Endangered species

Reversal Signals Renewed Focus on Science at the Heart of Federal Actions

CHICAGO (April 28, 2008) – The Obama administration announced today that they would be dumping eleventh-hour Bush Administration changes to the Endangered Species Act that would have dramatically weakened the landmark wildlife protection law.

The decision will once again require federal agencies to consult with experts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration before taking action that could impact threatened or endangered species. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and other groups had sued to roll back the Bush Administration changes that have now been repealed.    » read more »

Statement by Francesca Grifo

April 28, 2009 -- Today, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar rescinded eleventh-hour Bush administration changes to Endangered Species Act regulations that allowed federal agencies to decide for themselves if their own projects—such as roads and dams—would threaten imperiled species. Federal agencies again will be required to consult with expert biologists at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service before undertaking or permitting new projects.

The rule change was just one of several controversial Bush administration actions that undermined the scientific foundation of the Endangered Species Act, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).    » read more »

Interior and Commerce Secretaries Must Act by May 9

April 27, 2009 -- More than 1,300 federal and independent scientists with biological expertise and three leading scientific societies today called on the Interior and Commerce departments to overturn rule changes made in January that weaken the scientific foundation of the Endangered Species Act.    » read more »

Washington, DC - 04/22/2009 - The Pew Environment Group today applauded Senator John Kerry’s (D-MA) introduction of the Shark Conservation Act of 2009 (companion of legislation introduced in the House by Rep. Madeline Bordallo of Guam) on the day before the EU Fisheries Ministers consider a new Plan of Action for Sharks that covers all European Union Member States’ waters.

“Sharks, the top predators in the marine environment, are rapidly disappearing from the world’s oceans,” said Joshua S. Reichert, Managing Director of the Pew Environment Group. “We are hopeful that this week’s events mark a turning point where governments around the world will take concrete steps to stop the widespread killing of these animals.”    » read more »

Quirky fish is key to protecting coast's most fragile ecosystems

LOS ANGELES (April 15, 2009) – In an attempt to save a unique and endangered fish found only in the most fragile of California coastal habitats, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) will file a suit today against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service after habitat protections were needlessly limited. NRDC fought to keep the fish on the Endangered Species List in 2000, and now a removal of habitat that the Service had previously labeled as essential to the species’ survival have forced a return to the courts.    » read more »

Highlights Role of Partnerships in Conservation

March 19, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today released the first ever comprehensive report on bird populations in the United States, showing that nearly a third of the nation’s 800 bird species are endangered, threatened or in significant decline due to habitat loss, invasive species, and other threats.

At the same time, the report highlights examples, including many species of waterfowl, where habitat restoration and conservation have reversed previous declines, offering hope that it is not too late to take action to save declining populations.    » read more »

March 6, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today affirmed the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to remove gray wolves from the list of threatened and endangered species in the western Great Lakes and the northern Rocky Mountain states of Idaho and Montana and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah. Wolves will remain a protected species in Wyoming.

“The recovery of the gray wolf throughout significant portions of its historic range is one of the great success stories of the Endangered Species Act,” Salazar said. “When it was listed as endangered in 1974, the wolf had almost disappeared from the continental United States. Today, we have more than 5,500 wolves, including more than 1,600 in the Rockies.”    » read more »

Bush Administration Rule Leads to Wolves Removal from Endangered Species List

CHICAGO (March 6, 2009) – The Secretary of the Interior announced today that he will remove the gray wolf from the federal Endangered Species List in Montana and Idaho, as well as the western Great Lakes region. Wolves in the state of Wyoming will remain under Endangered Species Act protection due to federal concern over the inadequacy of the state’s management plan.

The State of Idaho recently proposed killing 200 wolves within their borders.

Following are comments from Andrew Wetzler, Director of NRDC’s Endangered Species Project:    » read more »

Jekyll Island, GA - 03/05/2009 - Holly Binns, Project Manager for the Pew Environment Group’s Campaign to End Overfishing in the Southeast, issued the following statement today about the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s 7 to 6 vote to halt red snapper fishing for six months, with an optional six-month extension, in the South Atlantic from North Carolina to Florida. The moratorium would go into effect as early as mid-June.    » read more »

March 5, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment aimed at keeping Bush-era endangered species regulations on the books.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would give the Obama administration 60 days to withdraw endangered species regulations pushed through by the Bush administration in its last days in office. On Tuesday, President Obama announced he would restore the protections that the Bush rules sought to remove.    » read more »

March 3, 2009 -- Washington, DC – President Obama today directed federal agencies to once again consult with independent scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to determine if their actions might harm threatened and endangered species. This action will limit the damage caused by the midnight Endangered Species Act regulations put in place by the Bush Administration in December 2008.

John Kostyack, Executive Director of Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming at the National Wildlife Federation, said:    » read more »

Statement by Francesca Grifo, Union Of Concerned Scientists

WASHINGTON (March 3, 2009) – Today President Obama announced that his administration is overturning a Bush administration rule that allowed federal agencies to initiate projects, such as roads or dams, without consulting with Fish and Wildlife Service or National Marine Fisheries Service scientists about the threats the projects might pose to endangered species.

Below is a statement by Francesca Grifo, director of the Scientific Integrity Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS):    » read more »

New Rules Endanger Whales and Dolphins and Fail to Satisfy Federal Law

LOS ANGELES (January 23, 2009) – Last-minute rules proposed by the Bush administration will expose millions of marine mammals to harm from naval training with high-intensity sonar unless amended by the Obama Administration. The rules, issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), address Navy sonar training in the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, in waters off Southern California, and around Hawaii.

Together, they authorize over 10 million marine mammal “takes” incidental to Navy sonar training during the next five years. Each “take” is an instance of harm caused by high intensity sonar that can range from disorientation, to hearing loss, stranding and death.    » read more »

Interior Department Makes Biggest Assault Yet on Landmark Environmental Law

August 11, 2008 -- Washington, D.C. - A new set of draft rules proposed by the Bush administration and reported by the Associated Press today would effectively eradicate the key laws that protect endangered species in the United States.

Statement of Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope

This plan repeats and includes all of the disdain for science and political trumping of expertise that has characterized previous Bush Administration efforts to dismantle fundamental environmental laws.

These rules send a clear signal that the Administration will spend the rest of its days razing what remains of the rules and regulations that have kept wildlife like the bald eagle from going extinct.    » read more »

Proposed regulations would gut protections for America’s imperiled wildlife

August 11, 2008 -- The Bush Administration plans to rollback protections for America’s imperiled wildlife by re-writing the regulations of the Endangered Species Act. According to leaked documents obtained by the National Wildlife Federation, the proposed changes would weaken the safety net of habitat protections that have helped protect and recover endangered fish, wildlife and plants for the past 35 years.    » read more »