Environmental protection

September 5, 2007 -- Michigan Department of Natural Resources officials today released annual survey information indicating the state's population of the endangered Kirtland's warbler continues to increase.

Biologists, researchers and volunteers in Michigan observed 1,697 singing males during the official 2007 survey period, up from 1,478 males observed in 2006. The 2007 population represents the largest number of singing males recorded since monitoring began in 1951. The lowest numbers were recorded in 1974 and 1987, when only 167 singing males were found.    » read more »

BALTIMORE, MD (September 4, 2007) – Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler announced today that Charles W. Peterson, 53, of Preston, Maryland has been charged in the Circuit Court for Talbot County with illegally logging in a nontidal wetlands. The charges allege that Peterson violated the State’s nontidal wetlands and sediment control laws, from June through August, 2006, by cutting trees in unpermitted wetland areas at and near Brant Court in Easton, Maryland.    » read more »

LIP open enrollment period Sept 10 – Oct 31

September 5, 2007 -- SPRINGFIELD, IL – The Illinois Landowner Incentive Program (LIP) will begin accepting applications for habitat restoration and enhancement projects in the Alton Bluffs area on September 10. Applications will be accepted at 10 Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs), including Adams, Calhoun, Jackson, Jersey, Madison, Monroe, Pike, Randolph, St. Clair, Union through October 31.    » read more »

Statement of Kate Poole, NRDC Senior Attorney

FRESNO, Calif. (August 31, 2007) -- A federal judge ordered state and federal water project managers to reduce the amount of water pumped from the San Francisco Bay Delta to protect the threatened delta smelt from extinction.

Following is a statement by Kate Poole, NRDC Senior Attorney:    » read more »

IDNR Works With Illinois Commercial Fishing Association To Protect Paddlefish, Shovelnose Sturgeon, Bowfin

August 30, 2007 -- SPRINGFIELD, IL – Several changes in the regulations regarding the commercial harvest of caviar-bearing fishes in Illinois have been adopted effective Oct. 1, Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) Acting Director Sam Flood announced today.    » read more »

August 17, 2007 -- MADISON – Sharon Brevik of Crandon, Wisconsin, was ordered in Forest County Circuit Court to pay $17,500 for several environmental violations related to her dredging of a Wisconsin stream and grading the bank of a lake.

Brevik was charged in a civil forfeiture complaint filed by the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) with failing to obtain a permit to dredge a stream on her property that flows into Lake Lucerne; lining the stream with plastic and boulders; and installing a larger culvert in the stream.    » read more »

August 20, 2007 -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Gina McCarthy today announced a landmark federal court ruling that effectively stops the proposed Islander East natural gas pipeline project.

The U.S. District Court in Bridgeport set aside a U.S. Secretary of Commerce decision - calling it "arbitrary and capricious" - that overruled Connecticut's objection to the proposed Islander East pipeline for failing to comply with the state's coastal zone management plan.    » read more »

8/17/2007 -- WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The National Marine Fisheries Services issued a final rule Aug. 16 that allows the Navy to continue operating Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active (SURTASS LFA) sonar in the western Pacific Ocean for the next five years, subject to a yearly authorization renewal.    » read more »

08/14/2007 -- WASHINGTON D.C. – Senator John Kerry announced today that he has asked President Bush to finalize the so-called “ship strike rule,” which would implement speed restrictions to protect right whales from collisions with ships and other ocean-going vessels. As reported today in the Washington Post, although the draft rule has been complete for six months, it remains stalled at the Office of Management and Budget in response to pressure from the international shipping industry.    » read more »

Calls on Legislature to Renew Stewardship Program

August 16, 2007 -- IRON RIVER – Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle today dedicated the purchase of the 578-acre Inch Lake State Natural Area in Bayfield County. Governor Doyle awarded a $504,000 Stewardship grant to the West Wisconsin Land Trust, with the remainder of the $2.7 million project made possible through private donations.    » read more »

August 16, 2007 -- BOSTON – On Tuesday, The Office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed a lawsuit in Suffolk Superior Court against the owners of a beachfront property in Hull, alleging that they illegally paved sand dunes to make a driveway and built storage sheds in protected wetlands. The complaint alleges that Ellen and Michael Hartman violated the state's Wetlands Protection Act by altering environmentally sensitive dunes associated with Nantasket Beach.    » read more »

Indiana-BP agreement suggests other states may face similar challenges with refinery discharges across borders

August 15, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today sent the following letter to Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA), requesting hearings to examine the recent agreement between the State of Indiana and the BP Whiting Refinery to allow increased pollution into Lake Michigan, which borders Illinois’ shorelines.    » read more »

August 15, 2007, Juneau, Alaska - Alaska Governor Sarah Palin released the following statement today with regard to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Shell Oil:

“I am very disappointed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling blocking Shell Oil Company from drilling in the Beaufort Sea.

This is the second development project with costs exceeding $200 million to be blocked by an action by this court. Decisions such as these pose a threat to our economic future.    » read more »

New Bush appointee says public lands no longer protected by landmark law

WASHINGTON, DC (August 14, 2007) – A decision just released by the new director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) means that countless potentially harmful projects involving oil and gas exploration, logging and grazing on public lands are no longer subject to a key federal law that protects our nation’s natural resources, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).    » read more »

"Global warming is the biggest threat Oregon’s wildlife will face in my lifetime"

PORTLAND, OR (August 14) – Nic Callero, an Oregon native, avid outdoorsman, and a leader in Oregon’s wildlife community, has joined the National Wildlife Federation as Oregon outreach consultant. Callero will lead an effort to mobilize Oregon hunters, anglers and other outdoor enthusiasts in a call to action against global warming.    » read more »