the Endangered Species Act, 45 years after it was passed and President Nixon signed off on it.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">KIERÁN <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SUCKLING</span>:</strong> Yeah, the Trump administration’s proposal to gut the Endangered Species Act is the most comprehensive, devastating attempt to destroy this law we’ve seen in this entire time. And this is after Reagan and after the Bushes. It’s even worse than that. It’s quite extraordinary.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ:</strong> Well, and specifically, how would the weakening or gutting of the act work, if it went through?</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">KIERÁN <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SUCKLING</span>:</strong> Well, it will strip protection entirely for about 60 percent of all species on the list. And these are the species that are listed as threatened rather than endangered. Currently, they get essentially the same protection as endangered species. Under the Trump proposal, they would get no protection at all. You could continue to kill them, you could continue to destroy their habitat, as if they were simply not protected.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ:</strong> And how would this issue of taking into account economic impacts work?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">KIERÁN <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SUCKLING</span>:</strong> Yeah, this is really disastrous. The Endangered Species Act is incredibly successful because it requires that all decisions be made solely on the best available science—no politics, no economic concerns. The Trump administration now wants to say, when deciding whether a species is endangered—a scientific question—you’re going to have to take into account economic impacts. Well, economic activity—mining, logging, grazing—is the cause of endangerment. And this is the Endangered Species Act, <b>not the Endangered Mining Industry Act. So it really turns the priority of this very successful law entirely upside down.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> I want to turn to Richard Nixon, speaking in 1970, when he outlined a sweeping plan to protect the environment. Three years later, he signed the Endangered Species Act.</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">PRESIDENT</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">RICHARD</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">NIXON</span>:</strong> The great question of the ’70s is: Shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land and to our water?</font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> So that’s Richard Nixon speaking back in the 1970s. I want to go back to Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, speaking at a hearing for a draft bill to amend the Endangered Species Act.</font></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 3px solid rgb(241, 242, 243);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SEN</span>. <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">JOHN</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">BARRASSO</span>:</strong> The discussion draft elevates the role of states in partnering with the federal government to implement the Endangered Species Act. It affords states the opportunity to lead wildlife conservation efforts, including to the establishment of recovery teams for listed species and developing and implementing recovery plans. It provides for increased regulatory certainty, so stakeholders are incentivized to enter into voluntary conservation and recovery activities. It increases transparency. It codifies a system for prioritizing species listing petitions so limited resources flow to the species most in need.</font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Kierán Suckling, if you can respond to what Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming was saying?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">KIERÁN <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SUCKLING</span>:</strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yeah, this is really extraordinary, because to get onto the endangered species list, there first has to be a finding that <b>state plans have not worked,</b> that state plans have caused the species to be imperiled. And so, now Barrasso he wants to have the law say, “Oh, well, let’s put the states, whose plans failed, in charge of conserving the species.” How can that make any sense at all?</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">He wants to do that because he knows the states don’t have the money, the infrastructure, and in places like Idaho, Utah, Alaska, they don’t have the desire to protect these species. It’s the reason they’re endangered in the first place, right? <b>We don’t turn over implementation of our laws to criminals who have just been found guilty of breaking the law</b>. The state can be a partner of the federal government. The federal government needs to set the standards, provide the funds to get the job done that the states fail to do.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ:</strong> And, Kierán Suckling, why do you—what’s your sense of why the Trump administration is making this such a priority? I mean, President Trump is not exactly known as a guy who has a lot of concern about what’s going on with nature or with the open spaces of America. He’s a real estate developer. So, why do you think he has moved so aggressively on this front?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">KIERÁN <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SUCKLING</span>:</strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Well, he’s being strongly influenced by right-wing Republican congressmen, but especially those from the Western states, where so much logging, mining, grazing, oil drilling, coal mining is taking place on public lands. And there’s this right-wing agenda to allow our public lands to be turned over to industry groups. And these folks, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">particularly out of Utah, have Trump’s ear, and he’s doing essentially whatever they want to happen.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">AMY</span> <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">GOODMAN</span>:</strong> Can you talk about, Kierán, what animals have been saved by the Endangered Species Act?</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">KIERÁN <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SUCKLING</span>:</strong> Oh, you know, there just are hundreds. Of the 1,600 species on the domestic list, about 85 percent of them have improved in their population size since going on the list. So, for example, the bald eagle, when it was first put on the endangered species list, there were just a couple hundred of them. And by the time they were recovered, there were over 8,000. Other species that have been helped are the wolverine up in the northern states; the grizzly bear has recovered tremendously, from on the verge of extinction to many hundreds of them; on the East Coast, we’ve got the Atlantic sturgeon off the coast of New York; or down in Florida, we’ve got the manatee, another incredible success story; green sea turtles on the Texas coast. Really, in every single state in the country, endangered species are thriving because of the work of the federal government, because of the very protections the Trump administration and Barrasso want to kill.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">JUAN</span> GONZÁLEZ:</strong> And we talked about what President Trump is directly trying to do. What is Barrasso—in Congress, what are these efforts to amend or modernize the act about?</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 30px 0px;"><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;">KIERÁN <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;">SUCKLING</span>:</strong><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Yeah, so, congressional Republicans have introduced over 60 bills in the last two years to gut the Endangered Species Act. And they know what they’re doing. So these bills go right at the key decision junctures in the act that protect species and, in doing so, slow down some industries. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">And so, they want to make it harder to put a species onto the endangered species list at all, because if you stop that key moment, none of the other things flow from it. They want to allow protected habitat areas to be destroyed, even though they were set up simply to save the species. They want to change the people who create recovery plans for the species, the blueprint of what actions are needed, so that the states and industry groups dominate those plans. They want to make it so that greenhouse gas emissions and global warming cannot be addressed at all, even though they’re driving almost all the species on the list extinct<b>. They want to create loopholes so that oil companies, mining companies, logging companies can continue to implement destructive plans, even though those plans have been specifically found to be driving species extinct.</b></span></font></p></div></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-act-republicans-2586332924.html"> https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-act-republicans-2586332924.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Republicans Launch Extinction Bills to Cripple Endangered Species Act</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives announced on Thursday a series of bills aimed at profoundly gutting the Endangered Species Act, including provisions making it almost impossible for imperiled species to gain protection and <b>giving states that often oppose <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">endangered species</a> protection veto power over those decisions.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, the bills would turn over recovery efforts to states that often lack the funding or regulatory structure to ensure species' survival, let alone recovery.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="text-align: center; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">"These bills will absolutely push</span><span style="text-align: center; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" style="text-align: center; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">wildlife</a><span style="text-align: center; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><span style="text-align: center; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">over the edge and into extinction," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Republicans are turning their back on the most vulnerable species in the country just to please polluters and other powerful interests. It's disgusting and repugnant."</span><font style="text-align: center;" /></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">More than <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/esa_attacks/trumptable.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">75 legislative attacks</a> have been launched against the Endangered Species Act since Trump took office—and more than 300 since 2011, when Republicans took over the U.S. House of Representatives.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Today's attacks are being led by<b> Utah Rep. Rob Bishop, Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, New Mexico Rep. Steve Pearce and other House Republicans beholden to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/fossil-fuels" style="text-decoration-line: none;">oil and gas</a> and other extractive industries.</b></font></font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among the bills, Rep. Westerman's "Petition Act" would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to declare a petition backlog if it is presented with too many species in need of protection and then suspend any deadlines responding to those petitions and prohibit consideration of any subsequently filed.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The problem isn't a backlog of petitions, it's a backlog of species that desperately need help and a government that hasn't moved fast enough to prevent their extinction," Greenwald said. "If Representative Westerman and his patrons in the oil and gas industry truly wanted to see the backlog addressed and extinction avoided, they would provide the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service more money to help the many species waiting for protection, species like American wolverines and lesser prairie chickens."</font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Other bills give the states undue influence over what should be scientific decisions involving the very survival of species, known as speed delisting of species, which would certainly result in species prematurely losing protection.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Rep. Gosar's bill would callously exempt <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dams" style="text-decoration-line: none;">dams</a> and their associated reservoirs from designation of critical habitat, despite the frequent importance of the impounded <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rivers" style="text-decoration-line: none;">rivers</a> for many species, ranging from <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" style="text-decoration-line: none;">salmon</a>to yellow-billed cuckoos.</span></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Endangered Species Act is the most successful wildlife conservation law in the world. It has staved off extinction for 99 percent of the species under its care and put hundreds on the road to recovery.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If you love whales or birds or bears or rare plants, you have to love the Endangered Species Act because it's the safety net that keeps many of them from disappearing into oblivion," Greenwald said. "These Republicans' efforts to tear apart the Endangered Species Act go directly against the will of the American people and will rob future generations of countless species."</font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">R<span style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;">ELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</span></font></font></font></font></p><div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://observer.com/2017/07/republican-congress-endangered-species-act/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Republicans Get Big Money to Repeal Endangered Species Act ... ›</font></a></font></font></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/11/05/powerful-lawmaker-wants-to-invalidate-the-endangered-species-act-hes-getting-close/" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Powerful lawmaker wants to 'invalidate' the Endangered Species Act ... ›</font></a></font></font></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/endangered-species-act-republican-attacks_us_596ec8e3e4b0000eb196c579" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Fish And Wildlife Service Backs GOP-Led Bills To Chip Away At ... ›</font></a></font></font></font></li><li class="around-the-webitem"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-act-repeal-2520274453.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Analysis: Congress Attacked Endangered Species Every 6 Days in ... ›</font></a></font></font></font></li></ul></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-erodes-protections-endangered-animals-developers-new-attack">https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-erodes-protections-endangered-animals-developers-new-attack</a></font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kitty bock HSUSA</font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>...N<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ow, a new action by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency puts at further peril endangered and threatened animals in the United States.</span></b></font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The FWS has issued a memorandum prohibiting agency staff from even telling developers when they are required to file for a permit before they begin development projects on properties that could degrade the habitats of endangered and threatened species.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/interior-warns-staffers-to-keep-mum-about-mandatory-endangered-species-protections_us_5aecee82e4b0ab5c3d65b4f7" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Huffington Post</a>, the memo, issued last month by the agency's principal deputy director Greg Sheehan, says it's "not appropriate" for staff to tell developers when they need to obtain such a permit—even though it may be required by law in many circumstances.</span></font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The situation is pretty simple to understand: the survival of wildlife depends on biologically healthy and intact ecosystems and habitats, and our government should be giving the benefit of the doubt to imperiled species, not to commercial interests. Notification of the requirement to secure a permit is not onerous red tape; it’s a sign of a functional and effective government.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>I have written before about Sheehan, who is closely associated with <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/2015/09/report-exposes-safari-club-international-trophy-madness.html?credit=blog_post_051118_idhome-page" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Safari Club International</a>, a membership club for American trophy hunters</b>. In March, Sheehan greenlighted the lifting of existing bans on the import of elephant and lion trophies from certain African countries and signaled that FWS will approve such imports on a case-by-case basis—a decision that the Humane Society of the United States is challenging in federal court.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year the FWS prematurely and unlawfully <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/2018/04/alert-help-us-stop-wyoming-idaho-opening-trophy-hunts-yellowstone-grizzlies.html?credit=blog_post_051118_idhome-page" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">removed ESA protections for grizzly bears</a> in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, leading states in the region to move to open up a trophy hunting season for these great bears.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pandering to commercial interests and reducing transparency has become an alarming tendency for this administration, especially at the Department of the Interior. These furtive and reckless actions put at risk the beautiful wildlife that we all, as Americans, enjoy, cherish and wish to protect. We’ve got to stand up for wildlife, by standing strong against misguided moves by federal agencies charged with the protection of wild animal species.<b>The FWS has also established an "advisory board" stocked with trophy hunters, giving them a platform to destroy any and all barriers to international trophy hunting and the import of trophy heads and parts by U.S. citizens.</b></font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></p></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/red-wolves-fws-proposal-2582052817.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.ecowatch.com/red-wolves-fws-proposal-2582052817.html</a></font></font></font></font></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FWS Proposal 'Dooms' Wild Population of Endangered Red Wolves</font></font></font></font></h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px;" /></font></font></font></font></p><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2582052817" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="FWS Proposal 'Dooms' Wild Population of Endangered Red Wolves" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In April, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/red-wolf-endangered-2563600067.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">released a report</a> saying that the only remaining wild population of red wolves, in eastern North Carolina, could go extinct within eight years. On Wednesday, the FWS <a href="https://www.fws.gov/southeast/news/2018/06/service-proposes-new-management-rule-for-non-essential-experimental-population-of-red-wolves-in-north-carolina/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">published a proposal</a> that seems likely to speed that process along.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal would limit protected territory to public lands and remove restrictions on killing or harming wolves on private lands.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We're very disappointed in this plan," <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Southern Environmental Law Center</a> attorney Ramona McGee told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/06/27/interior-plans-to-let-people-to-kill-endangered-red-wolves/?utm_term=.4c51be3630c0" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">The Washington Post</a>. "It's a plan that effectively dooms the red wolf in the wild. It's not enough to sustain a population, and if they wander off that [refuge] they can be shot and killed the moment they cross that boundary."</font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The FWS estimates there are approximately 35 red wolves left in the wild, a dozen of which live in the public lands that would be their only protected habitat under the new proposal: the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and the Dare County Bombing Range.</font></font></font></font></p></div></div></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> ---</font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/grizzly-bear-hunt-wyoming-2571671329.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/grizzly-bear-hunt-wyoming-2571671329.html</a></font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">= </font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">insects 115k studied</font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><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></font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></p></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">also wolves]</font></font></font></font></p><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/yellowstone-grizzly-bears-2564657776.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Yellowstone Grizzly Bears to Lose Endangered Species Protection, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Confirms</font></a></font></font></font></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2564657776" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="Yellowstone Grizzly Bears to Lose Endangered Species Protection, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Confirms" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><div class="widgetbrief"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) reaffirmed its June 2017 <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/grizzly-bears-yellowstone-2446382005.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">decision</a> to designate grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) as a separate population and remove that population from protections under the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Endangered Species</a> Act, the FWS announced in the <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/04/30/2018-09095/endangered-and-threatened-wildlife-and-plants-review-of-2017-final-rule-greater-yellowstone" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Federal Register</a> Friday.</font></font></font></font></p><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the FWS <a href="https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/pressrel/2017/06222017_Secretary_Zinke_Announces_Recovery_and_Delisting_of_Yellowstone_Grizzly_Bear.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">announced</a> the June 22 decision, they pointed to the fact that the population of grizzly bears in the area in and around <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/yellowstone-national-park" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Yellowstone National Park</a> had grown from 136 in 1975, when the species was first listed, to 700 today.</font></font></font></font></p></div></div></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/mother-nature-out-of-synch-2561197573.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/mother-nature-out-of-synch-2561197573.html</a></font></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></div><div><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Species Threatened as Climate Crisis Pushes Mother Nature 'Out of Synch'</font></font></font></font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font></font></font></font><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2561197573" data-authors="Common Dreams" data-headline="Species Threatened as Climate Crisis Pushes Mother Nature 'Out of Synch'" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font 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face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="text-align: center;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By <span style="background-color: initial;">Julia Conley</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: initial;">The warming of the Earth over the past several decades <span style="background-color: initial;">is throwing Mother Nature's food chain out of whack and leaving many species struggling to survive,</span> according to new research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/04/17/%20http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/04/10/1714511115" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">study</a> offers the latest evidence that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate crisis</a> that human activity has contributed to has had far-reaching effects throughout the planet....</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><h1 class="widgetheadline h1" style="margin: 10px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; cursor: pointer; word-wrap: break-word; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a class="widgetheadline-text custom-post-headline" href="https://www.ecowatch.com/proposed-doi-rule-change-2559389967.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-break: break-word; word-wrap: break-word; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; line-height: 31px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Proposed DOI Rule Change Would Gut Protections for Future Threatened Species</font></a></h1><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url expanded" data-elid="2559389967" data-authors="Olivia Rosane" data-headline="Proposed DOI Rule Change Would Gut Protections for Future Threatened Species" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style=""><div class="widgetbrief" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On April 5, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-ryan-zinke-2556479220.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">EcoWatch</a> reported on a rule change proposed by the Department of Interior (DOI) that the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Center for Biological Diversity</a> warned could remove protections for more than 300 threatened species.</font></p></div><div class="js-appear-on-expand" style="transition: all 350ms; height: auto; overflow: hidden; opacity: 1;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 10px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later that day, CNN obtained an internal document of the draft from Fish and Wildlife Services (FWS) and <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/06/politics/endangered-species-protection-proposal/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">reported Friday</a> that the proposed rule change would not impact currently threatened species, but could still have major consequences for any species listed as threatened in the future.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At stake is the so-called "blanket rule"—a 1978 regulation under the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Endangered Species</a> Act granting threatened species the same protections as endangered species unless the FWS decides on special regulations. Those protections prevent against "take," human-caused death or harm due to hunting, trapping or habitat destruction.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The proposal would do away with the blanket rule for all future species listed as threatened, instead deciding protection for each on a case by case basis.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Species listed as a threatened species after the effective date of this rule, if finalized, would have protective regulations only if the [Fish and Wildlife] Service promulgates a species-specific rule," CNN reported that the proposal said.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But while all 300 species currently protected by the rule are safe, that doesn't mean it won't endanger animals that are already vulnerable.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The gopher tortoise, the Sierra Nevada red fox and the North American wolverine are among the animals currently proposed for threatened status who have not received it yet, <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/04/leaked-proposal-shows-trump-administration-planning-to-kill-crucial-protections-for-threatened-animals/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Mother Jones</a> reported Wednesday.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, Noah Greenwald, explained to Mother Jones why the new rule change would be so harmful for species like these.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"If you're a threatened species and you don't have 'take' protections, you don't really have any protections at all," Greenwald said.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He feared the rule change was just another attempt on the part of the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Trump administration</a> to placate developers and corporations at the expense of the environment.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It's going to turn every listing into a negotiation with industry," he told Mother Jones.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump's appointee to head the DOI <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">Ryan Zinke</a> <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/doi-ryan-zinke-2146664343.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: break-word;">has a record</a> that justifies Greenwald's suspicions. As a Representative to Congress from Montana, he voted for exemptions from Endangered Species Act rules for water developers and agribusiness.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Once again, [Zinke] is trying to pull a fast one," Florida Sen. Bill Nelson told CNN. "Now he's trying to weaken rules that protect animals and plants."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Deciding protections on a case-by-case basis would also worsen an already deadly bureaucracy that predates Trump. Currently, there is a backlog of more than 500 species proposed for protection, and the FWS takes an average of 12 years to protect each species.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"We know of at least 47 species so far that have gone extinct waiting for protection," Greenwald told Mother Jones.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In statements to both CNN and Mother Jones, FWS spokesperson Gavin Shire emphasized that the rule was still under review and could change.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"It is premature to discuss a rule that has not been completed and is subject to change while under interagency review," he told CNN.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If it does go through as currently written, Greenwald told Mother Jones that the Center for Biological Diversity will likely fight it in court.</font></p><div class="around-the-web" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="around-the-webheadline" style="font-weight: 700; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB</font></div><ul class="around-the-weblist" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none;"><li class="around-the-webitem"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-ryan-zinke-2556479220.html" class="around-the-weblink" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; line-height: normal; display: inline-block; margin-top: 10px; word-wrap: break-word;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Proposed Rule Change Would Be 'Death Sentence' for Nearly 300 ... ›</font></a></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-ryan-zinke-2556479220.html" class="external text" title="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-ryan-zinke-2556479220.html" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; background: url(" lock_icon.gif="lock_icon.gif" right="right" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" font-family="font-family" georgia="Georgia" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" verdana="Verdana" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size">Proposed Rule Change Would Be 'Death Sentence' for Nearly 300 Species, Activists Warn</a><span style="" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" verdana="Verdana" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"> 3/18 see </span><a href="https://ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Category:Wildlife" class="external text" title="https://ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Category:Wildlife" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background: url(" lock_icon.gif="lock_icon.gif" right="right" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" font-family="font-family" georgia="Georgia" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" verdana="Verdana" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size">Wildlife</a><span style="" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" verdana="Verdana" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">.</span></font></div><div><span style="" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" verdana="Verdana" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/the-trump-administration-might-let-the-worlds-rarest-marine-mammal-go-extinct/">https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/03/the-trump-administration-might-let-the-worlds-rarest-marine-mammal-go-extinct/</a>
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/eastern-cougar-extinct-2528344759.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/eastern-cougar-extinct-2528344759.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hard to track trump admin even on charismatic mega, wolves, bison</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-has-hatched-cruel-illogical-plan-kill-americas-national-mammal">https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/trump-administration-has-hatched-cruel-illogical-plan-kill-americas-national-mammal</a></font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">National Park Service—which has a shameful record of allowing the killing of bison who migrate outside of Yellowstone National Park and onto adjacent federal lands—is now planning to open up a second front against these great and lumbering beasts, the biggest mammals in North America. This time, <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/grand-canyon/2017/09/06/grand-canyon-bison-herd-culling-trapping/640132001/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">NPS is impassively pursuing plans to kill hundreds of bison</a> within the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. If it happens, NPS will not only be targeting the very symbol of the agency itself and our national mammal (as designated by Congress in 2016), but spilling their blood in or around yet one more jewel of our nation’s most beloved network of federal lands.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a <a href="https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2017/12/08/grand-canyon-bison-hunting-farm-terrible-idea/924165001/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">piece in this weekend’s <em>Arizona Republic</em></a>, Matthew Scully, onetime senior speechwriter for President George W. Bush, deconstructed the flimsy claims that 400 to 600 bison in the 1.2-million-acre park are too numerous for the land and water resources there. Scully closely examined a little-noticed environmental assessment on the project and found it lacking of any science-based rationale for the plan, yet full of platitudes about prospective bison impacts, with the agency complaining about “soil disturbance” and “erosion potential.” “The bison graze, drink water, and pass through streams, inviting further charges of causing ‘the potential for increasing impacts on vegetation’ and ‘potential concerns about changes to local hydrology’,” reports Scully, himself an Arizona resident and author of the book <em>Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy.</em></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><em><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></em></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">post napa fire, 2 bogus logging bills bad for wildlife?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><h1 class="title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</span></font></h1><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/lawsuit-challenges-trump-administrations-ok-of-corporations-plan-to-drain-california-desert-aquifier-2513542263.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/lawsuit-challenges-trump-administrations-ok-of-corporations-plan-to-drain-california-desert-aquifier-2513542263.html</a></span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></div><div><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lawsuit Challenges Trump's Approval of Corporation's Plan to Drain California Desert Aquifer</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font><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="2513542263" data-authors="Earthjustice" data-headline="Lawsuit Challenges Trump's Approval of Corporation's Plan to Drain California Desert Aquifer" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservation and health-safety groups <a href="https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/1%20Complaint%2011-28-17.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">filed suit</a> on Tuesday in federal court challenging the Trump administration's approval of an enormous groundwater-mining and pipeline project in Southern California. The Cadiz water project, approved without environmental review, includes the construction of a pipeline through the Mojave Trails National Monument and other public lands in the area.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tuesday's lawsuit notes that the Trump administration reversed two Obama administration decisions and wrongly concluded that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/bernhardt-senate-vote-2411491233.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Cadiz project</a>'s 43-mile pipeline did not require any federal Bureau of Land Management permits or approvals. The BLM is allowing the developer to build the pipeline within an existing railroad right-of-way, paving the way for Cadiz to pump 16 billion gallons of water a year from the fragile desert aquifer to sprawling new developments in Southern California.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The Cadiz project will suck the desert dry while developers count their money," said Ileene Anderson, a senior scientist with the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Biological Diversity</a>. "It's an unsustainable water-privatization scheme. Pumping ancient groundwater from the Mojave Desert to water suburban lawns in Orange County will devastate desert <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildlife</a> and the entire ecosystem relying on that water for survival."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If allowed to move forward, the Cadiz water-mining project would drain life-giving springs in the Mojave Trails National Monument and surrounding public lands, killing vegetation and destroying key habitat for a host of desert wildlife, including the threatened <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/desert_tortoise/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">desert tortoises</a>, bighorn sheep, <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/reptiles/Mojave_fringe-toed_lizard/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mojave fringe-toed lizards</a> and <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/desert_kit_fox/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">kit foxes</a>. Hydrologists from the U.S. Geological Survey determined that the Cadiz project is unsustainable and that the company's privately funded study vastly overstates the aquifer's recharge rate.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The Trump administration's approval of the Cadiz project is crony capitalism at its worst," said Adam Keats, senior attorney with the <a href="https://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Food Safety</a>. "So much life relies on this precious desert groundwater, yet under Trump apparently the only thing that matters is how much money you have and who your friends are in government."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The project's approval followed the appointment of <a href="https://earthjustice.org/blog/2017-may/fossil-fuel-lobbyist-picked-for-post-at-interior" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">David Bernhardt</a>, a deputy Interior Department secretary and former lobbyist for Cadiz. Bernhardt's former employer, the Washington-based law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, continues to represent Cadiz.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Cadiz, Inc. is just another corporation looking to profit by selling off an irreplaceable public resource," said Greg Loarie, an attorney at <a href="https://earthjustice.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Earthjustice</a> who is representing the groups filing suit. "The Trump administration would love to give Cadiz a free pass around our environmental laws, but we're not going to let that happen."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Center for Biological Diversity and the Center for Food Safety have also filed <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/Cadiz/pdfs/2017-09-27_FOIA_Requests_RE_Cadiz_Water_Project.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">public records requests</a> for documents that could shed light on the Trump administration's abrupt decision to allow the Cadiz project to move forward. <span style="text-align: center;">In addition to Earthjustice, the groups are represented by Adam Keats at the Center for Food Safety and Aruna Prabhala and Lisa Belenky at the Center for Biological Diversity.</span></font></p></div></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">omg</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/after-targeting-elephants-trump-administration-puts-african-lions-crosshairs">https://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/after-targeting-elephants-trump-administration-puts-african-lions-crosshairs</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wednesday, I reacted in real time on my blog to the Safari Club International’s announcement that the U.S. Department of the Interior plans to lift a ban on the <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/11/interior-department-allow-imports-elephant-lion-trophies-africa-reversing-obama-policies.html?credit=mr_TDS_111717_blog_post_111617_id9391" style="text-decoration-line: none;">import of sport-hunted trophies of rare and beleaguered African elephants</a>. In short, our government is essentially turning loose American trophy hunters in Zimbabwe, at a time when declines in elephant populations have been documented because of the ruthless killing of the animals for their ivory. The <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/10/global-movement-ivory-trade-gains-momentum.html?credit=mr_TDS_111717_blog_post_111617_id9391" style="text-decoration-line: none;">United States has led the fight against the ivory trade</a> worldwide, and now it’s undermining that morally urgent fight by allowing one class of ivory hunters to have their way with elephants. The upper class, that is.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And it’s just as shocking that the agency is also turning trophy hunters loose to kill African lions. The lion hunters are typically the elephant hunters too, because of the contest killing framework that the Safari Club has devised. You see, <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/09/report-exposes-safari-club-international-trophy-madness.html?credit=mr_TDS_111717_blog_post_111617_id9391" style="text-decoration-line: none;">SCI has an awards program</a> that promotes the trophy killing of the world’s rarest animals, as a way to drive business to the guides and outfitters who contribute to the organization. One award is the Africa Big Five, which involves killing an elephant, lion, rhino, leopard, and Cape buffalo.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With yesterday’s news, which has prompted trophy hunting companies to advertise Zimbabwean elephant hunts on their websites, the Interior Department and the government of Zimbabwe (whoever is in charge) are rolling out the red carpet for the next Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/07/cecil-lion-killed-by-trophy-hunter.html?credit=mr_TDS_111717_blog_post_111617_id9391" style="text-decoration-line: none;">lured a famous and beloved lion, Cecil, </a>out of a national park and shot and wounded him with an arrow.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Palmer left Cecil to bleed through the night, and then went out the next morning to finish him off. Walter Palmer never ended up facing any charges. Adding insult to injury, as an example of Zimbabwe’s inability to properly manage trophy hunting, its government dropped all charges against the hunting guide who accompanied him on this infamous and illegal hunt.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In July, I wrote about an eerily familiar slaying in Zimbabwe: <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/07/trophy-hunter-slays-xanda-son-of-cecil.html?credit=mr_TDS_111717_blog_post_111617_id9391" style="text-decoration-line: none;">a trophy hunter shot and killed Xanda the lion</a>, whose primary range consisted of a portion of Hwange National Park. Xanda was the son of Cecil, and about four years old when Palmer killed his father.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No one knew what would become of Cecil’s progeny, since trophy hunting disrupts social relationships among family members. Lions live in communities where males sometimes work together to protect their mates and cubs; when a dominant male is lost, new male coalitions may seize the moment and try to take over their prides. When they succeed, they are known to kill the cubs to ensure the females continue only their lineage. Xanda survived the loss of his father and grew into a mature male who mated and had cubs of his own.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, acting on a petition from The HSUS and Humane Society International, <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/12/u-s-provides-endangered-species-act-protections-for-african-lions.html?credit=mr_TDS_111717_blog_post_111617_id9391" style="text-decoration-line: none;">classified all African lions as endangered or threatened</a>. In response to that plea, the agency, based on the best available science, forbid the imports of sport-hunted trophies effective January 22, 2016. Each year prior to that, trophy hunters had been killing as many as 600 lions in Africa and bringing their parts home, with the continent-wide population at only 20,000 and rapidly declining. Their numbers have been cut in half in just the last two decades. Trophy hunting is, without question, one of the greatest threats to lions.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yesterday’s announcement from the Interior Department will not only allow sport-hunting trophies for 2017 to come into the United States, but it will also permit entry of those from 2016. The administration is doing a reachback and accommodating all of those American hunters who killed lions in 2016 but couldn’t legally bring them back. Call it an amnesty program for the lion hunters.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The outrage factor is almost beyond compare for us at The HSUS.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Remember, this same administration took aim at two <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/02/u-s-house-sanctions-killing-hibernating-bears-wolf-pups-dens-federal-refuges-alaska.html?credit=mr_TDS_111717_blog_post_111617_id9391" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Obama-era rules to protect grizzly bears, wolves, and other native carnivores</a> on 100 million acres of national wildlife refuges and national preserves. In April, President Trump signed a repeal of the refuge rule protecting predators. And just last week, the agency announced that it was revisiting the rule—which means starting the process to nix it—for National Park Service lands in Alaska.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So first there was an assault on Alaskan wildlife. And now an assault on African wildlife. The American public should not stand for these human attacks on these remarkable animals—all drivers of rural economies at home and abroad because of the wildlife-watching they attract.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The laughable part of this latest regulatory maneuvering dance is that the Interior Department is essentially saying that Zimbabwe has strict controls and has a sound wildlife management program. Remember, this is a nation run by a ruthless dictator who has targeted political opponents and average citizens. It is a country where poaching by shooting and poisoning of wildlife has been rampant. And it is a country that has a notorious pay-to-play approach—offering up animals to the highest bidder. In the middle of a political crisis of the worst order there, the U.S. government is working not to improve governance and promote the democratic process in Zimbabwe, but to open the door for Americans to join in the pillaging of that nation’s extraordinary wildlife.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What also defies understanding is, why would the U.S. government allow American trophy hunters to import lion trophies when they are unlikely to find an airline that will carry them into the country. After the killing of Cecil, 43 airlines, including all major U.S. carriers, said they would no longer ship lion trophies in the cargo holds of their planes.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">The folly that the killing helps lions and elephants is just that—pure folly. We’ll see the agency in court.</span>African elephants and African lions drive billions of dollars of economic activity in Africa. But they drive that activity only when they are alive. Killing them deducts from their populations, diminishes wildlife-watching experiences for others, and robs the countries of Africa of its greatest resources.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Much to Grouse About: Interior Department Calls for Changes That Could Threaten Sage Grouse Protection</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font><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="2493751218" data-headline="Much to Grouse About: Interior Department Calls for Changes That Could Threaten Sage Grouse Protection" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Charise Johnson</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That the current administration places very little value on the merit of robust scientific evidence when considering its actions (or inactions) is no longer shocking, but it remains an intolerable practice.</font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In this week's episode of "How is the Trump Administration Dismantling Science-Based Protections?" we visit the Interior Department's decision to formally reconsider a widely heralded <a href="http://westernvaluesproject.org/sage-grouse-agreement-sets-the-standard-for-21st-century-conservation/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Obama-era agreement</a> for protections of the greater sage grouse in the West.</font></p><p style=""><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Thursday, the Interior Department published a formal <a href="https://www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/GRSG%20Amendment_NOI_FRN_100317_CLEAN%20PDF.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">notice of intent</a> to rework 98 sage grouse management plans across the <a href="http://digg.com/video/more-like-sage-gross" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">quirky bird's</a> 11 state range. This change comes after a <a href="https://www.eenews.net/assets/2017/08/07/document_gw_08.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">mere 60 days deliberation</a> by the Interior Department's internal Sage-Grouse Review Team (appointed by Sec. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a>) </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">and Sage-Grouse Task Force (representatives of governors of the eleven western states)—and much to the chagrin of the many stakeholders who worked for several years to craft a cooperative land use agreement in an effort to protect the sage grouse and its habitat.</span></font></p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What's the deal with the sage grouse?</font></strong></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The sage grouse is the chicken of the "<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/sagebrush-sea-about/12170/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Sagebrush Sea</a>"—an ecosystem which is "suffering death by a thousand cuts," as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHUsVfmyXhg" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">former Sec. of Interior Sally Jewell put it</a>. Habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildfires</a> in the sagebrush have all contributed to the decline of this magnificent bird.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Importantly, Sec. Jewell worked to put in place federal-state partnerships in order to protect the sage grouse. In 2010, the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/greatersagegrouse/findings.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">FWS proposed listing</a> the sage grouse under <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Endangered Specie</a>s because of the threats its survival faced. After much input from stakeholders and the public, the agency in 2015 chose <a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/historic-conservation-campaign-protects-greater-sage-grouse" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">not to list</a> the species and instead put efforts into state management plans, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHUsVfmyXhg" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">assuring us all</a> that states could put programs in place to ensure the bird's protection. With Sec. Zinke's moves, we're now paving over (perhaps literally) those state protection plans, leaving the sage grouse at least as vulnerable as it was when the FWS proposed listing it under the Endangered Species Act.</font></p><p style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The sage grouse has long been caught in the crosshairs of political controversy, especially when it comes to undermining the science behind conservation efforts. For example, in<b> 2004, Julie MacDonald, a political appointee at the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/center-for-science-and-democracy/scientific_integrity/abuses_of_science/a-to-z/sage-grouse.html#.WdQHl7KGNhG" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">altered scientific content</a> in a report</b> examining the vulnerability of the greater sage grouse, which was subsequently presented to a panel of experts that recommended against listing the bird under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (read my colleagues' thoughts on political interference in sage grouse conservation efforts <a href="http://blog.ucsusa.org/gretchen-goldman/interfering-in-the-science-congress-targets-sage-grouse-protections-in-cromnibus-bill-759" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">here</a> and <a href="http://blog.ucsusa.org/michael-halpern/your-handy-guide-to-attacks-on-how-the-endangered-species-act-uses-science-726" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">here</a>).</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ignoring the science</font></strong></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Sage-Grouse Review Team (SGRT) recommendations include potentially removing or modifying the boundaries of critical habitat called sagebrush focal areas (SFAs), as well as setting population targets and <a href="http://wildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/TWS-Comment-on-Sage-Grouse-SO_FINAL_2017.07.20.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">captive breeding</a>, and modifying or issuing new policy on fluid mineral leasing and development. Also worth noting is that <a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060061473" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">an Obama-era moratorium on mining claims in six Western states recently expired</a>, with no indication of renewal from Sec. Zinke.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The problem with the Interior changing the conservation plans is twofold: 1) the motivation for reviewing the sage grouse management plans was to "ease the burden on local economies" by opening protected lands to development, which could have negative impacts on already rapidly-dwindling sage grouse populations, and 2) reopening the plans could spell more trouble for recovery efforts and potentially force FWS to list the sage grouse under the ESA in the future, which is precisely what states wanted to avoid. The conservation plan is critical, but it only works with the agreed upon protections in place.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The decision to undo years of collaboration and compromise between federal, state, local, and tribal governments, NGO's, scientists, industry, landowners, ranchers and hunters in a matter of two months sends a loud message to the public that economic considerations prevail over scientific evidence, even at the cost of an entire ecosystem and the species dependent upon it.</font></p><p style=""><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The SGRT recommendations ignore the science and put the entire sagebrush landscape at risk, much to the detriment of the sage grouse.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead is <a href="http://trib.com/business/energy/wyoming-governor-concerned-by-anticipated-sage-grouse-changes/article_794ed2b4-1414-5ca3-a207-bb32fd5241f7.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">critical of the new plan</a>, concerned that it ignores scientific consensus</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. "We've got to have good science lead the way, and that trumps politics," </span><a href="http://trib.com/business/energy/wyoming-governor-critical-of-federal-changes-to-sage-grouse-management/article_6d33d076-1a3b-5ab7-8040-5c02e1455054.html" target="blank" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">Mead said</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. "Let's look at what the states have done, and what biologists, folks who know this, are telling us."</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sage advice</font></strong></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We cannot allow our government to irresponsibly cater to oil and gas industry at the expense of our wildlife and public lands. Instead, we must urge the Department of Interior to focus their efforts on collaborative, science-informed management of the sage grouse and its habitat.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Charise Johnson is a research associate in the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.</font></p></div></div></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-administration-pacific-walrus-2493348314.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-administration-pacific-walrus-2493348314.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump administration</a> announced Wednesday it would decline to list the Pacific walrus on the endangered species list, reversing an Obama-era finding that the walruses should be protected under the Endangered Species Act.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended in 2011 that the walrus be considered for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">endangered species</a>status in the near future due to increased habitat loss from disappearing Arctic <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/sea-ice" style="text-decoration-line: none;">sea ice</a>. While its Wednesday announcement acknowledged the species faced "stressors" due to habitat loss, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it could not determine if the walrus will become endangered "in the foreseeable future"—a date the agency defines as 2060.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/marine-extinction-warming-2494757460.htm">https://www.ecowatch.com/marine-extinction-warming-2494757460.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-act-2492906451.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-act-2492906451.html</a></font></div><div><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Republicans Advance Five Bills to Cripple Endangered Species Act</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font><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="2492906451" data-headline="House Republicans Advance Five Bills to Cripple Endangered Species Act" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In party-line votes, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, led by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), advanced five bills today that would hamstring the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Endangered Species</a> Act and condemn hundreds of species to extinction. The legislation can now move to the full House floor for further consideration.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In December, Rep. Bishop <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/rob-bishop-12-08-2016.htmlhttp:/www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/rob-bishop-12-08-2016.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">stated</a> that his goal was to repeal the act in its entirety. These bills represent the foundation of this longstanding goal.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"These bills would put monarch butterflies, wolverines and hundreds of other imperiled animals on a fast track to extinction," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "This legislative onslaught is a brutal, blatant effort to cripple the Endangered Species Act. The only winners would be special interests that put profits ahead of our nation's most cherished <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildlife</a>."</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Protecting_Factory_Farming_from_Regulation" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none;"><span class="mw-headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/house-senate-committees-environmental-laws-2490244316.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/house-senate-committees-environmental-laws-2490244316.html</a></font></span></p><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House, Senate Committees Attack Environmental Laws Using Wildfires as Pretext</font></h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none;"><span class="mw-headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px;" /></font></span></p><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2490244316" data-headline="House, Senate Committees Attack Environmental Laws Using Wildfires as Pretext" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two congressional committees will hold coordinated hearings Wednesday to push partisan legislation designed to weaken environmental laws on <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-lands" style="text-decoration-line: none;">public lands</a>.</font></p><p><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The House Natural Resources Committee</b> will use the pretext of "catastrophic" <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildfires</a> to build support for legislation by Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) that would curtail protections for <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">endangered species</a> and limit science-based review of environmental harms to expedite logging projects.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee</b> will consider three bills designed to limit environmental reviews on a variety of logging and forest-management projects on public lands.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Timber companies would be the only winners if these terrible bills pass," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director with the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Biological Diversity</a>. "No matter what issue our public lands face, the knee-jerk response from congressional Republicans is an effort to gut our environmental laws. They're willing to sacrifice our wildlife, healthy streams and rivers, and vibrant public lands on the altar of private profit."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Senate committee will consider three bills:</font></p><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>S. 605 by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) </b>would eliminate consultations required under the Endangered Species Act when a new species is added to the endangered species list or when critical habitat for a listed species is revised for Forest Service lands where a land management plan is already in place. Only when that plan is revised—usually every 15-20 years—would the Forest Service be required to review it at the landscape level.</font></li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>S. 1417 by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) </b>would severely limit science-based review of potential harms under the National Environmental Policy Act for juniper-tree control projects on public lands if those projects are designed to benefit either mule deer or sage grouse populations. While Juniper control may be appropriate in some ecosystems, many juniper-removal projects use destructive chaining, plant non-native seeds and spray herbicides that could actually harm sage grouse and other species. That potential harm needs to be evaluated and disclosed.</font></li></ul><ul class="ee-ul" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px;"><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>S. 1731 by Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.</b>) would exempt many types of logging and forest-management activities up to 10,000 acres—approximately 15 square miles—from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. The legislation includes provisions that would also limit judicial review of Forest Service logging activities and force citizens to use binding arbitration if they want to challenge a poorly conceived logging project.</font></li></ul><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The House committee will consider Westerman's bill, which would eliminate Endangered Species Act requirements that the Forest Service ensure logging projects do not harm endangered wildlife and plants. It also would rush through large-scale logging projects—up to 46 square miles—without meaningful public involvement or scientific evaluation by excluding such projects from review under the National Environmental Policy Act.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Republicans have repeatedly cut resources to the Forest Service, making it harder for agency workers to do their jobs," Hartl said. "Then the GOP scapegoats environmental laws for the problems that these funding cuts have caused. It's an incredibly cynical and dangerous strategy."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When properly funded, the Forest Service can meet its legal obligations and protect endangered species and natural resources. For example, in June the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife Service completed an important consultation process under the Endangered Species Act in just 10 days, covering nine national forests in the Sierra Nevada region, following the designation of critical habitat for the Yosemite toad and Sierra Nevada and mountain yellow-legged frogs. This type of consultation would be eliminated under the Daines-Tester legislation.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Daines and Tester are wrong. Weakening the Endangered Species Act doesn't improve forest management—it only makes timber companies richer," said Hartl. "The main reasons forest projects are delayed is because Republicans in Congress have been starving the agencies of funding."</font></p></div></div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 19.2px; background-image: none;"><span class="mw-headline" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/senate-bill-intrastate-species-2490613995.html" class="external text" title="https://www.ecowatch.com/senate-bill-intrastate-species-2490613995.html" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background: url(" lock_icon.gif="lock_icon.gif" right="right" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb" padding-right="padding-right" px="px">Senate Bill Aims to Strip Protections From 1,098 Endangered Species Including Utah Prairie Dog, Florida Panther</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> 9/17 see </span><a href="https://ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Category:Wildlife" class="external text" title="https://ic.ucsc.edu/college8core/c8wiki/index.php/Category:Wildlife" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; background: url(" lock_icon.gif="lock_icon.gif" right="right" center="center" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb" padding-right="padding-right" px="px">Wildlife</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Republican U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee of Utah</b> introduced legislation this week that would strip federal Endangered Species Act protections for animals and plants found in only one state. Known as intrastate species, such imperiled animals and plants make up the majority of the 1,655 species protected under the act.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The legislation is backed by extreme anti-wildlife organizations that oppose the protection of the Utah prairie dog, an animal only found in Utah. In addition to ending protections for the prairie dog, the legislation would terminate protections for all 1,098 intrastate species, including 497 species in Hawaii, 234 species in California, 86 species in Florida and 20 species in Utah.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Utah's senators hate their prairie dogs so much they're willing to destroy most of America's <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">endangered wildlife</a>to wipe out this little animal," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Center for Biological Diversity</a>. "From the Florida panther to virtually all imperiled species in Hawaii, every one of these intrastate species would be condemned to extinction. Americans do not support this ludicrous proposal."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">S. 1863, the deceptively named "Native Species Protection Act," seeks to overturn a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision from earlier this year that affirmed the federal government's authority to protect the Utah prairie dog.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In that case, Judge Holmes—a Republican appointee writing for the three-judge panel—concluded that eliminating protections for intrastate species would "leave a gaping hole" and "undercut the conservation purposes" of the Endangered Species Act. The 10th Circuit decision marked the fifth time an appeals court has rejected arguments that extreme private property-rights advocates have been bringing for years.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Republicans continue to demonstrate that their calls to reform the Endangered Species Act are completely hollow," said Hartl. "Instead of proposing ideas that help recover our most vulnerable <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildlife</a>, they're eager to let America's iconic animals go extinct."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah), chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/rob-bishop-12-08-2016.htmlhttp:/www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2016/rob-bishop-12-08-2016.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> in December that he would like to repeal the Endangered Species Act in its entirety. Since January congressional Republicans have launched 47 legislative <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/esa_attacks/trumptable.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">attacks</a> against the Endangered Species Act or specific endangered species. Since the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 2011, more than 268 attacks have been instigated.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These attacks continue despite the fact that 9 out of 10 Americans support the Endangered Species Act and want it either strengthened or left unchanged by Congress, according to a <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/esa/pdfs/2015_Poll_on_Endangered_Species_Act.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">2015 poll</a>.</font></p></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><a href="http://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/radical-gop-led-bill-promotes-killing-americas-threatened-species"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/radical-gop-led-bill-promotes-killing-americas-threatened-species</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last week, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources passed the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act—the so-called SHARE Act—with votes coming only from Republican members of the committee.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Democrats recognized that this bill has little to do with rank-and-file sportsmen’s issues, and saw it for what it is: a grab bag of shameful provisions aimed at <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/09/alaska-lawmaker-plots-yet-another-assault-wolves-grizzlies-federal-lands.html?credit=blog_post_091517_idhome-page" style="text-decoration-line: none;">opening National Park Service lands to grizzly bear killing</a> (of all places, they should be protected on our “national preserves”), poisoning wildlife with the use of lead tackle and ammunition (even though there are practical and affordable alternatives), and promoting the killing of threatened species (e.g., wolves and polar bears).</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill has gained extensive media attention not for these provisions, but for one to allow the use of suppressors, often called silencers — a perfect tool for poachers in the field (hunters and other shooters already have a range of ear protection gear, from foam to custom ear plugs, so this provision to preserve hearing is an overreach).</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The committee’s action in supporting this radical bill is not only at odds with common sense, but also with the unmistakable demographic patterns in the United States. Just last week, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released its <a href="https://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages/NationalSurvey/nat_survey2016.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">periodic report on wildlife recreation</a>. Among other things, the report revealed that the number of wildlife watchers is soaring (a 20 percent increase in the last five years to 86 million in 2016), while hunter numbers have declined by two million since 2011, when the agency last examined the question, to just 11.5 million. Wildlife watchers outnumber sport hunters by a ratio of seven to one and spend $75.9 billion on their pursuits, as compared to $25.6 billion spent by hunters.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Natural Resources Committee’s vote is really more about the wishes of the NRA and the Safari Club, and not about helping hunters and fishermen, who get almost nothing from this boondoggle of a bill and who would be shocked by its anti-conservation provisions. The vast majority of sport hunters are shooting deer or birds and consuming the meat. They are not the kind of sportsmen who wish to shoot threatened species such as grizzly bears or wolves, who are inedible and killed mainly for trophies only.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill includes an amendment from Alaska Congressman Don Young to strip protections for wolves and bears on National Park Service (NPS) lands in Alaska. This is his <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/02/u-s-house-sanctions-killing-hibernating-bears-wolf-pups-dens-federal-refuges-alaska.html?credit=blog_post_091517_idhome-page" style="text-decoration-line: none;">latest attempt</a> to unwind an NPS rule that forbids extreme hunting methods on lands that never were meant to be set aside for these purposes. Last week, the full House narrowly passed an amendment on an annual spending bill to block implementation of the rule. What sport is there in killing wolves and their pups in their dens and luring grizzly bears with bait in order to shoot them at point-blank range? This disgraceful behavior shouldn’t happen anywhere, least of all on America’s national preserves.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The SHARE legislation includes a raft of other odious provisions, like loosening restrictions on the baiting of migratory waterfowl and barring EPA restrictions on the use of lead-based fishing equipment. SHARE also handcuffs the departments of Interior and Agriculture by prohibiting either agency from regulating the use of lead-based ammunition, ammunition cartridges, or fishing tackle where such uses are allowed by the state where the hunting and fishing occurs. One other provision would roll back the Marine Mammal Protection Act and provide a sweetheart deal to help 41 wealthy polar bear trophy hunters <a data-stamped="true" href="https://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2016/12/polar-bears-crosshairs-denial-greed.html?credit=blog_post_091517_idhome-page" style="text-decoration-line: none;">import the heads of rare polar bears they shot in Canada</a>. It’s the latest in a series of these import allowances for trophy hunters, and it effectively encourages them to kill rare species around the world and then wait for a congressional waiver to bring back their trophies.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most sweeping provision of the SHARE Act would give trophy hunters and commercial trappers priority access to the more than 100 million acres of congressionally designated “wilderness areas” across the nation. This provision weakens the core purpose of the Wilderness Act, which Congress enacted to preserve wild areas “where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Let’s hope the U.S. House and Senate won’t give any meaningful attention to a package with these provisions. No representative or senator should be duped by a bill that masquerades as a measure to benefit sportsmen and sportswomen, but in reality is an all-out attack on wild native carnivores and threatened species, and an opening of our most cherished public lands to these unacceptable and gratuitous practices.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">yikes esa</font></p><p style="padding: 5px 0px; margin: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/how-online-data-putting-endangered-species-around-globe-even-more-risk">http://www.alternet.org/animal-rights/how-online-data-putting-endangered-species-around-globe-even-more-risk</a></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://webbrain.com/brainpage/brain/Endangered%20Species%20Act%20Protections%20in%20House%20Committee%20Crosshairs%20One%20of%20our%20nation's%20core%20environmental%20safeguards%20is%20at%20risk%20of%20being%20hollowed%20out,%20as%20the%20House%20Natural%20Resources%20Committee%20takes%20up%20legislation%20Wednesday%20to%20weaken%20the%20Endangered%20Species%20Act.%20Starting%20at%2011%20a.m.%20ET,%20the%20committee%20is%20voting%20on%20five%20bills%20that%20aim%20to%20weaken%20a%20variety%20of%20protections%20offered%20by%20the%20flagship%20conservation%20law.%20A%20detailed%20description%20of%20each%20proposal%20is%20included%20in%20this%20letter%20of%20opposition.%20With%20this%20committee%20markup,%20the%20Endangered%20Species%20Act%20faces%20possible%20erosion%20in%20a%20variety%20of%20ways.%20For%20example,%20the%20law%20currently%20uses%20best-available%20science%20as%20the%20basis%20for%20protecting%20species%20under%20the%20act.%20Yet%20the%20proposed%20%22Listing%20Reform%20Act%22%20(H.R.%20717)%20would%20subvert%20this%20foundational,%20science-based%20premise,%20enabling%20federal%20agencies%20to%20deny%20protections%20based%20on%20economic%20impacts.%20Similarly,%20the%20%22Gray%20Wolf%20State%20Management%20Act%22%20(H.R.%20424)%E2%80%94dubbed%20the%20%22War%20on%20Wolves%20Act%22%20by%20opponents%E2%80%94seeks%20to%20override%20a%20unanimous%20DC%20Circuit%20Court%20of%20Appeals%20decision%20regarding%20gray%20wolves%20in%20Michigan,%20Minnesota%20and%20Wisconsin.%20Those%20upper%20Midwest%20wolf%20populations%20would%20be%20stripped%20of%20existing%20Endangered%20Species%20Act%20protections%20under%20this%20legislation.%20This%20bill%20would%20also%20codify%20a%20recent%20DC%20Circuit%20Court%20of%20Appeals%20ruling%20that%20stripped%20federal%20protections%20for%20wolves%20in%20Wyoming.%20It%20would%20also%20prohibit%20judicial%20review%20of%20both%20legislative%20wolf%20delistings,%20and%20thus%20sets%20a%20damaging%20trend%20for%20undermining%20all%20laws%20that%20allow%20citizens%20from%20across%20the%20political%20spectrum%20to%20go%20to%20court%20to%20hold%20the%20government%20accountable%20for%20its%20actions.%20Legislative%20threats%20to%20the%20Endangered%20Species%20Act%20have%20spurred%20widespread%20social%20media%20backlash.%20Last%20week,%20Hollywood%20stars%20Debra%20Messing,%20Jane%20Lynch,%20Jesse%20Tyler%20Ferguson,%20Alan%20Cumming,%20Lance%20Bass%20and%20others%20joined%20the%20chorus%20by%20highlighting%20the%20issue%20of%20political%20attacks%20on%20the%20Endangered%20Species%20Act%20in%20a%20series%20of%20Instagram%20posts.%20%22The%20Endangered%20Species%20Act%20is%20one%20of%20our%20nation's%20most%20effective,%20popular%20laws,%22%20Marjorie%20Mulhall,%20Earthjustice's%20legislative%20director%20for%20lands,%20wildlife%20and%20oceans,%20said%20in%20a%20statement.%20%22These%20noxious%20attacks%20on%20imperiled%20wildlife%20violate%20the%20spirit%20of%20its%20enactment,%20which%20was%20to%20conserve%20irreplaceable,%20imperiled%20species%20and%20the%20ecosystems%20they%20depend%20on.%20With%20scientists%20now%20warning%20that%20we%20have%20entered%20a%20wave%20of%20mass%20extinctions,%20federal%20protections%20for%20imperiled%20plants%20and%20wildlife%20are%20needed%20more%20urgently%20than%20ever%20before.%20Politicians%20should%20be%20finding%20ways%20to%20strengthen%20the%20Endangered%20Species%20Act,%20not%20render%20it%20toothless.%22">https://www.ecowatch.com/endangered-species-act-2484821604.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Endangered Species Act Protections in House Committee Crosshairs</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font><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="2484821604" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body-description"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of our nation's core environmental safeguards is at risk of being hollowed out, as the House Natural Resources Committee takes up legislation Wednesday to weaken the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Endangered Species</a> Act.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Starting at 11 a.m. ET, the committee is voting on five bills that aim to weaken a variety of protections offered by the flagship conservation law. <a href="https://earthjustice.org/documents/letter/opposition-letter-to-anti-esa-bills-9-13-17" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">A detailed description of each proposal</a> is included in this letter of opposition.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With this committee markup, the Endangered Species Act faces possible erosion in a variety of ways. For example, the law currently uses best-available science as the basis for protecting species under the act. Yet the proposed <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/717" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">"Listing Reform Act" (H.R. 717)</a> would subvert this foundational, science-based premise, enabling federal agencies to deny protections based on economic impacts.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Similarly, the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/424/text" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">"Gray Wolf State Management Act" (H.R. 424)</a>—dubbed the "War on Wolves Act" by opponents—seeks to override a unanimous DC Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding gray wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Those upper Midwest wolf populations would be stripped of existing Endangered Species Act protections under this legislation. This bill would also codify a recent DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that stripped federal protections for wolves in Wyoming. It would also prohibit judicial review of both legislative wolf delistings, and thus sets a damaging trend for undermining all laws that allow citizens from across the political spectrum to go to court to hold the government accountable for its actions.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Legislative <a href="https://earthjustice.org/features/the-endangered-species-act" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">threats to the Endangered Species Act</a> have spurred widespread social media backlash.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last week, Hollywood stars <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtHth6Hkbm/?hl=en" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Debra Messing</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtD5lYnMuK/?hl=en" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Jane Lynch</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtBsplggpy/?hl=en" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Jesse Tyler Ferguson</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtvtg7FMhX/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Alan Cumming</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BYtKtRAFtFF/?hl=en" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Lance Bass</a>and others joined the chorus by highlighting the issue of political attacks on the Endangered Species Act in a series of Instagram posts.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The Endangered Species Act is one of our nation's most effective, popular laws," <span style="background-color: initial;">Marjorie Mulhall, Earthjustice's legislative director for lands, wildlife and oceans, said in a statement.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: initial;">"</span>These noxious attacks on imperiled <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" style="text-decoration-line: none;">wildlife</a> violate the spirit of its enactment, which was to conserve irreplaceable, imperiled species and the ecosystems they depend on. With scientists now warning that we have entered a wave of mass extinctions, federal protections for imperiled plants and wildlife are needed more urgently than ever before. Politicians should be finding ways to strengthen the Endangered Species Act, not render it toothless."</font></p></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>